The first European to set sight on Aitutaki was Captain Bligh, of 'Mutiny on the Bounty' fame. The Bounty and her crew sailed past the islands in the late 18th Century, just two weeks before the mutiny took place.
Craning our necks to see the lagoon from the plane window, we saw a string of tiny emerald islands fringed with white sand beaches before coming in to land on Aitutakis' rubbly runway. We'd planned to stay on the island for 2 weeks, as a bit of a break from moving around all the time. For longer term stays like ours it's cheaper to rent a whole house than pay for a room in a B&B, and we'd been lucky enough to book the 'Divers Lodge' for a fortnight. It was in a fantastic location, all on it's own, surrounded by fields and right at the end of the runway. There were only 2 or 3 flights in and out a day, and the only planes that landed there were the tiny twin-prop 18 seaters we'd been travelling on. The novelty of sitting out on the deck and waving to the pilot as he taxied the plane down the runway never wore off, and we always got a wave back. We also became familiar with the handful of people who worked at the airport too, the'd give us a wave every morning as we sat outside on the deck sipping our tea.
The house itself was a real home from home, complete with TV, CD player, kitchen and washing machine. It was a real treat to be able to spread ourselves out for a couple of weeks, and it also gave us the chance to test out the knock off CDs we'd bought at street stalls in South America. We soon realised however, why there was such an extensive video collection in the house. Aitutaki TV only had one channel and it was terrible. Some of the programmes were broadcast direct from Australia, which might not sound too bad, but because of the time difference we found ourselves watching 'Humphrey the Bear' during prime viewing at 8 o'clock at night, when most of it's target audience were probably already tucked up in bed. Occasionally they'd show a film, but then it would be cut off just as we were getting into it, to show home video footage of the latest local rugby match. We discovered from one of the locals that the bloke in charge of TV programming on Aitutaki hadn't quite got the hang of it, and often forgot to press the right 'button'.
The main attraction of Aitutaki is its beautiful lagoon and tiny islands, so after a couple of days settling in and chilling out we booked ourselves onto a lagoon cruise. In the morning while we were getting our stuff together we heard what sounded like a baby crying outside, after further investigation we found the cutest little kitten under the wooden steps outside. There was no-one else around and he didnt seem to belong to anyone so we gave him a saucer of milk and rushed off to catch the boat.
We had one of the most memorable days of the trip out on the lagoon, snorkelling in crystal clear water with thousands of multi-coloured fish, visiting tiny uninhabited islands that took just minutes to walk round and stuffing ourselves with delicious barbecued marlin at lunchtime. When we got back that night our adopted kitten was waiting for us in a plant pot outside the house. He was too cute to resist, but we thought it best if we kept him outside the house with another saucer of milk to keep him occupied. He wasn't very easy to ignore though, when it got dark he sat and howled at the door for ages, and when we didn't respond he leaped up and attached himself to the fly screen like Garfield, hanging on for dear life with his claws. Needless to say, we ended up cracking and let him in. After that we were smitten and decided to officially 'adopt' him for the rest of our stay. Over the next few days we asked around locally to see if he belonged to anyone, but with no luck, so we decided the best thing we could do was feed him up a bit and hope that the next guests to stay in the house would carry on the good work. He turned out to be a bit of a handful, and we ended up calling him 'Pest' so often that the name eventually stuck. We didnt keep him in the house overnight but every time we got up in the morning or arrived home at night after a day out he was always waiting for us, curled up in his plant pot.
One day we decided to explore the interior of the island and it's little villages so we set off on our bikes, in the mid-day sun. It was very different to the coastal area, in the villages pigs and chickens roamed around and children played barefoot outside their houses. One of the interesting things we found out about Aitutaki was that there were no dogs on the island. There are a couple of theories as to why this is the case, one is that they were banned many years ago as they were thought to be spreading disease, and the other is that a dog once killed the kings son and he had them all banished from the island. Anyway, after a couple of hours cycling round in the heat of the day we decided to stop off at 'Anitonias' shop for an ice cream. Anitonia was a typical Cook Islander, very friendly and interested in finding out more about us and were we came from. While we sat outside enjoying our ice cream she disappeared into her house, only to reappear five minutes later and ask us that fateful question "Do you two know anything about computers?" We were a bit hesitant at first, but when she said it was just the printer that wasn't working we guessed it would be a pretty straightforward problem, therefore minimizing the chances of making complete idiots of ourselves. We trooped into her little house and sure enough it was just an empty cartridge that needed replacing, a bit fiddly, but not beyond our capabilities. She then went on to ask if we knew much about the internet, after giving her a quick lesson, she explained that what she really needed was a second hand doughnut maker, preferably from New Zealand, as it would be too expensive to ship from anywhere else. So we spent the rest of the afternoon typing 'second hand doughnut, New Zealand' into every search engine you can imagine. The time flew by and at the end of the day, her husband thanked us for our help with a bag of delicious mangoes, paw paws and coconuts picked from their own back garden. After wishing her luck with the doughnut maker we cycled back to the house to enjoy the 'fruits of our labours'.
