Time travelling in Rarotonga

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Rarotonga is one of the wettest islands in the Cook Islands, although they don't tell you that in the brochure. When it rains, it sucks. But when it's sunny it's everything a tropical island should be. A 360 coastline of sandy beach, cushioned by an expansive lagoon which protects you from some almighty looking waves. In said lagoon you find fish acting how fish do - which by the way is nothing like in an aquarium. The little stripey ones come up to you and say hello. Parrotfish graze the sea bed making audible chomping noises with their beaks - hence the name. Others like to follow you around too. There are huge ones, tiny ones and ones that don't look like fish. And don't get us started on the octopus.
The island looks like Lost - did we mention that in our last blogs? Although it's a tiny island, the volcanic peaks rise up out of the centre. We hiked over them, and it took us 4 hours to get from one side of the island to the other.
The people on the island are large. Not necessarily fat, there's something in their genes. Which is suprising for a place with not much food on the shelves. Some shops we went to had a few tins of spam and a selection of vietnamese made candy.
Also, there is a distinct 80's feel about the island. It's aimed mostly at honeymooners and older tourists but the thatched palm resorts and tropical shirts somehow make it look dated. It must be something about being next to the dateline that stops them progressing through era's. The dateline is one of those things if you think about too hard you may end up falling over. We left New Zealand on the 28th July and arrived on 27th. Work that one out!
You can hire scooters/mopeds again here, but this time you have to aquire a cook islands drivers license. The test consists of driving up a road AND turning around WITHOUT falling off. Tim passed 1st time.
It's a lovely place for a break if you happen to be in the area...The Rarotonga. Go look it up on a map!

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Comments

[nico]

...loving this