Aquarius Pacific Hotels Rarotonga Limited Avarua

Hey folks<br>Well we have just had 5 days in Rarotonga...still as fantastic as it sounds apart from the bloody wild roosters .....anyone got a gun they crow 24/7....and run wild all over the island.<br>Hired another scooter and had great fun buzzing round the island. Feeling much more relaxed and still on Island time which is half as slow again as English time ..great !!!!!!<br>The highlight ...

... fins were found and bags were packed. We were good to go! <br><br>Mel drove us to the airport on a particularly disgusting Auckland winter Saturday. Rain poured and temperatures hovered a little too close to zero for my liking. The escape plan seemed better and better all the time. We took off on time; the cabin crew told us the islands were swine flu-free and requested anyone with any cough, cold or flu-like symptoms to make themselves known. Sickly souls would be ...

... bathroom and living area downstairs with a bedroom, up a little spiral staircase, on the balcony/mezzanine above) wondering what all the noise was. The sight that greeted me was stunning - a little beach sloping gracefully down to the Pacific Ocean on one side while jungle-covered mountains, their tops lost in the low cloud, towered over me on the other. The surf, breaking on the island's fringing reef less than 50m away from my door, was what had woken ...

... Aitutakin atollia, joka ainakin isojen poikien puheiden mukaan pitäisi olla yksi maailman hienoimpia mestoja? Aitukin laguuni on monessa kirjassa rankattu maailman kauneimmaksi ja se väite tsekataan nyt perinpohjin! Lento 9: Auckland - Rarotonga Lentoyhtiö: Pacific Blue Konetyyppi: Boeing 737-800 Lentonumero: DJ163 Ilmoitettu lähtöaika: 19.45 Toteutunut lähtöaika: 19.45 Lentomaileja: ? Lentoaika: 3 tuntia 45 minuuttia Muuta: Pimeää, pimeää Kone lähti ...

... one piece. A few hours at Christchurch airport (including just enough time to head out of the airport, get a photo in front of a signpost telling us that Rarotonga was only about 3,500km "that way") we boarded our flight to the middle of nowhere and endured another hour of that good old "Nor´Westerly". Once the seatbelt signs were extinguished, the crew set about their mission - to get all the passengers inebriated so they could all head to business class ...

... to row competitively in college, and I'm quite competent in a kayak and a canoe...but there's a noticeable amount of "paddling snobbery" here. As we all teamed up to carry the giant wooden vakas (canoes) down to the beach, one of the teachers, who is also on a paddling team, asked me if I knew to paddle. I said, "yes, I've canoed many times." She actually laughed at me and said that wasn't paddling. Hmmm..... That incident aside, when the first batch of kids returned from ...

... tropical landing strip, and I could hear the chicken cacophony even through the airplane windows. I looked at the ramshackle houses scattered in the hills and thought, "What the hell am I doing here, all by myself. Why do I do this?" But everything got much easier. My luggage showed up immediately. Esa, the Canadian guy who owns Ambala Gardens, had an "R. Sherman" sign in his hand when I emerged into the Rarotonga humidity. The sun started to shine, and we drove on ...

... Interested too in the books and noted some very familiar titles from Shortland Publications. Also of interest was the largest building, which seemed to be accommodation for students from the South Pacific University who are studying Marine Science. Returning to the ship by Tender took a while caused by the logistics of moving so many people 150 at a time. We met several more NZ couples today - Thames, Papamoa, Pukekohe, Auckland - from all around. Tonight's show was a comedy ...