After 16 years of living in sin, Aitutaki was the place were we finally decided to tie the knot. Making the arrangements for the wedding was unbelievably easy and stress free. All we had to do was wander into the travel agents and tell them the date we wanted, after that our wedding co-ordinator, Annie took care of everything else for us. Unfortunately the only thing she couldn't co-ordinate was the weather. A couple of days before the wedding, the clear blue skies and sunshine that we'd enjoyed for weeks dissolved into grey skies and torrential rain. The night before the big day the rain hammered down so hard on our tin roof we had to shout at each other to make ourselves heard, and there was no change the following morning. We stood out on the deck optimistically searching for a patch of lighter sky. The wedding co-ordinator rang to ask if we wanted to cancel, but seeing as we weren't due to get married until much later in the day we thought we'd hang on in the hope that the weather would clear up for us. Our persistence was rewarded. By the time they came to pick us up at 4pm the rain had stopped and the sky had begun to clear. As we boarded the boat an anxious looking Annie stepped forward to greet us and apologetically inform us that the photographer hadn't turned up. Someone, somewhere had got their wires crossed. Annie kindly offered to take some pictures herself with her own camera, after seeing the alternating looks of horror and disappointment on our faces she bravely headed off for one last attempt to track him down. Several anxious minutes ticked by until she returned, face flushed with relief to tell us that he was on his way. I don't know how she managed it, but we'll always be grateful to her for going the extra mile. Once the photographer was on board we set off across the lagoon for the 40 minute trip to One Foot Island. Annie cracked open a bottle of champagne and shared it round, we all felt like we needed a drink. By the time we arrived at One Foot Island it was well after 5pm, we just had time to kick off our grungy sandals and put our flowers on. A minister from the Cook Islands Christian Church waited for us at the edge of the shore while we took our places in front of him, under two arched palms. Our witnesses Annie and the boat driver stood to one side waiting expectantly. The service was a lot different from the traditional British 'do you take this man/woman' kind of thing, but what the minister said was spookily relevant to us, it was just perfect. After a few initial spots, the rain thankfully stayed away and even though the sky was darkening as night time approached, the lagoon was still a gorgeous luminous blue. Once the deed was done Willie, the enthusiastic photographer clicked away for over an hour while we picked our way barefoot round the island to pose under the palms and next to the shore. The boat ride back to the main island was much more relaxed, as night fell we finished the rest of the champagne and laughed at Willies stories of Cook Islands life. Back at the house we just had time for a few pics of us cutting the cake before dashing off for a meal to celebrate at the local swanky hotel.
Next morning were up bright and early for another boat trip on the lagoon. We headed off in a small speedboat with a few Aussies and a Mexican couple. The boat driver shouted "Do we have any honeymooners on board?" The Mexican couple and us tentatively raised our hands before the driver then said "So which one of you is the couple that got married yesterday?" (It's a very small island!). When we said it was us everyone cheered and appropriately enough the first island we stopped at was Honeymoon Island. We spent an hour basking on the white sand beach and floating in the clear turqoise water while the Aussies fished off the side of the boat. It looked like one of them had hooked a big one, until he reeled it in and it turned out to be a huge sea cucumber. After visiting another couple of islands we ended the day once again at One Foot. After making a quick circumnavigation of the island, which took all of 10 minutes, we spent the rest of the day snorkelling and lazing around under the palms.
We made the return journey on a much bigger boat, and found ourselves sat on the deck opposite the 'beautiful people'. A young, attractive couple looking like they'd just stepped out of the pages of a glossy magazine, all long shiny hair and legs, they sat gazing longingly into each others eyes the whole way back. It wasn't until we were about 10 minutes from shore that I realised something didn't look quite as it should. Wearing skimpy running shorts, the young bloke had shifted around to make himselft more comfortable and sat, knees drawn up to his chest, legs apart and unfortunately totally oblivious of the fact that one of his 'spuds' was cheekily protruding from the side of his shorts. Not quite believing my eyes I nudged Charlie and nodded in the direction of the offending article. We dissolved into helpless hysterical giggles, and had to pretend there was something very interesting out at sea in order not to draw anyone elses attention to it.
The next day we cycled up to Samades lagoon side bar, a Sunday favourite of the Islanders. We hired a kayak each and headed off across the lagoon to one of the tiny islands. After dragging the kayaks ashore we spent a happy hour or so playing at being modern day Robinson Crusoes, husking coconuts, swimming in the lagoon and dodging the giant crabs until our little secluded island was invaded by a noisy Kiwi family in a rowing boat. We decided it was time to leave.
The next couple of days flew by and soon it was time to leave lovely Aitutaki. We flew back to Rarotonga and spent our last week in the Cook Islands staying in posh beachside apartments while we celebrated the beginning of our seven month honeymoon.
PS. Check the site again soon for our latest pics from New Zealand!
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