Airplanes and cyclones and scootcars, oh my!

A sigh of relief comes from me - Zita passed without incident nowhere near here yesterday and it looks like Arthur is going to follow a path so far from here that our flight to Atiu shouldn't be affected. This is a good thing. The Cooks are still forecasted to have another two or three cyclones hit this year, and for all of you who don't know, yes, yes, it is Cyclone Season!
In other news, we rented a scootcar today.... imagine a tuk tuk without the rear seat attachment and you have the modern scootcar. Slow, noisy and a very fun fun fun way to see the sites - including an ancient Marae where they blessed the Maori explorers with celebration and human sacrifice before they set out for New Zealand - coincidentally very nearby the beach from where they actually set out in the mid 1300s. A marae is a Maori meeting place, usually fairly sacred ground.
Tomorrow morning we shove off at a leisurly pace for the island of Atiu via Air Rarotonga, where Mr. Humphreys will meet us at the airport. From there we will drive almost entirely across the island to his house where we have arranged to stay with his family for four days. The purpose of the visit is to tour/taste at the Islands' two coffee farms... as well as observe the sabbath the local way. The Seventh Day Adventists run the local bakery. The Adventists have their sabbath on Saturday. In between their sabbath and the Sunday sabbath, they re-open the bakery to make bread. According to the book, the thing to do on Saturday at about midnight is go to the bakery for fresh bread.... and then catch church in the morning!
There is no internet on Atiu so the rest of the stories will have to wait until next Monday. If you are wondering where Atiu is, go to my first post and look up the linked map.... zoom in until Rarotonga is quite big. Atiu is northeast of here a tiny bit, just south and a bit east of the larger Aitutaki.
Jen out.