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Published: July 24th 2010
Mon 12th
The flight was ok as I did sleep most of it, well on and off.
We arrived at Rau's guest house, which it did not look anything like the photos from the internet, as we were explaining to the driver that this is not what we expected a lady turned up and said we should be at the beach resort with the family. We got to the guest house and the family who own the house were i there with the grandparents, children, brothres etc although they made us feel very welcome the grandmother said to use ' well i hope you don't mind kids crying in the night and children fighting'. We knew that there was a dispute about the house, the family have taken it back and don't want to rent it out any more - hence why we were taken to the other guest house thats being built.
Something didn't feel right about all of this as they were really just putting us up out of the kindness of their hearts. So we went for a walk along the beach, I burst into tears. I think this was justthe fact that we had come off of
a 10 hour night flight and we tought we were going to paradise. We took a walk along the beach to decide what we were going to do. We came to a decision that the best thing was to walk along the beach to find new accomodation. We found found International backpackers. Tisa was the daughter who ran teh family business who also stayed at the backpackers as their house burnt down last year. It was great,nice and chilled not expensive and there were other travellers.
Afetr settling ourselves in we went for a walk to get some gruband fell asleep on the beach after eating our meat pies. Now this was paradise. For our tea we bought noodles and a beer each and sat a chatted to tther travellers.
It was so nice to have our own room and the fact that there were not others coming and going and diferent times of the day/night. Heaven!!
Tues 13th
We woke after having a great night sleep but to find Nathan had ants in his bed and also 22 bites on one foot/ankle. They were everywhere. Yes ok I didnt think the place was overly clean but what
do you expect when you are staying in a backpackers place. We approached Tisa about this and she replied in an abrupt voice ' well you have two choices, you can either tell Martin he has to move out of his room or I can spray th eroom for you but either way your going to get ants.
So once again we decicded to go for a walk and think about what we were going to do. Yes we decided to find new accomodation, there was no way Nathan could have stayed there knowing that he was getting bitten left right and centre.
We found Raratonga Backpackers. We had a good look around and Rhianan (manager) explained that she only had one of the self contained bungalows left. This was $72 a night, ok this was more than what we wanted to pay but this was our 3rd accomodation in 24 hours as we just wanted something nice. She as so helpful and even drove us back to International Backpackers to collect our things.
After setting in we we hired a scooter for three days so we could get around and although the island was not that big you still
needed transport as things were so far away from eachother. We also hired snorkelling gear - amazing, we could see so much.
Whilst driving around we found a brewery. You could buy a 2l bottle of beer for $11 and then ref ill it the next day for $10. We went to bed with Nathan inspecting the room for ants. After making me so paranoid I finally fell alseep but waking to an itch on my leg. I pulled back the duvet and my night dress to find a beattle on my thigh. I screamed and we both jumped out of bed. As you can imagine we both didn't slee well that nigh!!
Wed 14th
We drove our scooter into town and nook to go to Aitutaki, this is a near by island. This was for three nights for $470 each. Nathan also bought a $20 driving licence which he is very chuuffed of. We drove to the local butcher- this is called Prime foods, we heard that it was really cheap and the meat there is really decent. So we bought 4x sausages and half a pound of mince. The mince was really nice and meaty, we had
this in a spag bowl.
Thurs 15th
We were going to go horse riding but when we got to the stables the horses looked, well a bit rough. Not to mention they were ponies so Nathan legs would have touched the floor. He could have taken them for a ride.Sso instead we hopped back on the scooter to try and find a nice little beach - yes thats right, I know it sounds weird as we are on an island surrounded by sand but the beaches are not that big. So by 12.30 we found a nice little spot by Palm Grove.
Today was great as we chilled out on the beach until 2 and then went back to our shack and had the rest of our left overs from last nights spag bowl. For the rest of that afternoon we sat by the pool and sunbathed.
That night we had the massive sausages with beans for tea. We sat up in the communial area and chatted to other travellers. We got friendly we two trainee Dr's, Georgie and Duncan.
Ha ha we came back and did the nightly check of the room and bed and found a lizard
in the bed!
Fri 16th
As we woke early that morning we packed our bags for Aitutaki Island and then drove off to into town to buy departure tax.
It was also time to drop the scooter back and so after this we had to walk back to the beach, much to our discuss.Nathan then remembered we hadn't bought sun cream in town so off we trotted 2 miles back to get sun cream in the local shop but they only sold a 30 so it was a total waste of time. On the way back to our hostel we picked up a dog and we named him Norman. He stayed with us for the 4 hours we were at the pool and then came along to the beach side bar to have a drink with us.
Sat 17th
Today's the day we fly to Aitutaki. We caught the bus to the Sat market which was near the airport and we bumped into Rob who was going in for the kill of the spicy chicken curry. We joined him.-
Walking to the airport was horrid as we had our bags with us and it was a really hot
day. At the airport we saw our plane arrive 'Air Raratonga ' OMG I shit myself , a seat on either side and only 16 seats. We were sat at the front and you could see the cockpit and what the pilots were doing and even their faces which I supose is a good thing as we could see if they were panicking if something was to go wrong. It only took 45 mins. We got picked up by the hotel and got taken back to our shack. Wow we couldnt stop laughing and couldn't believe the price we payed for such good accomodation. Most people were quoted $550 for bog standard accomodation and a flight but we had luxury.
I cannot believe how much they love their fish and chips. We treated ourselves to fish and chips but we shared. they were lovely and we probably enjoyed it even more as we were so hungry and had been living of noodles. Apart from the odd day.
Sun 18th
Day of rest for the local Cook Islanders!! So that's what we did. I also have an unhealthy obsession with crabs.
Mon 19th
Today we went on a lagoon
cruise. Kia Orana (this means welcome). This took us to Honeymoon island, One foot, Maina and Moturakau Island. This was fab, we went to Shark Island (Raptoa) and Tiger island Moturakau Island which our tor guide told us the history of the island and Aitutaki Island. We also had a traditional lunch with parrot fish caught by the tor guide himself. The plates were made out of palms but with leaves on top which the food sat on. We snorkelled that day as well.
Tues 20th
As we were having to go back to Raratonga we thought we would take a walk to the local shops which was a good 45 mins away.
Our flight back was hair raising!!! The tiny palne was being thrown around from left to right, up and down - it wasn't pleasant. We met Dincan and Georgoe and a few other from the hostel that night at the Whatever bar and grill. as we did live off of noodle for the three days we were there we treated ourselves to a burger each. I must say it was lovely!!
I found out that Arnie and Claire went to the aiport that night to
pick us up. This was the date and time I told them but not realising that we were a whole day behind them. I felt so guilty and silly!!
Wed 21st
Today we were flying to NZ so we sat by the pool and chilled for most of it. Rhianan dropped us to the airport.
Sun 25th
Woke with the sniffles.
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Laura
non-member comment
amazing
you 2 look like you are having such a fab time :) n this photo is so lovely.. we are all missing you loads.. you lucky devils all our love laura n the boyz xxxx