After a lovely, healthy breakfast at Junior & Cindy’s, we flew the short hop from Mitiaro to Atiu. We were greeted by Roger who gave us a great mini-tour in his truck on the way to the Atiu Villas, perhaps my favorite place to stay so far…
The Atiu Villas are charming, and the manager/concierge Jackie is too. Some initial pix of the property…
More of the Atiu Villas…
That afternoon, not long after arriving, we took a tour with Birdman George, a local legend and ecology tour guide who educated us, not just about birds, but about plants and nature and the history of the island…
More of our tour with Birdman George, which concluded with a lovely lunch…
Later that evening we went to visit Allen at the Sunrise Saloon – or whatever the exact name is for his place which serves up a local home brew – or bush beer. We learned about the rituals of the rounds of shots delivered exclusively by Allen from his plastic bucket. Went back to the Villas for a wonderful dinner…
The next morning we walked to the cafe for a leisurely breakfast (first two: eggs benedict & Jackie’s office at the Villas), after which Ron & I went for a scooter ride around the island…
Next, we met in the afternoon to take a tour with Joshua, a local botanist, fisherman, rugby player, and cultural steward. First, we drove into the jungle to harvest banyan bark…
Then we learned how to cut and pound the bark into the material for making ceremonial clothing, a practice normally only done by women, his grandmother being the last Cook Islander to know the secrets of the craft. He also provided a wonderful fruit snack, and we eventually went back to the Villas for an equally wonderful dinner…
Before flying away from Atiu, we got up early for another truck ride to catch the sunrise with Lucy Moody for fruity pancake breakfast…
This batch is of pix taken by my fellow travelers which have appeared in my photo stream. Note the approach to the Mangaia airport…!
One more island to go on our tour of the Cooks. Stay tuned…