Living large in Rarotonga: September 2012

Mitiaro is a small, low lying coral atoll 224 kilometres North East of Rarotonga. Its current population is about 190 with 52 of those being school children aged between 5 and 16. It is 22.3 square kilometres in size and takes about 30 minutes to circumnavigate, or longer if your brand new scooter breaks down! Which mine did - twice, in the pitch black! but more on that later! Mitiaro has two fresh water lakes - Rotonui (big lake) and Rotoiti (small lake), which are the only fresh water lakes of note in the Cook Islands. Together they make up two thirds of the area of Mitiaro and dominate the interior of the island. The locals catch and eat the eels that live in them and consider them a delicacy! Fortunately they weren't on the menu during my visit!

Mitiaro Airport. Certainly not the worst I've seen.

Unloading the plane.

The welcoming party. Nane my host, and Tira the school principal

I was lucky enough to spend three days there this week conducting some research into their IT capabilities and infrastructure. Which is suprisingly good. The six year 9 students participate in an online learning programme in the mornings with a tutor in Rarotonga, using Skype, IDroo, email, and other forms of online communication. They are one of four islands in the Cooks that do the same.

The IT suite at Mitiaro School.
These kids are doing online learning with a tutor in Rarotonga.

I arrived at Mitiaro around 5:00pm so there wasn't alot to do except get settled in and take a quick walk down to the wharf, where a lot of old machinery was rapidly rusting away. They are improving the wharf's accesability to enable ships and barge to get closer to shore, but with the wind blowing and seas crashing it still looked a very tricky proposition!

The main street

The high street (same as the main street!)

My room reminded me of a nunnery, not that I've ever been in one, but this is how I'd picture one! Obviously a large double bed is an open invitation to debauchery, and tossing and turning is the devils work so I just had to hope I didn't. The fan above the bed was a welcome relief, but alas, the islands diesel fueled power generator was turned off at midnight Monday through Thursday to conserve fuel so the fan shut down at midnight, which served to wake me up!

My lodgings

My room: Get thee to a nunnery!

Having been provided with a scooter for the duration of my stay I decided to make full use of it by going for a trip around the island. The scooter was a brand new one, with only 20 kms on the clock, and still with the plastic on the seat, to which was cellotaped the Bill of Lading and address for delivery. I headed out late afternoon and by midway the sun had set and the going got quite dark and I was struggling to stay within the rutted tyre tracks on the road (I use the term loosely!). Only a very small portion of Mitiaro is inhabited, consisting of the village, so I was for intents and purposes 'in the sticks'. The waves were crashing against the coral shore on one side of the road and the flat, rocky, and wild landscape was on the other. It reminded me of the Desert Road in New Zealand's Central Plateau. And it was around midway, in the dark, when my brand new scooter began making a strange noise, and then died on me! I panicked...a little...on the inside for I had no idea how far I had gotten around the island and was wondering whether to walk back the way I came or continue. And of course there is no cell phone coverage on Mitiaro!

My ride
Brand, spanking new and it broke down twice in the space of an hour!
Note the plastic still on the seat with the Bill of Lading and address.

Thankfully I got the bike going again and headed off, even more cautiously than before. Until I came to a fork in the road! I had visions of riding straight into one of the lakes in the centre of the island as I choose the left hand road. I assumed the right took me out onto the runway. It turned out I guessed correctly and was soon riding beside a bright, white strip to my right. I was relieved to eventually pass the 'airport' where I was earlier in the day and began the trip for home.

It wasn't too long before my scooter started playing up again and died on me. While I was on a familiar road I was still some way from home and didn't fancy walking home in the pitch black. But again I got it going and eventually arrived home, to find my colleagues not in the slightest bit worried as to why I was so late!

I think they were meant to be potatoes...?

Mitiaro does have Sky TV though, beamed in from Fiji. As with Manihiki and Rakahanga, that I've mentioned before, the feed comes into the Telecom office and then cabled out to each home for the princely sum of $5 a month! But of course the guy with the remote has all the power, as I experienced during my stay. I was happily watching Taranaki playing Tasman for the Ranfurly Shield and it was a scoring fest, about 150 all after 30 minutes, when the menu suddenly came up and started flicking through the channels, as if controlled by some invisible hand. Now I'm not sure how or why American politics is in such favour on Mitiaro but the remote guy decided to watch Piers Morgan at the Democratic Convention. It was at this time that I retired to my room to watch 'Easy A' on my laptop - great movie!