Tom is feeling excited to wake up early, Alissa is not so I bravely take the bullet and get Tom out of bed at 6am. We stumble out and watch the New Zealand 7s team get dominated by Fiji in the final of the Paris tournament as Tom eats his breakfast. It seems Tom realises his mistake and states “I’m going to check on Mummy” and promptly disappears back into the bedroom which we share and falls asleep again. I take this as a sign and quickly do the same. Sleep is good. Alissa rises to a quiet house and slopes off to find ‘the best coffee on the island’, not 100 metres from our place. Neil Dearlove at the Cook Island Coffee Company has been quietly roasting and brewing beans here for years and it shows. He knows a thing or two about caffeine, has a vast knowledge of the island and is a bloody nice bloke to boot. It rapidly becomes clear that we will be spending most mornings with Neil at CICC.
Eventually all cylinders fire and it feels like we can have some fun. Loaded up with snorkel gear we roll down to Muri to find a bit of beach that works for us. There’s something really nice about being in the water here, snorkelling is one of those incredible things where you can really disassociate yourself and literally immerse your body in a completely new environment. It’s good for the soul.
We spend an hour or so at the beach before lunch needs arrive. Vili’s Burger Joint in Muri does the business. Same as the day before, great fresh food.
We carry on down the road to Fruits of Rarotonga as the day is kind of perfect for snorkeling. There’s plenty of coral here, with some large schools of fish. Perfect for a family adventure. Super safe. Sea cucumbers are ubiquitous it seems.
Muri night markets happen on a Sunday and its great, busy with loads of atmosphere. The whole place feels positive with the food again being fresh and delicious. Everything costs $15-$20 but it’s worth it. Huge range of food from wood fired pizza to fresh fish, island style chinese to tacos and waffles. The standard is high. I think the night markets happen 4 nights a week here so this will probably become a regular stop. I had an Ika Mata bowl with fresh ceviche, papaya slaw, rice and “nuku kai” sauce. It was perfect. Max dominates an entire pizza and Nate chooses the slightly surprising mushroom rice with chicken (as Nate likes to surprise).
Food is again devoured (it is tradition) and we boost off back home before it gets dark. Everyone is still feeling tired from the flight (it was that bad) so early nights again.