Wedding Song (Cook Islands)

Coconut palms are everywhere

We bravely decided to forgo the air conditioning overnight. After all dear reader, we are on a lagoon near the reef with constant sea breeze. Perhaps not so constant. Certainly not as constant as Bright Star. There were some sticky moments but we survived the heat and vowed never to be so environmentally sensible again. When we retire tonight the air con will be on. Mind you, a simple ceiling fan would have done the trick.

Saturday is market day so we needed to be up early anyway. Well, early for Jayne, 7am. She does not acknowledge an hour like this when on holiday. The best thing about our accommodation is that it faces east and I get to watch the sunrise from my bed. About this Jayne is not thrilled. There will be accompanying photos later in the week - of the sunrise, not Jayne's unhappiness. That would be a quick way to end an enduring relationship.

The breakfast here is great. Fresh fruit forever: watermelon, paw paw, pineapple, passionfruit and fruit or coconut yoghurt accompanied by the usual range of toast. The hot part of breakfast is based around eggs. Unsurprisingly. Everywhere you look there are chickens, travelling singly or in groups. Hens just hanging out together or mother hens with numerous chicks. There are plenty of roosters strutting their stuff too. Thankfully, the sound of the waves crashing on the reef drowns the crowing of a morning. A good thing too, it saves me drowning them.

Breakfast over, we walked down the drive to the main road to catch the bus into the markets. We were sitting, waiting, wondering which bus would arrive first. There are two buses constantly circumnavigating the island, one clockwise and the other duped by Melbourne. (You don't get it? Seriously? Not explaining.) While we were waiting, a car came from the resort and they offered us a lift. It's like that over here, everyone is friendly. It turned out to be Peter (the singer from last night) and his wife Catherine. They spend a lot of time here, as you would expect, with Peter singing three nights a week at the resort during January and they provided us with lots of interesting information that we will use in the next week.

Watch your head. They make great wedding decorations.

It was very hot this morning so a lift was most welcome although it delayed our first ride on the island bus. The markets were large and sprawling and defied any attempt at logical navigation, although I'm sure we saw everything. There was food, fresh fruit and produce as well as cooked offerings to sustain the shopper. There were handicrafts, dresses, sarongs, jewellery (lots of black pearls), people touting their businesses for fishing, swimming with turtles, cultural experiences and lagoon cruises. It was an eclectic mix accompanied by the usual feeling of dejá vu.

Done and dusted with nothing purchased, we headed across the road to walk down past the retail shops. Eventually we located a store that sold reef shoes and purchased a pair each and then sought directions to where the bus, clockwise or otherwise, might be found and set off in search. What we found was Bergman and Sons, the black pearl specialists. A pair of earrings later, we caught the bus.

Once seated I began to survey my surroundings a little more closely. It was not a new bus. Tickets were paid for in cash and issued in paper. Novel. The bus driver stood up and said, "I'll be back in an hour" and walked down the stairs to nervous laughter. One patron suggested if he came back in an hour the bus wouldn't be there. We didn't put it to the test because he was back in a minute and we commenced the clockwise drive home. This prompted more observation. Clearly defined bus stops were in short supply. There appeared to be no method to signal the driver when you wanted to get off. Interesting. Then a woman stood and swayed her way down the aisle and the driver stopped the bus and she alighted. Ah! Old school. It was a pity that we weren't really sure where to get off. We passed the church that Peter and Catherine recommended we attend tomorrow morning, apparently it is amazing (not sure it will be for us, given the last two communities we were associated with had significantly strong Islander populations).

Exit for the bus safely navigated we changed and donned our reef shoes and walk/swam/floated across the lagoon to the island. The current was still moving quickly and we constantly needed to alter direction to make land where we had intended. There are not too many spots where it was deeper than 1.5 metres and it was mostly sandy. If there was a market for sea slug, sorry, sea cucumber, this is the place to be - they were everywhere. Big, black, slimy, sandy, ugly slugs on the lagoon floor. I've eaten them too and they taste worse than they look.

Jayne's cocktail of the day

Landfall achieved we circumnavigated the island. There is a ship wreck on the reef. On the lee side there are BBQs and tables and bush camp set ups that the lagoon cruise people use. We hear them as they beat their drums on the way over. And we hear them as they beat their drums on the way back, Sometimes there is a singing competition between barges. No I shall not be partaking of that experience, despite it being tagged, "hilarious".The swim back commenced further up from the resort so we could counteract the current and then it was off to the pool to de-sand and de-salt and have a cocktail. Piña Coladas all round. Very refreshing. As we people watched, preparations commenced for the afternoon wedding. Jayne watched one of the staff walk out with a large jar in hand with palm fronds growing out of the top. "Oh, look at that" she cried with some measure of envy. "It's a table decoration darl, not a cocktail" I mused. Much laughter.

Lunch over we sought advice from reception about a cultural experience for later in the week and enquired whether the afternoon wedding would impact on dinner arrangements.

And to Justin and Sam's wedding and the title for today, Wedding Song by Angus and Julia Stone. The benches were in place, the sand was raked, a love heart drawn around the bower, flower petals placed in bowls, the aisle was delineated by coconuts and every time everything was right, the picture was disturbed. Local dogs walked across the sand, a local child bolted from the water and walked the aisle, Herman turned up with the guests! However, he felt like he wasn't welcome, made it the edge of the aisle and turned back to the safety of his tree.

Herman beating a hasty retreat from the 'aisle"

It's fair to say that the wedding stopped everyone in proximity. Those floating in the lagoon re-focussed their attention,  guests at the Beach Club came onto balconies or went out to watch, passers-by waited for the bride to arrive. It's also fair to say that the weather stopped the wedding. Albeit briefly. A very heavy shower arrived post commitment statements that sent everyone inside. For three minutes before they re-emerged for the speeches.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, champagne, a nap, some reading and finally dinner. The guests retired from the reception around 11:30pm. If there were any dead sleeping nearby they would have been woken.

Until tomorrow