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Published: January 30th 2007
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The flight back to Raro from Aitutaki was on the really small island hopping plane - although it was really packed out this time - but the flight was easy and smooth. The weather was much better so there was chance to see the Aitutaki lagoon and island as we departed - which let us see what we had been exploring for the last week or so.
As we were on a domestic flight Vara's (the backpacker hostel for the next few days) would not lay on a transfer for us. The cheapest way was to get on the Island bus - there are two buses; a clockwise and anticlockwise which go round the island kind of hourly! It took us a few goes to get it right, and the bus drivers were a bit tempramental about handing out advice but we did eventually get into Muri beach.
Varas is in a great spot right on the beach and is really well done - kind of like a cheap hotel. They have a wooden deck down near the beach for relaxing on and lots of tables outside and in for people to relax and have their food on.
We spent most of the time at Varas relaxing and having a great time which is not that great to read about. The interesting stuff we did was:
New Years Eve : Spent this down at "The Point" - a restaurant at a local resort. The meal was excellent and we had some bubbles along with our meal and some VB from Australia. Both got fairly well oiled and made an effort to get dressed up. Beck wore a dress she managed to find in NZ and Paul donned a loud, red Island shirt we managed to find a few days earlier. Following dinner it was a short stumble down the beach to the Sailing Club for some boogying and drinks (quite why vodka became a good idea is not well understood). It was a great night, but the hangovers were a bit of a killer. It was great not to have to worry about entrance fees, taxis home and all the usual New Years shennanegans!
Cross Island Walk: This is a 4 hour walk from Avarua (the main town) across the island to the otherside, taking in "The Needle" - a rocky peak and some of the
other high points of the interior. We had a rough description from the lonely planet guide and despite a few reservations, decided to do the walk on our own rather than being escorted by a guide which would have cost about NZ$130. There were tales of other tourists getting lost and needing to be rescued, but we decided it could not be that hard! The walk was great - through the hot, humid, rainforest interior with lots of rustling from the foliage as the gheckos got out of the way. The route finding was not too bad apart from down near the river where it could have been easy to pick the wrong trail out. We did it fine, although some of the description in the guide should be amended - they were a bit optimistic on one of the times in the difficult areas which is not that good if you think you might have gone wrong. The walk ended up with at a waterfall where you could go for a dip - lots of the locals were taking advantage of the cool water, along with some tourists - one of whom should choose some alternate swimming gear we
rekcon!
Round Island cycle challenge: We finally managed to hire some bikes on Raro and it took about 1 1/2 hrs to go round the island on the main road. Managed to find some really bizarre stuff including an inflatable Xmas Santa amongst the palm trees at one of the resorts (Beck thinks Dougie will be jealous!) and the Cook Islands Ministry of Agriculture which looked to be in a cow shed. It was a great way to see some of the island and to do it at a slightly more relaxed pace.
Final dinner at "The Point": had a great meal on our last night - had to run along the beach in the end to make it back for the transfer to the airport. The highlight of the meal though was the pudding/cocktail - it was called something like the "Snickers Bar". We should have shared one instead of one each as they were huge, but it was a great treat and when the bill came it turned out they had not been added one so we legged it (also hence the run along the beach!). V. naughty - but if you cannot look a gift
horse in the mouth when you are doing this on a budget (and yes I am sure we will burn in hell!)
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