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Published: October 5th 2008
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We got up bright and early at 6am to get ready for our flight back to Rarotonga. Beni came and collected us at 6.45am and I was surprised to see that the streets were just as busy at this time of the morning as they were at peak rush hour in the evening. Beni told us that school starts at 7.30am in Tahiti so the roads are busy from 6am.
We weren’t too sad to say goodbye to Papeete, although next time we visit (and we will be back one day) it would be nice to stay on the mainland for an extra night so that we could do an island tour as it felt a shame that we only got to see the least beautiful part of it.
We checked in our luggage, and then as the bureau de change was closed we felt we had to spend our left over currency in the duty free shop. It was hard work finding things that added up to the £30 but we eventually managed it.
The flight took two and a half hours and although it was windy again, it wasn’t too turbulent. As usual I felt that
we had to eat the food offered even though we felt full from the pain au chocolates we’d had at the guesthouse. I think it’s backpacker logic - the food is free so we must eat it! Working our way though the little tray full of breads, croissants, pastries and fruit kept us busy for quite a while anyway.
When we approached Rarotonga the pilot gave us a circle tour of the island which was amazing. We went right over Muri Beach and the four motus close by. The lagoon looked a deep turquoise, speckled with dark patches of coral. The beach seemed to stretch endlessly around the island - this was something we’d missed from Tahiti’s islands where the beaches tended to be smaller and more enclosed.
As we landed and walked into the terminal building to the sounds of the local singer (who has sung at every flight arrival and departure for about the last thirty years without missing a day) we felt pleased to be back. Coming back to Raro felt a bit like coming home after a holiday. We got into our taxi with relief and had a really good long chat to the
driver and a girl who was in the cab with him. It was our first conversation with someone English speaking for more than three weeks. They told us that the weather hadn’t been great since we’d left, and it had become very windy and rainy. The driver even had on a woolly hat which we found hilarious - even with the wind it must have been more than 20 degrees but he said it was their winter and he was cold!
We got dropped off at Muri Beach Cottage again, this time we were in the other cottage. It still overlooked the lagoon, but didn’t have the view right up the beach like our other cottage had done.
We tried to sit out on the balcony for a while but it was just so windy. A leaf from the tree in front of us blew straight off and smacked Matt full in the face. When I say leaf, I don’t mean any normal leaf; it was almost as big as his head. He looked stunned, and I couldn’t stop laughing. It was time to go inside.
Late afternoon we set off walking along the beach to find
some dinner as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It felt very different from Tahiti’s islands. The sand was a bit more golden, and it was softer and thicker than most of the beaches there. We tried to decide where our favourite place so far has been but couldn’t as different places have been better for different things. The lagoon colour is more vibrant in Moorea, the mountain is most beautiful in Bora - but Raro and Aitutaki are much friendlier and cheaper which counts for a lot. We gave up trying to compare them all.
The small take away café we’d been searching for was open and we ordered a massive amount of food as we were so hungry. I could almost hear my mum telling me my eyes were bigger than my belly. Actually when it all arrived, it did look like an awful lot of food, but we managed to put most of it away quickly.
On the way back we called into the shop for some essentials before carrying on back to our cottage.
Matt had gotten sick of hand washing clothes - not that he’d actually done very much of it so far
- so he’d insisted on doing some proper washing while we had access to a machine. It meant buying a whole box of washing powder but luckily it wasn’t too expensive. We spent the evening putting loads of washing in and hanging them out to try on the balcony washing line. Ten minutes in the wind and everything was dry.
We found a chess and draughts set on the bookcase, so played a game while drinking a bottle of wine. We’d really missed wine in Bora where it was out of our budget most of the time.
The next hour was spent deliberating between getting a 4 berth camper van in New Zealand or a 2 berth.
I think eventually I managed to persuade Matt that we should go for the smaller one. Although who knows if we’ll both change our minds in the morning.
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