Blogs from Cook Islands, Oceania - page 40

Having the scooter definately makes getting around easier, went for a very civilized supper last night, some friends from my last hostel have a little chalet type thing so went round for a 3 course meal!! (i provided the wine and cheesecake) a very pleasant touch of normality, we could of been back in blighty, apart from the humidity and the gecko lizards on the ceiling. Scootering back in the dark was a little nerve racking, all those shadowy figures at the side of the road, trouble with the scooter is the speedometer does not work, is deliberate so it keeps the mileage down so they can resell for more, fiendish! Not much else of interest right now, just looking forward to getting back into the action in fiji, may not get much change to update ... read more

Yawn, great, supposed to join a group last night to get up at 3am and go over to a sports bar to watch the FA Cup Final live, 4 of us from my dorm were going so i thought that one of them woudl wake up, but no, not until it was 4.15am and thus we had missed the lift, fantastic! Looked like a good one too, nevermind. Yesterday was a funny one, my kayaking round the little islands on Muri Beach was a satisfying if exhausting experience, think that maybe the 2 week booking in Raratonga was a little too long, nevermind, i'll go town today and get some reading material then it does not matter if I just sit on the beach all day. Weather not that sunny either, moan, moan, moan. And the ... read more

Last night was easily the best since I started this trip, most of the hostel got together to have a curry, then have a drink, later on we piled in the mini bus to go over to the airport, then we stood right under the runway for a spot of 'JetBlasting' Jetblasting is when you stand under the runway as a Jet comes in (the big plane from LA) and see it coming right at you, then it whooses right over your head as it drops onto the runway, what can I say, it's a blast! Sprits were high so I came up with the suggestion that we go for a spot of nightswimming, which turned into a spot of skinny dipping for some of us, I did not participate in that part, I still had ... read more

Well Cook hmmm, arrived late, getting towards midnight, via air NZ, again no veggie meal - actually just think that is their policy! No-one to meet us at airport - we waited, jb’s mood darkened more than the midnight around us. The next and last flight was due in around 1ish, after which the bar would close! time for action, the barmaid was v. sweet & helpful, in as much as she served beer and told me how the phone worked - only via a card - that wasn’t sold at the airport - yep it’s run by NZ! Luckily someone arrived to meet a friend on the last flight in, he seemed to know his way around - used to live in England and now has ‘some sort of business here’ so hey you can ... read more

Kia Orana (forgotten the exact meaning but they greet you with it a lot round here) Well I'm now in a completely different environment, my shuttle from Hollywood to LAX was fine and a superb 9 hour flight over the Pacific whereapon I had a short stopover in Tahiti where was greeted with a little white flour to put behind my ear, sadly on arrival in the cooks it was raining and you can't import flowers. Yes it was absolutely pissing it down but it cleared and got to hostel, whre they took us for a food shop. With some lovely people from the UK and USA went down the sandy beaches to swim, got cut and bruised horribly but its all part of the fun and was glad to get to open my 'travel first ... read more