Blogs from Cook Islands, Oceania - page 7

16 February 2011 Our time in New Zealand had come to and end, we were Paualess and had once again set our alarm to an hour suitable to ensure that we would not have a rush on to get to the aiport. Unusually, we both slept for the night. It is quite usual when we know that we have to be at an airport in the morning that one or both of us can neither get to sleep or stay asleep. I say this with one slight qulalification. I did sleep but, courtesy of Inception I had rather lurid dreams which involved one of Gregg's colleagues storming out of her job among other things. For the sake of his sanity upon returning to work, I seriously hope that there was no premonitionary quality to that ... read more

As we say here on Raro… The Island always wins, and this week it stole my time from me. I completely failed to post last week, somehow it just kept getting put off. So this week I will hopefully catch everyone up! 24/1 Busy day at the shop. When I got home I decided to go to bed early. I hadn’t been sleeping well so I popped a few Tylenol PMs and looked forward to just crashing. Unfortunately, around 930pm Steve called and told me he was picking me up because Sara had been in a bike accident and I needed to either help watch his kids or go with Sara to the hospital. Obviously I jumped out of bed and we headed over to where she was. I ended up riding in the Ambulance with ... read more

Week 3 Its official: I dont wear shoes anymore. I spent all Saturday sandal-less and couldnt be happier. I went to work, went grocery shopping, took a drive around the island and chatted to my neighbors. All without any sort of barrier between flesh and ground. Have I gone native? Am I destined to be a Raro bum for life? I doubt it. BUt I havent had my "Holy Shit!" thoughts in quite some time, and that can only be a good thing. The anti- shoe thing really started out of practicality and pain. First, it is too difficult and annoying to always be putting shoes on and off. Yes, even flip-flops. You never wear them into the house, dont need them on the boat and they are cumbersome and slippery when wet around the shop. ... read more

Blog #30 – The Cook Islands – Rarotonga – January 5th to January 12th, 2011 - We came here for the tropical heat – and we got it! We left Auckland on Wednesday afternoon January 5th, and landed in Rarotonga Tuesday night January 4th. After running the usual immigration, luggage and customs gammet, we were greeted with beautiful flower leis and driven to our Guest House. Now it is in the mid 30’s and 75% humidity – but although I’m sweating, I’m not complaining. Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands and the ‘capital’, is a circular island that is formed of sharp volcanic peaks in the centre, and a flattish edge with all of the housing and businesses, then a beach, then some lagoon, and the outermost ring of the circle is a coral reef. ... read more

Blog #31 – The Cook Islands – Rarotonga – Those of you who are regular readers will note that I have jumped ahead in the blogs – numbers #22 - #30 aren’t completely ready to upload because I got really behind during Christmas. However, we are actually now in the Cook Islands, so I thought I would give a truly up to date blog. Pictures to come later. We came here for the tropical heat – and we got it! We left Auckland on Wednesday afternoon January 5th, and landed in Rarotonga Tuesday night January 4th. After running the usual immigration, luggage and customs gammet, we were greeted with beautiful flower leis and driven to our Guest House. Now it is in the mid 30’s and 75% humidity – but although I’m sweating, I’m not complaining. ... read more