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Published: June 23rd 2006
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Hibiscus, Rarotonga
It being "winter", here, gardens are not a blaze of colour, but single blooms are still a delight Day 25: Rarotonga
Another day, another couple of snorkelling sessions. There’s not much you can say about this pastime, really - we both love it, and as long as there’s a new venue we’ll be there. Having said a sad farewell to the top-optional Mazda Cabriolet, we were confined to barracks for our last day, which we used to exhaust the offerings of the lagoon adjacent to the resort. We finally found the giant clams (see Day 21) that were shown on the map. These had thus far proved elusive, insofar as that adjective can be applied to objects irredeemably rooted to the spot. Besides that, extremely large examples of flounder and trevally and huge schools of a kind of zebra fish were highlights.
There are no transnational fast food outlets on Rarotonga - no McDonalds, KFC or the like. No Hilton-style hotels or Safeway-style chain supermarkets, either. Everyone seems to be quite happy about that.
We had a lo-o-ong day ahead of us, which really began this night: a 2am wake-up call for a 5am take-off time from Avarua. At the airport as we leave, a wrinkled little man of about 60, in island dress, strums a
ukulele and sings on a decorated stand in the corner of the terminal. It appears that he (or someone like him) plays to greet and farewell every international tourist flight, interspersing songs with airport announcements. On our arrival he was playing jaunty, upbeat songs of welcome as staff decorated us each with a lei of fresh flowers; tonight, as we leave, he delivers melancholy songs of separation. What a unique, wonderful place this is.
Day 26: Rotorua-Auckland-Bay of Islands
Two in the morning is a tough time so start your day, and the return flight to Auckland stretched longer than the outward journey due to a head wind. We didn’t sleep more than a patch or two, but by the time we picked up our conventional vehicle (AboutNZ is a very good car rental operation at the shoestring end of the market) we felt more or less normal.
The drive north to the Bay of Islands was pleasant enough, although the views were obscured frequently by showers and dulled by the low clouds. We arrived in time to take a three-hour cruise around the Bay - again the beneficiaries of low-season demand, being one of
two couples on a boat accommodating 200 people. The Bay is certainly a beautiful place, as the photos show, though not shown at its best today in the showery conditions. We can’t complain about the weather, though - we have had a charmed run in that respect considering the season. Had we left a week or two later the recent snow and hail up and down the country would have left our itinerary in shreds.
Our sedentary schedule today suited our sleep-deprived condition well, and we were tucked up by nine ready for a good night’s sleep ahead of Australia vs. Croatia at seven the next morning.
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