Cook Islands, Part 2: Mangaia

In flying from Rarotonga to Mangaia in the Cook Islands, our entourage: Uncle Ron & Aunt Heather, Peter & Viv from Rotorua, Mike & Sarah from Oakland, and me, had the plane to ourselves for the 40 minute hop. Cool views flying over these small islands in the vast South Pacific, but the landing strip on Mangaia is particularly short…!

Shortly after arriving at “Babe’s” (sad story actually: child of the owner, university grad, etc., died too young) guest house, we took a tour of the island, driving around it and stopping a few view points. While Mangaia is about as large as Rarotonga, there are only about 400 people on the island (down from over 2000 a few years ago). After the drive, we walked down to a swimming spot at the ocean, but the tides were too high…

Later, I took a walk on my own into the little town of Oneroa – which is rich in cocoanuts, flowers, churches, lizards, cats, and tranquility…

That evening we had a great dinner, and celebrated the birthday’s of Heather (her 60th was the impetus for this trip but her actual b-day is February 1) and Mike (who happened to have his 74th that very day). Oh, and breakfast the next day…?

The next morning, we went back to the swim spot, took a dip and some pix…

Later, we were driven to the same tourist/historical venue that I’d checked out on foot the day before when no one was there. On this day, we learned much more about the culture and crafts of the island Mangaia, including stringing beads and weaving palm fronds. (Jeana, the Aussie of Cook Islander extraction in the photos, happened to be staying at Babe’s and tagged along for several of our excursions.) Again, food was eventually involved…

That evening, we were able to attend an event that gathered all three clans on the island – the 60th anniversary of Cook Islands’ independence (although it is still a protectorate of New Zealand, the poeple having NZ citizenship and using kiwi dollars. The different colored shirts represents the different parts of the island, which I believe are divided by watersheds. (The two white guys in ties and native headgear are Mormons apparently trying to convert the predominantly already Christian locals. In fact, there are more churches than stores, featuring Jehovah’s Witness, Seventh Day Adventist, various Protestant sects, and one Catholic. Please…? Lots of singing, dancing, kids playing, cool drum interludes, and words we could not understand (but which often seemed to be funny)…

The next morning, we had a nice breakfast at Babe’s, then took an even smaller plane to fly from Mangaia to Mitiaro Island. Quite lovely how some of the folks we met over our two days came to the airport to see us off – again on this super short runway…