Day 4 (cont): Arrival at Sanctuary
After the buggy tours, we jumped on the bus (still all muddy) to travel
around the island to the southwest corner, to our next place - Sanctuary Rarotonga on the Beach, which is the kid-free add-on to the larger resort, the Rarotongan. We were all pretty exhausted from a day out in the sun and mud, so first things first, we went to check out our rooms and have a nap. The rooms were very nice and had that classic tropical resort feeling.
Our room with shutters opening into the bathroom.
Views to the beach from the balcony.
The logical thing to do for dinner was head down the road to Coco-putt, which offered a great dinner + golf deal - a burger plus a round of 18-hole minigolf. After what felt like a surprisingly long walk along the very poorly lit street, we finally made it to Coco-putt and enjoyed a round of minigolf. While the conditions were a little challenging at times (seeing where you were meant to be aiming, for example), it was a lot more enjoyable playing minigolf in the evening rather than out in the blazing sun!
Seb tackling his turn at golf, while Emily watches.
The entrance to the Rarotongan, complete with flaming torches.
Day 5: Te Vara Nui Cultural Tour + Show
Emily sheltering from the sun.
The garden and lagoon setting was beautiful.
The tour consisted of moving through various huts/halls set up with displays of different aspects of Cook Island culture - weaving and clothing, fishing, and sailing - and hearing different people talk about the history and culture. We also visited a marae, which in the Cook Islands is not a building, but a designated sacred outdoor area, with rocks representing different families.
Display of the waka (or "vaka" in Cook Islands Maori) which set sail for NZ
Something that I thought was really interesting was that there are records of twenty vaka leaving the Cook Islands to migrate to 'the new land'; and the names of seven of these match up with the seven most well-known waka of the 'great fleet' which arrived in New Zealand. Cook Island Maori language is certainly almost identical to New Zealand Maori - the greeting here is "Kia orana" rather than "Kia ora", and "w"s are replaced with "v"s (for example "vaka" instead of "waka", "vahine" instead of "wahine"), but many things seem recognisable.
The concept of Hawaiki, or the ancestral land of the Polynesian people, is also an interesting thing that was discussed. It seems that throughout Polynesia it appears in various forms - Hawaiki in Maori, Havaiki in Cook Island Maori and Tahitian, Savai'i in Samoa, and Hawai'i. NZ Maori are said to have sailed from Hawaiki, but our guide explained that this should be interpreted more as the origin of their ancestors, and those of the Polynesian peoples throughout the Pacific.
Finally, it was time for the show. It was amazing seeing the performance out over the pool of water. The dancing was beautiful and the drums sounded great - it was all very well put together with great lighting, music and even fire dancing! The story was about the origins of the Cook Islands, how two peoples became one (their ancestors arrived from Samoa and Tonga).
Day 6: Last day at Sanctuary!
This was a bit of a weird day, as we had scheduled a whalewatching tour - however, there was a criminal who had escaped from prison on the loose, and he had killed his ex-partner and her new partner, and there was a bit of a police chase going on - extremely unusual for such a peaceful little island! We were told to stay in the resort for our safety and so as not to get in the way of the police hunt. In any case it was a bit too windy for the whalewatching anyway, and it seemed like the weather was only going to get worse - so unfortunately we had to cancel. I was really looking forward to seeing those whales!
However the day ended up being very peaceful and relaxing for us, as we generally took it easy, and had another great snorkel. This part of the island was my absolute favourite for snorkelling - it was just amazing what you could see straight off the beach. I really felt like I was in an aquarium! We even saw a massive shoal of these little fish absolutely covering the sea floor feeding, it was amazing:
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| Again... photo from Google! |
That evening we had our final dinner at the resort restaurant with Seb and Emily. They had arrived in Rarotonga two days or so before us, and so were heading back a bit earlier too.
The last sunset at The Rarotongan/Sanctuary.
At night we all had one last round of cocktails together. It was a bit sad after Emily and Seb left as we had had such a good time together. I'm really glad we coordinated this holiday together!
The reception/bar area - with swim-up bar seats!
