Blogs from Aitutaki, Cook Islands, Oceania - page 3

Another lazy day on the beach! We headed off after a leisurely breakfast to the beach around the Samade Bar which was about five mins walk away. We’d heard this was the best beach but it wasn’t a vast improvement on our own beach, plus there were no loungers for us to use. But we spent the morning laying in the shade there as it was way to hot to lay directly in the sun. We didn’t go in the water as it was muddy and there were crabs everywhere (although they do run for their holes quickly when you start to walk towards them)! Around lunchtime we set off on a walk along the other side of the strip of island we were on. It was much rockier here but at least there was a ... read more

It has been a long day but I really want to write it up now before I forget any of the details as it was one of the best days ever. We’d booked to go on an Aitutuki Adventures lagoon trip today. The trip was run by Puna and Tutu, a married couple who had been running the tours for a number of years. Puna took the boat out onto the lagoon before explaining to us where our first stops were going to be. On the way Matt spotted a turtle coming up for air, unfortunately by the time I looked it had gone, but we were told that there were lots of tutles in the lagoon in the areas we were travelling so it made us all look out a bit harder in the hope ... read more

Today was our last day (for now) at the Muri Beach Cottages. We just managed to fit everything into our rucksacks although we knew that our hand luggage was overweight for the Aitutaki flight (as it's only a small plane the hand luggage allowance is tiny). We hoped it would be relaxed and that they wouldn’t care because if they weren‘t we were in trouble. I spent part of the morning walking along the beach watching the fish while Matt had a nap, and then had a long chat to Gwen, who runs the cottages. She moved to Raro from the US in 1960 and had brought her family up in the spot where our villa now stood. They’d knocked down the family home a while later to build the self catering villas. She sounded like ... read more

Landing in Sydney on Thursday afternoon it felt strangely like I was coming home... Sydney remains the closest place, in my opinion, to London and for that reason I love spending time there. However, by the time I had wandered around the domestic terminal trying to figure the best way to reclaim my left luggage from international terminal and then arrived (via the airport link train) at Central it was quite late. This time my stay in Sydney was going to be at Sydney Central YHA, as decided that it would be worth my while getting YHA membership as planning on using their hostels whilst I’m in NZ... Settled into my room and then headed off to find the cinema on George Street that Hayley and Lucy (the ‘Fraser Island girls’) mentioned to me. Fortuitously I ... read more

I was missing Fiji, leaving it behind on the way to Rarotonga, the capital of Cook Islands. Arriving at the tiny airport was a new experience. It's like a bus terminal with all the shop closed. A nice thing about the pacific region is the welcome singing and ukulele! Looking out at the beach was nice but I didn't find it a paradise. After Fiji we have been really spoilt! The water is a different colour to Fiji. I found the island very touristy. There are resorts all over the island. Only 23 Km in circumference with one road which circles the island. There are no traffic lights, crossing or round abouts. There is an hourly island bus, which circles the island. It can be frustrating moving on the island if you don't have a scooter ... read more