Cross-Island Trek

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Howdy doody peeps
Lots of news - Yesterday Ben adn I took the best cruise to the south east corner of hte island to a place called Muri Beach. We went in a little boat with plaited coconut leaves for a roof and skirted through the coral to get to an awesome marine reserve where they have tons of fish, giant clams and they have a little demonstration black pearl net/contraption. It was absolutely fantastic and we snorkled for about 40 minutes and then the guy went under the boat (glass bottom) and fed the fish - Got some great snaps.
After snorkling and working up an apetite we went to a little isolated tropical island for lunch prepared by the Cook Island hosts. We had potato salad and coleslaw (not very cook island) and pawpaw with coconut, watermelon and bbq marlin & bbq bananas. MMMMMM it was so good. we had a little mosey around the island,which wasn't very big and a brief wade in crystal blue water. They brought us back to the mainland and we just hung out at a restaurant/bar called Sails and watched the ocean and some people trying to windsurf, while sipping cocktails/beer. Fantastic.

Today - not so great. We tried the cross island trek and we were so excited- got up really early, applied lots of sunscreen/mozzie repellant and got lots of water and chocolate for our 3.5 hour trek. It was fantastic on the way up - hard work (stairmaster's got nothing!!!) and we got to the needle - which is an icon for rarotonga, and then went the wrong way down the mountain. At the needle are cross-roads - one goes the way you think you should and follows a white pipe across the island. one goes off to the left and doesn't look like the one to follow....IT IS ;( We ended up losing the track and sliding down the side of the mountain on our butts, clinging to trees and vines and anything we could keep hold of so that we didn't slide down and die - we've both never been so scared in our entire lives. not pleasant. there was one part where we were tracking across the top of a ridge that was about a foot wide and it was overgrown so it was hard to see where your feet were going, but basically there were sheer drops each side, just like the books that were warning us that tourists die there all the time - not fun. there was one point that ben actually told me 'i love you baby' and it was like the last scene of a movie before someone dies, so i told him to 'shut up', probably not the response he was after, but we were both so petrified that we were trying to hold it together and take one step at a time down the mountain. Eventually we made it down safe and sound, with very dirty pants/clothes/bodies. We saw people near the most beautiful waterfall on the other side of the island and we have never been so glad to see a bunch of others before in our lives. And then when we hit the road - ohmygod!!!! bliss. we're definately going back to the waterfall - it was absoutely beautiful and we didn't give it the credit it was due because we were just so happy to be alive at the bottom of the mountain.
we headed into town for icecreams by the beach this afternoon and it was delightful - so it was a nice top-off for a pretty ordinary - but adventurous day!! oh and it took us 5 hours to get across the moutnain, instead of hte predicted 3.5, so we took the long way!!

Sorry chris, steve, mum, nan and damien for scaring the bejesus out of you. Be assured we won't be doing anything that stupid again with out a guided tour that we can sue!.

Anyway - tomorrow we're headed for Aitutaki, so you won'thear from us for at least 4 days because the internet there is obscene - only one provider means they can charge whatever the hell they like. I've also not been albe to upload any photos so far because the computer in the house doesn't have a USB for me to plug my camera into, I have to go into town and do it from there, i'll do that whenwe get back from aitutaki, so that you guys can see everyting we've been raving about.

Hope all is well in Aus - miss you all and will catch you soon.

Love always
Therese & Ben
OXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOX

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