Aitutaki- the cook islands
Trip Start
Jan 16, 2010
1
23
Trip End
Aug 16, 2010
Aitutaki, Southern Cook Islands, Cook Islands
Friday, May 28, 2010
Aitutaki
We hopped on the worlds smallest plane and made the worlds bumpiest one hour flight to Aitutaki .The airport resembled a chicken shed .We were picked up by our odd host 'matthias' and escorted to our home for the week , the Matriki beach huts . Once again we arrive at night fall but our hut is right on the beach. Yet again basic as hell but really charming. We had no windows!!!. On Our first night we were treated to the aitutaki wildlife symphony . Geckos , Cockerels , Fish , Goats............all night long . the goats were by far the worst as they sounded like crying babies!! The fish would be making a racket all night jumping in and out of the water and over coral. The next day we opened the door to our hut onto snorkelling paradise .The lagoon was full of coral , we went snorkelling as soon as we had breakfast on our porch . The fish were amazing. It was not a case of not being able to count the fish but more of a case of not being able to count the variety of species. It really was a privilege to be there .
We had bought rations as we knew food was expensive , on the tiny islands there was a handful of shops and only a few restaurants. We were very lucky to be there at all as the Matriki beach huts are the only really affordable option on the island . we shared the beached sandwiched by two resorts that cost about £1500 a night .and we were in our £30 a night bungalow. the bungalow became home as we accepted the low key resort, one day we hired a moped a drove around the island. jenny decided to plough a field at one point .We unfortunately became unbalanced whilst trying to set off , we both fell off the stationary moped but jenny somehow managed to twist the throttle and refuse to let it go. The following resulted in the moped grinding across the floor with Jenny gripping onto it whist I'm in background shouting "let it go let it go let it go LET IT GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" . No harm was done , just a few scratches to myself , but thats as close to excitement we came in the whole week.
Everyday consisted of lunch on the porch, shell hunting snorkelling and fire on the beach at night .Strangely Aitutaki was much hotter than Rarotonga and our beach seemed to get the sun all day .When you have no air conditioning or mod cons the heat can get a bit relentless .The highlight of our trip was a boat rip around the lagoon with Matthias .We started off by chasing giant turtles , then we went to see giant clam shells which were so amazing , they were at least three foot long and some can grow as big as a car! The lagoon was breath taking. the most perfect blue water and bright colourful coral. We had lunch on a deserted island with some resident birds who quite comically cannot walk they shuffle along in the sand . The deserted islands were pristine sand banks popping out of the lagoon , you had to rub our eyes to believe it was all real. We ended the day going to some of the best snorkelling spots before returning back home.
Aitutaki is absolute paradise , much like rarotonga but even more low key .At the end of our two weeks in the pacific we were amazed by the beauty of the place but we were ready for some more adventures.If you get chance to get to Rarotonga you HAVE to take the small flight to aitutaki , there is probably nowhere else like it on earth.
Comments
OMG!! what a stunning place! We need to go there! Good to hear from you ;o)
x
'bout time you updated! looks a beautiful place, a virtual paradise! glad we will be seeing you soon, but don't know how you will cope back working again!
love Mumxx