So you arrive at Raratonga and you are greated by singing and Ukele players and then covered in the most amazing flower garlands which smell fanatstic. This was where we met the people whose house we would be staying in whilst on the island. They really are larger than life, happy carefree people who treated us really well. It was a bit of a weird set up as we didn't know that anyone would actually be staying at the house whilst we were there. There was one brother with his wife and two kids and a baby, which to be fair [View Full Entry]

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Cook Islands & The Jurassic Park soundtrack We powered up the North Island of New Zealand and stayed with our friend Alisha who we had traveled with in China and after a pleasant stay in Auckland we jetted off to the Cook Islands and as we flew onto the island we got a chance to view its beauty by air, from the sprawling emerald-green lagoons to the dramatic mountainous centre of the island (cue Paul singing the Jurassic Park theme tune every half hour) Our hostel was right on the beach with an amazing view of the lagoon and nearby smaller [View Full Entry]

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So, we arrived in the Cook Islands in the morning on Tuesday 16th June having left New Zealand in the evening on Tuesday 16th June; all very bizarre! Our time on the Cooks basically involved sitting on the beach... it's a hard life! We did however hire some bicycles and managed to cycle round the WHOLE island (not a particularly difficult task!) Some pictures... [View Full Entry]

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Cook Islands After leaving New Zealand and a sad goodbye as the country was awesome, so awesome we spent the majority of our money, oops! Moving on, we are well and truly ready for two weeks in paradise. On boarding our Air New Zealand flight NZ46 we get upgraded to first class with leg room to spare and window seats, result! The flight was really nice and was extra nice because of the three small bottles of Merlot we drank, free of-course! We land 3 hours later, but somehow yesterday at 9:30 in the evening and it’s a nice blast of [View Full Entry]

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I'm in love with the Cook Islands. If you want a fabulous beach vacation, this is the place to come. I haven't had the best weather, but it is a gorgeous area. I toured another island, Aitutaki, on Tuesday. The weather on Raro was rainy, but Aitutaki had sun breaking through the clouds. We took the yellow boat to tour the lagoon. We snorkeled at a few different sites - zebra fish, trumpet fish, and a medley of others. I saw some huges clams - who knew the inner part where the shells meet come in such a variety of colors. [View Full Entry]

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I am so glad I can sleep on planes! It makes that nine plus hour flight go by much quicker. It's been awhile since I have flown with checked bags, and I had forgotten the tedium of waiting in line for check-in, and then security. There is a reason you should arrive two hours before international flight departures; it took me 90 minutes for all of that (sigh!). The flight was fine, decent airplane breakfast. We arrived in Rarotonga while it was still dark. The attendant on the airplane PA was funny. Throughout the whole flight he speaks to us in [View Full Entry]

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Feeling very much like we were on a flight to Benidorm we survived the 3 hours over to the Cook Islands. Families galore on the flight spent the time thoroughly over-excited and cheered once we'd landed...very bizarre but then again i suppose it is sort of their spain-being only 3 hours accross - i know i'd prefer to come here for sure!! Queuing to go through arrivals there was a little man playing the ukelele ina straw hat and flowery shirt-very tropical!! Going through arrivals we were a little stuck as we couldn't remember which hostel Matt had booked for us..there [View Full Entry]

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I made it to the Cook Islands and had a day and a half of the hottest and most humid weather of my life. The island of Rarotonga is a tropical paradise island only a quarter the size of Niue, but with 15000 people. After that glorious day and a half however, the weather turned to stink. 4 days straight of nonstop downpour, and no glimmer of the sun. I still rented a scooter and drove around the island, which took 40 minutes, but the things to do are severely low when the weather is so terrible. It was my first [View Full Entry]

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I have just returned to Auckland after my week in Niue and still can't really comprehend everything I saw. Niue is not a part of the Cook Islands, but rather is a self governed nation in free association with New Zealand. That pretty much means that they do their own thing, but still rely on New Zealand for a lot of aid. The island is 260 square kilometers, and is not the typical South Pacific island. There are no sandy beaches and thus the reason why it's not a typical tourist destination. Niue has a population of 1500 people, but there [View Full Entry]

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Brunch - Back to Saltwater Café Lunch - NZ848 Peppered steak pie and potato salad, chocolate mousse (absolutely delicious!!!!!) Unlike our last visit where we had to wait at the RSA across the road from the airport to catch our middle of the night flight, we were able to leave today at a very sociable hour. Following breakfast at the Saltwater Café, we spent quite some time trying to return our scooters. The details aren't interesting in the least, but it is noteworthy that there was no suggestion of stress or impatience from either of us. While my original intention of [View Full Entry]

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