Blogs from Cook Islands, Oceania - page 42

The Cook Islands are about 13 degrees east of the international date line. They are some of the last places on Earth to see the dawn of the new day, being 10 hours behind GMT. They are only four hours ahead of east coast Australia, though there it's tomorrow. We find it's best not to think about that too much - it frys our fun-sized brains. It seems appropriate that these islands should be out here at the end of time. We sensed the isolation when we flew in from Easter Island, through Tahiti. For hour upon hour there is nothing - not even a slither of land. The Cooks are tiny specs in the vast Pacific. However, the islands are connected to the rest of the world, having a few international airports, some satellite internet ... read more

... 17:55 Muri Beach, Rarotonga. I have been on the move now since 09:00 EST. Though the miles travelled, the time zones crossed and the jetlag accrued, nothing compares, nothing at all to the distance in emotion, and personal endeavour... ...The South Pacific Ocean. A seemingly endless stretch of turquoise blue - the sight and symbol of tranquility itself. And somewhere, just east of the international date line, rising up magestically through the clear waters is a volcanic island. Dense, deep...LUSH. Fringed and softened by a ribbon of white sands stands Rarotonga. The whitish colour sandwiched between the vibrant green of the island and turquoise blue of the sea is enough to indulge any artist. Still, if that were not enough, there is a passionate alluring, a teasing, of every other human sensory perception - hot ... read more

I will admit to having had some pretty low moments during my fortnight in the cooks. The first of these came on our first day there, it all looked so stunning that i felt like it would be criminal not to go swimming in the lagoon and to spend time sunbathing on the beach (incidently sunbathing really isn't my thing usually but it felt right on this occasion), anyway i ended up seriously catching the sun and getting seriously sunburnt (i had stupidly not used any suncream), that night i was burning up and felt in a lot of pain. I have to say though that i was treated really well by a number of the other residents of the hostel (several of whom were nurses) and i was given good advice on what to do ... read more

I guess i had a pretty eventful couple of weeks in Rarotonga and the Cook Islands and therefore this is the first of three entries detailing what occurred and i am starting with the touristy stuff that we did which is the most straightforward thing to write about. The islands really are like paradise, the water of the surroundingh lagoon is turqoise blue and is perfect for swimming, snorkelling, kayaking and everything else. The temperature averages about 26 degreesa the whole yearb round. There were a few tropical storms while we were there as well, some of which seemed to come and go within minutes. Snorkelling was something that intially i seemed completely unable to do, but during a lagoon cruise (while we were on the island of Aitutaki) i tried it again and found that ... read more

We arrived in Raratonga in a similar fashion to Fiji - 3 in the morning, when it was still hot and muggy. How do people sleep? Our first night we booked in to the local hostel. Ben had managed to charm one of the flight attendants on our flight from Fiji, and as we landed, she came up to him with a huge bottle of Verve Cliquot and told him it was a gift to help us celebrate our trip! Not bad! We sat on the lounge chairs by the pool, drinking champagne straight from the bottle (very classy) and looking up at the stars. A great introduction to the Cook Islands! The next day we moved into our beach house. My mum was also planning to visit us in the Cook islands, and she had ... read more