It’s not all work!!

When volunteers come here to volunteer, it’s sometimes hard for me to remember that they also need some down time to re-energize and continue to take care of all the animals on this island. The volunteers are scheduled to work five days out of the week with two days off to explore what the island has to offer. This can include many activities ranging from relaxing on the beach on any side of the island, snorkelling, walking a trail, going to town, grabbing a bite to eat at the various establishments around the island to scuba diving, paintball, fishing, or even going to another island.

During the week however, we now have some regular activities in the evenings to break things up a bit.

On Mondays, we join the Hash House Harriers for a little socializing and exercise. Each week, trails are created in new locations around the island to allow everyone to see island views that they would not see if they stayed on the main road. One can choose to walk or run and the trail is kept interesting with various trail marks to keep participants guessing. Once we’re all back where we started, we catch up on a few drinks before heading home for showers.

On Tuesdays, we join a local dance group and find out just how hard it is to move like the locals do. We usually go for about an hour and begin by joining the kids at the amateurs for a little warm-up; the guys learn how to shake their legs and the girls learn how to move their hips. It can be quite a work out as the drum group picks up the pace on their pate’s (local name for the wooden drum they keep the beat on). After the warm-up comes the dancing where you can try a few routines with the group. Older kids start moving in at this point and the level of dancing is heightened. It’s good fun to practice and after a while, if you stay long enough, you start to learn the moves. Dancing often makes me sweat more than the running did the day before.

On Thursdays, those who haven't had enough exercise on Monday and Tuesday can join us in training for the Week of Running held at the end of September. A track has been set where runners are timed to see how long it takes them to complete 5, 8, 10km. This can really be exhausting if the sun is up. We’ve had a number of volunteers who have been keen runners and actually run around the island, some of them more than once. Not me, yet!

Finally, on Friday nights, we usually go out and dance until well after midnight. There are several good places in town and different groups of volunteers like different things, but I’m game for most choices. In some of the places, the locals will lead you on to the dance floor to dance to the local music and will show you how it’s done freestyle. You can shock them with the moves you’ve been practicing on Tuesdays. It’s all very joyous and if you’re lucky you may meet some of the best dancers in the Cook Islands (they compete for these things). They’re good guys and they are willing to teach you.

So it’s not all work, although we are still on call 24 hours.