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Dave’s Travel Blog
It rained very heavily in the night which is good from a Cook Islander's point of view as they have not had much rain for several months. The cloudiness is sporadic during the day with rain that is more like Scotch Mist than rain. We had a wonderful breakfast of tropical fruit again and then decided to venture into town. Jean had been somewhat reluctant to hire a vehicle but riding on the bus whet her interest so later in the day I rented a motor scooter. In the Cook Islands, you must have a Cook Island Drivers License so I got a temporary one from the rental place and went into Avarua Town to the police station and got a license. Went back to the rental place to get another scooter as the speedometer on the first one wouldn't work. One can only drive maximum of 40km per hour so it was important to have the speedometer. When I got back Jean was itching to go snorkeling again so off we went. It is amazing the variety of fish one can see around the coral. We do not have to go very far off shore to see schools of large blue fish in large schools roaming the reef almost like gangs. The colors of the fish in the lagoon are so vivid with iridescent blues to brilliant yellows and orange. You park yourself over a reef and just watch as the fish dart in and out of the reef. Brilliantly dotted puffer fish to multihued angel fish roam about unconcerned at our presence. I am sure this will be at least a twice a day occurrence as Jean is fascinated by the reef and its occupants. Apparently there are manta rays and turtles to be seen. We may venture to some other locales to snorkel too. I am charging up my GoPro camera to take some video of the fish we have seen. I suffer from psoriasis and while I was in New Zealand, one of our bus drivers extolled the virtues of Manuka Honey as a treatment for psoriasis. We purchased a small tub of Manuka Honey lotion and I have, for the last 3 days, been applying it to my elbow where the psoriasis is. I am amazed at the results! The psoriasis is gone and Jean says the elbow looks pink and healthy. I suppose it could also be the salt water from our swimming daily but after the first application, the psoriatic skin just peeled off so I am inclined to believe it. Sorry for the topic but it is amazing how it has worked. Jos, one of the treats every morning are halves of passion fruit filled to the brim with lovely pulp and seeds. I wish I could squirrel some into my luggage to bring you especially after reading your email this morning. The customs sniffer dogs would be sure to find them unfortunately. Tonight we went to a show and dinner at the Highland Paradise Cultural Centre. The show is put on by descendants of the High Chief Tinamana whose tribe occupied the highlands on the northwest corner of Rarotonga. The show recounted their history of arriving in Rarotonga and their wars with the neighboring tribes and into the time of the missionaries arriving from Papaeete and ending with the arrival of the airplane on the newly commissioned airfield at the west end of the island. It was very colorful with beautiful costumes. The food was Polynesian with tarot, breadfruit, pork, chicken, and that very traditional of Polynesian desserts- trifle! We got home about 10pm. The weather was clearing and I wanted to see the stars but it just wasn't clear enough. Will try again tomorrow night.
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