Kia Orana!

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Happy New Year!

Kia Orana from The Cook Islands. We are on a 10 day holiday from our 'big holiday' and are having a lovely, relaxing time on Rarotonga. We considered flying to another island to see the sights but our hotel, The Muri Beach Resort, is just fanastic - with a swimming pool and lagoon views - so have decided to stay put and take it easy. Island life is as idyllic as you might expect with sunny days, a bit of light snorkelling, a walk on the beach to lunch or dinner and cocktails on the balcony with rum and fresh coconut milk (Jake the gardener cuts the coconut off the tree on request).

We had a nice, though somewhat strange, Christmas Day spent in the sunny climes of Franz Josef in New Zealand. After opening our presents (phew- Santa found us!) we had a dip in the hot spa then had a walk along the beach. A very jolly Christmas dinner was spent with Elise and Tom, who had been on the Milford Track walk with us. On boxing day, we jumped into our tinsel-festooned Voyager and headed north to Abel Tasman National Park. It is really beautiful, with golden sand beaches and cloudless blue skies. Here, A was extremely brave and hurled himself out of a plane at 13,000 feet. Luckily, he was attached to a burly man with a parachute. All very James Bond/Milk Tray man. We then spent New Year at Kaikoura and saw 10 sperm whales from our rocky little boat - an awesome sight. We decided to celebrate the New Year at 12pm UK time, rather than Kiwi time as, again, it just didn't feel right without the cold and rain of the UK!!!

We left NZ on 2nd and arrived in Rarotonga at 1am - on the 2nd! So we had two Fridays and, on the way to Thailand in a few days, we will skip Monday altogether! NZ is a fantastic country and A, particularly, was in his element with all the gorgeous rivers and gynormous trout. I must report that we were not sad to leave our trusty campervan, however - we had misunderestimated the distances and emptiness of the country so had spent a lot of time behind the wheel. We had also rightly timed our departure as sleeping in Voyager was beginning to get a bit uncomfy; despite the beautiful National Parks you can park up and camp in, we went to sleep fending off ferocious sandflies and woke up sweltering and gasping in the blazing sun! Mustn't grumble...

So next update will be from Asia as we begin the homeward part of our journey - booooo! Before that, however, we have a date with some marlin and tuna as we go game fishing tomorrow. Hopefully fresh fish for tea! Bliss...

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Photos

Rarotonga sunset
The view from our balcony

One for the boys
'Island night' on Rarotonga