Rarotonga

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We set off with our beach bag packed towards the main resorts as they are on the best strip of sand and on the way popped into a deli for an expensive, but very tasty, pain au chocolate. We priced up canoe hire at various watersport shops and decided on the cheapest - $15 (£6) for a full day which seemed like a bargain. The shop threw in a pair of fins for free and we set off in our two man canoe towards one of the small islands across the lagoon. It was surprising easy to paddle over and in no time we’d pulled up to a stretch of coral sand with maybe five people on it. We found a quiet patch and set up for the day. The water was so clear and the lagoon was really shallow meaning you had to go quite far out before you could start snorkelling. We quickly realised that the snorkels we’d bought with us leaked like mad meaning you regularly got a mouthful of salt water.

The sun was warm but there was a sea breeze that stopped it from getting too hot. We kept applying factor 30 sunblock every few minutes but it wasn’t long before we realised we were burning and it was time to cover up. Around lunchtime a boat on a tour pulled into the island and loads of Americans got off. It was our signal to depart - this time we went to the next island along which was completely deserted - we literally were the only people there! We didn’t stay there too long as we felt that we were getting even more sunburnt so we set off on the canoe again and did a circle of the island before heading back to Muri Beach for a bit more swimming.

On the way back to our villa we called into the dive shop and bough ourselves a pair of fins each. These would have cost $5 per day for each of us to each to hire and they were $65 to buy a pair so we figured in the long run it would save money. Not quite sure how we’re going to fit them into our rucksacks though!

Then we called into a shop to buy a few more provisions and lots more bottled water and set off on the trek back to our villa. It was hot and the bags were heavy (maybe it was made worse from all of the canoeing we’d done). Around the corner from Muri Beach Cottages a car pulled in and a lady asked if we wanted a lift as she could see we had heavy bags. It was really sweet and unexpected as that sort of thing would never happen back home.

When we got in we opened a bottle of lager and sat on our balcony to enjoy the view. We still couldn’t quite believe we were there.

Matt started feeling ill so went to lay down. It wasn’t long before he was being violently sick. Luckily I had bought half a pharmacy with me and I was able to give him various sachets to make him feel better. Initially we wondered if it might be heat stroke but then he got a fever too. Earlier in the day we’d visited a resort to book places at an ‘Island Night’ for later in the week and they had hand sanitizer on the bar and the staff were all wearing latex gloves. At the time we didn’t think anything about it but in hindsight maybe that meant they had something like the noro virus there.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it gets through his system quickly so that we can carry on with the holiday as this is really the most beautiful place in the world and we want to make the most of it.

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