Rarotonga Cook Islands

• Kira Johnston, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2012

It had been a rough few months but it was time for my family of now 19 to fly to take our Pap’s ashes home to Rarotonga Cook Islands. It took us 11 hours on a plane to get there. The holiday to Rarotonga was emotional and stressful as excepted. We arrived at night time and I was so tired, but it was too hot to sleep. I had to share a room with my gran. In Rarotonga we went to a lot of different places. The first place I went was the market. It was a very hot Saturday morning. I took the bus with my 2 cousins and my great Uncle Noel. Uncle Noel is the last member living of the Maru family. Every day in Rarotonga I went swimming, the water was like a bath. I wish the water was that warm back at home in Tasmania. We were in Rarotonga for 10 days. On the 4th of November 2011 we scattered paps ashes off Black Rock. Black Rock is one of the significant things in our family. It is in Arorangi which is the part of Rarotonga our family owns. Scattering Pap’s ashes was really emotional. My 2 aunties Ara and Tamoe, Mum and Gran scattered him as the rest of the family watched. The four granddaughters laid flowers in the water to float away with Pap. This is a special memory for me because the trip to Rarotonga was about fulfilling my Paps wishes to be brought home to Rarotonga and scattered off Black Rock.