Rarotonga

---

We arrived at about 5:30am after a long flight from LA with a stop for 1.5 hours in Tahiti which we didn't know about until we got on the flight.

After a very short wait for our bags (it helps when only one flight comes in at a time!), our chariot awaited and took us directly to the Aroko Bungalows. It was pretty basic but just what we needed - afterall it had a big bed, a shower, a fridge for the beers and a deck to sit out on with views over the lagoon. What more could you ask for? Well, some air conditioning perhaps but actually our ceiling fan did a pretty good job considering it stayed around 28 degrees even at night.

We did very little to be honest despite all the things you can do on the island. Basically, all we wanted to do was relax, read, sleep, etc. and we did all that to excess. Angus polished off three 400 page novels in 3 days. Muri Beach was only a short walkaway and we spent a lot of time there just lying around, soaking up the sun and cooling off in the water. Unfortunately, Angus somehow forgot to put sunscreen on his arms after taking so long to cover everything else and he had lobster arms!! They were pretty sore and caused some minor heatstroke probs on the flight to Christchruch, but thanks to the lovely stewardesses of Air New Zealand and the miracle of oxygen, he was knocked out and sleeping in no time!!

We did manage a trip into the town of Avarua on the clockwise bus round the island (there are only 2 buses on the island - guess which way the other one goes?). We wandered around, had a fantastic pizza and bought stamps off surely the only gay in the village - camp as a row of pink tents, I tell thee but a lovely lad...suited his pink floral shirt though.

The most notable event of our stay was our first wedding anniversary on the 28th of Feb - was it really a year ago?! We sank a beautiful bottle of wine given to us by our friends Andrew & Leyanne (we still have bottles for our 5th and 10th anniversaries waiting for us at home!) then we went to Sails Restaurant at the Rarotonga Sailing Club for a great meal.

We had been strongly advised to go on a an all day trip to the Aitutaki Island/Atoll which has a huge lagoon with amazing coral and fantastic snorkelling opportunities. But at 150 quid each and with no discounts for the unemployed, we decided to pass - next time!

Anyway, it was soon goodbye to the Cook Islands - we're sure we'll be back. Luckily, the cyclone predicted to hit the day after we left eventually weakened and moved in a different direction - it would have been their 4th cyclone in 4 weeks!! Unlucky or what....

On to NZ!!

---