Blogs from Cook Islands, Oceania - page 3

Geo: -21.2318, -159.763Today is a day Mom is going to enjoy. Her favorite thing is boats and we are going out in the lagoon on a glass bottom boat. A note left on our door last night by our Cruise Critic organizer indicates that there will be no snorkeling on this outing. That's odd. I have the website info and it specifically references swimming and snorkeling. We're wearing our swim suits anyway. Rarotonga, located just inside the Tropic of Capricorn, is the vibrant capital of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. The central mass of this island, often referred to as the jewel of the Pacific, is the eroded remains of a volcanic pyramid whose crags now form jungle-covered peaks and ridges ideal for hiking and caving. With our island time limited, we chose to ... read more

Hi everyone, had a fantastic day yesterday (well everyday is like that !) but this was great, we made the painful decision to go to another island, the catch is, you can only get to these other places by planes !! Oh yes, back to that one again, so we put our brave heads on and booked to go to Aitutaki which was a 40 minute plane journey away. Ok, 40 minutes isn't long but it is if you're scared !! We got picked up very very early, except that I was awake at 04.30 because the Rooster started yelling !! We were met at the airport by the guide called Paul where we met the other parties. Onto the airstrip we went, quivering might I add !! Didn't even go through security, got a ticket ... read more

Hi blog-followers, sorry for the delay, working out how to get wi-fi !!! Yes we are in the COOK ISLANDS, soooooo lovely, on an island called Rarotonga. We left NZ on Tuesday night, flight took 3 1/2 hours, arrived at 2.0O am to rain, absolutely pouring. The chap who picked us up at the airport said it would be fine and we are in day two and it has been sooooo hot, in its 90's. We have a bungalow just by the beach, and we have a pool, our own kitchen, bathroom and sitting area, it really is very nice, everyone is friendly and happy. We have chickens and cockerels which wake us up, so I just put in my ear plugs, really don't want to get up at 5.00 am !!! We lazed around all ... read more

(This blog covers the whole 2 weeks of our stay in Rarotonga, since the Wifi was too expensive to keep uploading data and pictures there) The flight from LA to Rarotonga was about 11 hours overnight. I invested in one of those semicircular neck pillows at LA airport, and using this, the long flight was not too bad at all. Arriving at Rarotonga island was exciting. As we flew in we could see this picture postcard tropical island surrounded by a coral reef through the window. The whole island was lush and green and mountainous in the interior. Immediately after clearing customs we were greeted by the pre arranged airport transport driver, who threw a garland of flowers over each of our necks, before bringing us over to the waiting minibus. There were 2 other couples ... read more

Geo: -21.2318, -159.763On Monday morning we had a couple of hours with the car we had hired. We drove into Avarua and looked into a couple of the souvenir shops. There was very little there to buy but we did get a couple of wrap-around skirts for the little girls. We then took the car back to the resort. I did stop and take a photo of the very low key Parliament building.After lunch at the Edgewater we took the bus to the stadium for a meeting for all technical officials. This allowed us to meet our fellow officials and inspect the sites on which we will be operating for the next three days. After an hour or so there we returned to the resort.The highlight today was the Opening Ceremony of the Championships. This was ... read more