Beers with a King

Saturday evening was a slightly bizarre occasion – at Trader Jacks and we met the King of Rarotonga, the Ariki, who was jollily drunken invited us to his palace (we followed him in his wife's little Nissan as it swayed all over the road) and drank some more beers as well as got the low down on the local politics (and read his letters to the Queen). He was rather attracted to Celine and offered me first his Canoe and then the whole island for her. Naturally I declined... his wife was away in New Zealand, and offered us food from his freezer, which his wife had prepared all his meals in advance, including (I'm sure) frozen sandwiches, as well as leaving little messages everywhere to feed the fish etc. Yes - he did show us his authentication documents to prove he was one of the hereditary kings (or Queens) of the Cooks - there are 24 all together, 6 on Raro... a most interesting evening!