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I flew out of Rarotonga last night to head for Los Angeles. Jake serenaded the leavers from paradise island from his elevated stage, strumming away on his Ukelele. It was funny earlier in the day to see a sign at the side of the road “Ukelele For Sale” (had someone given up on the dream?)

In the last couple of days I have experienced what really happens when you bring together the right natural ingredients and got a sense of what Show the Island can put on.

Let’s start with a wedding at the property. I think that there were only 9 guests in total staying at the Magic Reef Bungalows. In the bright morning sunshine there was an early bustle going on by the staff to prepare the beach, the decking and the walkways to the beach. Grace who manages the place pointed to the Bungalow facing mine, which was hidden by large tropical flowers and fruit trees, shouted to me that ‘Glen and Chelsea’ were getting married today at 5pm. They are a young quiet couple from Canada. They were alone for their big occasion, so there wasn’t the usual parental and sibling guidance that you usually get. The Staff draped the furniture in white and there was a wedding arch constructed on the beach of Palm Leaves, coloured with tropical flowers. A coral rock edged path led to the arch and there were multicolour tropical flowers scattered on the short path from their bundalow to the beach. The Minister arrived in his Island flowered shirt with a smile that had been practiced many hundred times before. “I have the best job on the Island” he said.

On cue the couple arrive to some music and were soon face to face with the background of the lowering sun on the water. The rest of the ‘guests’ watched, clapped then joined them in a toast. What a way to do it, she was stunning and even though it was a beach, the white dress blended in perfectly with the sand and the sea.

So where do we go now…Tradition! This Island is all about history, culture and tradition, which they are actively trying to keep alive. I could not have left without visiting one of their sacred villages for a ‘Polynesian Evening’. A small bus picked me up just after the allotted time (they all work on Coconut Time) and we did a short roll around the Island Road to pick up other guests. We didn’t have far to travel because quite frankly the Island is so small anyway, but we did head inland for a mile up a steep road. There are 3 tribes on the Island that have historically beaten each other to death and eaten each other since 500AD. Very much linked to Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand culture with the way they talk and guesture.

The talk started in the dimming light for the 40 of so guests who were separated into two groups, Vaka’s, representing the boats of their forefathers who left the land in search of other Islands. A food offering was made to the ancestors and then we were led to a bamboo gate to start the evening, all with a lot of chanting and spear pointing. We were walked into the Large bamboo hut, which had open views of the coast from its high point to two sides and there was a stage in front of a third Vaka, which was made up of locals celebrating a birthday. But it was a special birthday. One of the decendants of the original King, made a push in 1980 to open up the area to visitors and to keep the Rarotongan culture alive. Although passed on now, his wife was celebrating her 80th birthday, a real privilege for us and quite unusual. After the celebration to ‘Mama’, we got on with the show.

They told the story of the Islands with Song, hoola dancing and of course drums. The drums set the tempo for the whole evening and I had the beat in my head even when getting on the plane 24 hours later. The drums from slow banging bass with a big wooden pestle, to the fast high pitched wooden clicking and lots of range in between bashed away a beat for the chanting and singing. The dancing by the boys and girls was hypnotic. I know it’s not PC to be watching the rear ends of young girls swinging and shaking it for all their worth, but the hip movement to the beat was amazing. The show in the evening light was colourful, full of movement and with meaning, but I was pleased when the Missionaries came and got the girls to wear longer grass skirts…Praise the lord! A very memorable evening!

So the final show that this Island has to offer is the Sea. I thought I might have a chance with a higher tide on the Saturday that I was to leave, but the heavens opened up, mist shrouded the mountains and a grey blanket came over the Island…for a while. It did break long enough to get about 2 hours of snorkelling and to try harder at getting the fish into the frame of my camera. With the rain and wind and a high tide, I was being pushed back and forth, but the fish were out in their numbers. The moment that I explained in the last post happened again. You stop, you hang in the water and then you are surrounded by hundreds of fish.

As you will see from the photo’s I did manage to hit the button at the right time a few times.

So that’s about it for Rarotonga, I am in the hands of a better air crew and plane to go with Air New Zealand off to the USA and my Watch gains 3 more hours. It didn’t go off without a final hitch. The ground crew at Rarotonga loaded the Business Class food containers to the back of the plane and the Economy to the front, then managed to break the hoist, so for 15 minutes there was a relay of trollies up and down the plane. Added weigh to one of their local sayings …”Who Cares!”.

So next time I open my eyes, I will be going to touch down in the last of the former colonies, the USA. I believe another cultural shift is coming and jet lag, so bring it on!