Kia Orana!

Friday/Thursday

Ro was so excited about the prospect of getting on a plane that he woke up at 2am and never did get back to sleep. The alarm went off at 4:15am, and we unconsciously made our way through our morning routine, packed the car and hit the road to Auckland well before dawn. Ro finally fell asleep in the car, although he woke up when we stopped for gas in Waihi. As we drove through the farmland in the Waikato region (probably the only flat place in the country), the sun peeked above the horizon, revealing a foggy, frosty morning. We got a little anxious over the time when we hit Auckland rush hour traffic, but made it to the airport with a few minutes to spare.

Ro insisted on filling out his own departure card, and dutifully handed it in to the sweet lady in Customs who humored him, then subtly crumpled it up and threw it in the rubbish. Mark stopped off in the All Blacks store to pick up a beanie (a hat, not a stuffed animal) on our way to the gate. Ro was a little disappointed that we had to sit in the middle three seats on the plane, depriving him of a window seat, but he was soon lost in Monsters vs Aliens. Sherry watched The Boat That Rocked, while Mark saw Bottle Shock (turned out to be more of a drama than the comedy he was expecting).

Ro digging in to his ham & cheese toastie

We had just finished lunch and were enjoying our drinks, when the flight steward came up to us, peering at his seating chart:
Steward: "Are you the Hill family?"
Sherry: "Yes"
Steward [to Mark]: "Are you a medical doctor, sir?"
Mark: "Yes"
Steward: "We have a situation"
Sherry [to Mark, smirking]: "Here, honey, let me hold your Bloody Mary"

Turns out it wasn't anything too serious, just a sick teenager. No heart attacks or birthing babies at least. The kid's mother and the flight crew were very grateful, nonetheless, and the steward gave Mark a complimentary bottle of Syrah (full-size) for his efforts. Ro did pretty well on the plane, except for a minor incident as we were waiting to get off when he kept bumping impatiently into the roll-on luggage of the old man in front of him, eliciting a bit of a scolding.

We had finally arrived in the Cook Islands, on the main island of Rarotonga. Since we crossed the International Date Line, we landed on Thursday afternoon after taking off on Friday morning. After debarking the plane, walking across the tarmac, and passing through Customs, we boarded a hotel shuttle, as Ro excitedly watched a chicken running around outside the bus. Ro thought the island looked a little like the one King Kong lived on: very lush, with sharp, jagged, mountain peaks in the middle of it. Like most Commonwealth countries, you drive on the left. There's only one major road on the island, which runs along the beach all the way around. Consequently, there's only two public buses: Clockwise and Anti-Clockwise, which run every hour (the time it takes to drive around the island).

Ro & Sherry on the tarmac of Rarotonga International Airport

"Mommy, why is there a chicken at the airport?"

Our shuttle driver was fond of tailgating scooter riders

We soon arrived at The Edgewater Resort on the west coast of the island (the airport is on the northwest corner). Since it's school holidays, a lot of chilly Kiwis had the same winter getaway idea we did, and most of the resorts on the island were all booked up long ago. The Edgewater is the largest resort on the island, so they were the likeliest to have available rooms, but even so Mark had to wait more than 15 hours for confirmation online. Although The Edgewater is big enough that the bellboy drove us to our room on a golf cart, Rarotonga isn't nearly as commercial as Tahiti, Fiji, or most of the islands in the Caribbean. The Cook Islands don't get much more than 100,000 foreign visitors a year, and they've managed to keep their relatively unspoiled charm.

See link: http://www.edgewater.co.ck/

Ro persuaded the bellboy to let him sit up front

For the first time in a long time, Ro didn't mind having to change his clothes, and he was in his rashie and togs before you could say sunburn. Hitting the beach, he was soon busy splashing in the tidepools. The island is surrounded by a coral reef; at The Edgewater, the reef is about a hundred meters offshore, and the waves all break on it, leaving the lagoon about as calm as a lake with some gentle boat wake. The water is crystal clear, and Ro and Mark busied themselves spotting sea critters on the ocean floor. The beach is "white sand," but this is a little misleading, since on close inspection there didn't seem to be any silica-type sand, just really small pieces of broken coral. There was too much coral and stone on the beach to make it smooth enough for running, volleyball, or Frisbee, but it made for excellent beachcombing.

Taking in the view from our patio

Sherry on the beach at The Edgewater

Ro enjoying getting wet at last

Ro chilling in a tidepool

South Pacific Sherry

Sherry thought these sea cucumbers looked like, well...you know. Ro thought they looked like poop. Mark was just impressed with the clarity in waist-deep water

Ro loved collecting the black rocks scattered around the beach once Sherry told him they used to be "hot lava." There was also no shortage of coconuts, and we tossed one around like a football for a while. We watched the sunset, then retreated indoors so Ro could take a bath in the big jacuzzi tub. He didn't realize the water had to be a certain level to work the jets properly, and managed to spray water all over the floor.

"Catch, Mommy!"

Ro showing off the coconut he found

Sunset Thursday evening

Our bathroom was bigger than some Manhattan apartments

Too tired to do much exploring beyond the resort, we walked down to the on-site restaurant, The Brasserie. Mark had the king prawns, which were enormous; he had fun freaking Ro out by biting off their heads (complete with eyeballs and antennae) before eating the rest. Ro had his standard noodles, while Sherry had a smoked chicken salad; she actually thought it was ham when she tasted it, but the waitress reassured us it was chicken. Apparently their chicken-smoking technique is a little different in the Cook Islands. We all shared a chocolate mud cake for dessert, of which Ro ate the lion's share. While we finished our drinks, Ro had fun climbing the palm trees lining the beach, and just happened to encounter a girl who quickly captured his heart.

Sherry dining al fresco at the end of a long day

Ro knows the best place to meet girls is a palm tree

The object of Ro's affection is an adorable six (nearly 7) year-old brunette named Kelsea. She's an Aussie living in NZ, and she and Ro became fast friends. As if they knew to do it instinctively, they came over to her parents' table first and she introduced Ro, then they came over to us and Ro introduced us to Kelsea. It was so cute! Eventually, though, it was past their bedtime, so we all adjourned back to our rooms. As luck would have it, her family was staying directly above us, two floors up. Mark stopped by the bar to pick us up a couple of wine glasses so we could drink our free Syrah. No sooner did we open it, than a bellboy showed up with a complimentary basket of fruit and a bottle of white wine. For tomorrow night, eh? We sat on our patio, looking at the stars, and listening to the wind in the palm trees and the waves lapping on the shore. We'd glance back every few minutes at Ro snoozing, looking dead to the world and not moving a muscle.

"Mom, Dad...this is Kelsea"