By now we were in need of decent coffee - LV found just the place. We were to revisit it many times subsequently. We also found a fabulous garden - nobody home, but we paid a donation and had a good wander. The basil was a wee bonus. Breakfast: wholemeal toast, banana, orange, pawpaw, cup of tea Morning tea - LV espresso, TC Flat White at Saltwater Cafe Lunch - same as yesterday with soft boiled egg and illicit basil! Dinner courtesy of Portofino Italian Takeaways: TC - Pasta alla Vongole LV - Pasta Marsala Soggy Chips Veuve Clicquot with its [View Full Entry]

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11th April It’s Tuesday 7th for the second time this week; this time in Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands. We arrived to a warm welcome - flower eis draped around us and a ukulele playing even though it was 1a.m. and very humid temperatures. We awoke later to see a magical turquoise lagoon and white sandy beach at our door. We swam, snorkelled and kayaked around the lagoon for most of the day with a bit of laying on sun beds thrown in too. You can see the edge of the lagoon where the big ocean waves break [View Full Entry]

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Easter Sunday, so not a lot happening around the island today. Needless to say we relaxed, read, swum, snorkelled and tootled around the island - and of course made sure we lined up somewhere to have dinner! Breakfast: Toast and banana (LV - marmalade), orange, pawpaw, cup of tea Morning tea: crackers, antipasti Lunch - ditto yesterday [View Full Entry]

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This was a day to explore the island on our bikes, swim, snorkel and get a few lunch supplies from the supermarket in Avarua. I think there may have been a bit of relaxing with a book as well. Breakfast: muesli, banana, pawpaw Morning Tea: SPCA sausage on white bread with onion, tomato sauce and mustard Lunch: Cheese rolls, White Castello, chutney, toms, (TC - paté) Dinner at Windjammer - part of the Crown Hotel. This was outstanding, and again walking distance from our accommodation. [View Full Entry]

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What a great way to start our holiday [View Full Entry]

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It felt a long time coming, but we were finally on the plane. Dinner on NZ848 - beef stroganoff pie with potato salad! Surprising, but best pie EVER! [View Full Entry]

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Our time in Rarotonga is quickly coming to an end, and our only regret is that we had more time here. On our second day here, we set out for Rarotonga’s most famous landmark Te Rua Manga (“the Needle”). Really just an impressive rock formation jutting out of the majestic mountainside, the climb there is half the experience. Met with another hot and humid day, we started out 450 metres below, with incredible views of the rainforest, mountains, and our destination. After about an hour grueling steep climb uphill, we were met by the self-acclaimed ‘keeper’ of the Nee [View Full Entry]

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When telling people we were next headed to the Cook Islands we were met with comments like "it must be paradise" or "sounds amazing". Little did they know we were headed for a typhoon. We arrived at midnight the day before we left Auckland and were shuttled to our less than lovely hostel for our first weeks' stay on Rarotonga. Needless to say we spent our first week bonding with the other travellers in the hostel (which became a bit like a Big Brother house in short order) due to the torrential rain. We passed each day with a walk to [View Full Entry]

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Well, we’re finally in our first destination: Rarotonga. After spending a few great days in Vancouver with our wonderful hosts Jon, Suz, and Fable, we left for the sunny tropical Cook Islands. Our flight with Air New Zealand was great - spacious and comfortable, and the food was delicious as well. After a 3 hour flight from Vancouver, 6 LONG hours holed up in a tiny wing of the LA airport, and a 10 hour flight to get here, it was such a relief to feel the warm tropical air and light drizzle of the early morning rain as we disembarked [View Full Entry]

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It's just not FAIR. Every place we like we seem to leave to suddenly. The thing is I like it all! The hardest part of leaving Rarotonga is that I know I'm not going to be in any temperature over 20 degrees for the next year. Which doesn't sound very appealing! Rarotonga is hot, perhaps a bit humid, but it has lovely seas, because the island is completely surrounded by a reef. This means that between the island and the reef is the flattest, warmest, clearest water for swimming in in the whole of the Pacific ocean (I reckon anyway). [View Full Entry]

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