Avatiu, Rarotonga – January 26, 2018

Kia Orana from Rarotonga!  Yes, we actually made it although the captain said he thought long and hard before allowing the tendering.  The announcement was made at 8:10 that tendering would be begin but they were not going to allow any walkers, wheelchairs, etc. at all because it was too dangerous for the crew carrying them up and down the stairs and into the tender.  The first numbers were not called until about 9:10. Evidently, the first tender that went over just had excursion groups.

On the topic of tenders, we received this notice a couple of days ago.

“Dear Guest,

During the last few days we have issued a plethora of tender tickets.  And, as you will have noticed, in order to best facilitate this process we have adjusted not only the ticket issue location, but also the ticket quantity per guest, and have started issuing the tickets earlier than done prior.  We are pleased to say that is seems that these improvements are positively assisting you in making your way ashore independently.

We’ve also noticed that a good few of you are progressively creative in trying to out smart this well-intended process, or, that you are so caught up in the joys of this process that you might have forgotten to return the remaining spare tickets in your possession?

Should that be you, then we would highly appreciate for you to return those to the drop box at the Front Office…”

Sounds like people have been trying to get a low number in order to get on one of the first tenders.  Today they fooled them by starting with “blue 40” instead of #1.

While waiting for my number (blue 15) to be called, I played morning trivia (which was at 11) with Marilyn, Rodney, Tom, and Jeanette.  We had 16 correct but the winners topped us with 17 out of 18.

1)What does the “MI” in MI-5 or MI-6 stand for?

2)Which European country is known as the Hellenic Republic.?

3)In what town did Jesus Grow up?

4)What modern country did the Romans call Lusitania?

5)What jewel is known as the “Deadly Diamond”?

Tendering was very slow because the boats were bobbing up and down a number of feet.  Each person had to be held onto and guided onto the tender.  Just as I was beginning to worry that I would not make it to shore for my 1:00 tour (which met on the pier), an announcement was made for all those who had afternoon excursions to come to the show lounge by 11:45.  We were given numbers (as is the usual practice for excursions that leave from the ship) and then escorted down the crew stairs to get on a tender.  I saw at least four or five people who decided against going on their excursions when they saw how badly the tender was bobbing about.  

I decided to stick it out and made it onto the tender.  The tender dipped just as I was stepping on and I would have fallen if I was not being held up by Henk and a crew member.

Made it to shore with about 45 minutes to spare so I looked around at the craft stalls near the pier.

The buses pulled up for my tour, “Island Discovery”, and we were off promptly at 1:00.  Andre was our tour guide and we had a mini-bus with only 16 onboard.  The first stop was at the National Museum which had some great artifacts but no pictures were allowed.  We continued to the marea of the Makea tribe where they once practiced human sacrifices.  There was a short stop at the Seven Stones Monument which commemorates the place where early Polynesians set out for New Zealand.

At the Mooring Fish Café we had a snack break with a soda and a muffin.  Some of the guides then showed us how they split coconuts with a large sharpened stick. Our last stop was at a beautiful beach the guide called Titikaveka.  As we were coming back into town we passed Black Rock and the airport (there is one direct flight each week to Los Angeles).

Some things I learned on the tour…

·       The coconut tree is known as the “tree of life” because they use all parts of it

·       #1 industry is tourism, #2 is weddings, and #3 is black pearls

·       Most supplies come once every three weeks from New Zealand although there are occasional deliveries from other countries

·       There are no buildings taller than three stories

·       There are no stop signs and only two roundabouts on the entire island

·       The population is about 9500

·       Many of the homes and businesses have solar panels that at least heat water but many power the entire home with energy left over to sell back to the power company

The final tender was at 4:30 and we returned just before 4.  Getting back on board was much easier than leaving this morning.

In honor of Australia Day the 5:00 trivia was all about Australia and very hard.  Even the Australians didn’t know most of the answers.  The winning team (which was made up of all Aussies) had 7 and we had 5.

1)How many countries are larger than Australia?

2)What is the largest sand island in the world?

3)What is the highest grossing Australian film?

4)What is the tallest waterfall in Australia?

5)Where is the “Big Prawn”?

After trivia I had dinner in the Lido.  I had a very good Australian meat pie and mashed potatoes with cookies for dessert.  It was then back to the Piano Bar for Friday night Name That Tune.  I played by myself and had 20 out of 31.  Staying in the Piano Bar, I worked on the blog until the Aussie Sing-Along.  Glen-Michael, who has been a piano bar entertainer on a number of HAL cruises and is from Australia, led the singing.

Ended my evening my going to see Gary Arbuthnot, a flautist.

We gain an hour tonight and tomorrow is a sea day.

My computer is refusing to resize my pictures so I will try again tomorrow.

Views from my tour...

an inflatable play area by the pier

the History Museum

the poles were nicely decorated

banana trees

the nuni trees...

... and a nuni fruit

the marae

papaya trees

one of the palaces

The Seven Stone Monument

cracking open coconuts

the flower of the coconut palm

one of the many little birds like this that were hoping for crumbs

Black Rock (popular spot for the kids to play)

From my deck...

A good crowd for the Aussie sing-along

Morning trivia…

1)military intelligence

2)Greece

3)Nazareth

4)Portugal

5)Star of South Africa

Australian trivia…

1)5
2)Fraser Island

3)Crocodile Dundee

4)Wallaman

5)Ballina

Smooth sailing until next time!