In the Cook Islands, they have "Island Nights" at various hotels.  This is very similar to a luau in Hawaii, with food, dancing and music.  We had made reservations at the Edgewater Resort for Tuesday night, but Cyclone Nancy got in the way.  Then, we made reservations at the Edgewater for Saturday night.  However, as we listened to people talk about Olaf approaching and scheduled to hit on Thursday evening, we thought that things might not be back in line for Saturday, so we made reservations at the Rarotongan Beach Resort on Wednesday night (right between the cyclones).  The food and entertainment was great.

Going to this turned out to be a great decision.  Olaf passed the island on the west and did a lot of damage at the Edgewater Resort.  The banquet room that was used for Island Nights was completely washed out.  They also had many of their hotel rooms flooded.

While on the island we met a lot of people from New Zealand, England, Australia, the US, and Canada... in that order.  These two shared our table at the Island Night.  They are Pat and Jackie and they are from Lester, England.  Their son lives in Australia, so they came to visit and then stop in Raro for a few days.  However, due to Nancy, they had to stay for at least 2 extra days and had to switch hotels due to damage at theirs.

Here is Jackie on the deck of the Rarotongan Beach Resort just before dinner.  We had planned to take the bus to the Island Night since we were "dressing up".  However, at the last minute we decided to ride the scooter the 5 miles to the hotel.  It would have made a great picture; I was wearing slacks and Jackie was wearing a long dress.  On the way home (it was very dark!), we got rained on.  The headlight on the scooter was like a small, dull flashlight.   Oh boy!

One of the things we kept hearing was about people who were "really traveling".  Gee, we thought 21 plus hours in a plane or airport and going to a small island none of our friends had heard about was a big deal.  But, many of the people we met were traveling from England to Raro, to New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and back home.   Around the world!  After hearing several people talk about this, I asked how much all of that costs.  Two separate couples mentioned prices of about $1,900 USD.   This intrigued me since we paid about $1,400 for our flights from PDX to LAX and then to RAR.  Since returning home, I have found that this is true.  $1,900 is about the minimum cost with about $3,000 (each) being the cost if you stop at a lot of places along the way.   Hmmmmm.....  Doesn't that sound intriguing?   Of course that does not include food or lodging.  I guess you could just sleep in the airports!