The title says it all - it really is just another day in paradise.
I woke up this morning not to the sound of the sea (which I can hear once awake), nor to the sound of exotic birds (which I can also hear once awake), but rather to the very noisy sound of a cockerel. Yes, and this was at 5am. And I really didn't need to be woken up then at all. But once awake that was it, the cockerel, the exotic birds, and the sea conspired to keep it so. Grrr. It took a while for it to get light and I am fairly sure I heard rain, but about 9am it was bright and sunny enough to force myself out of bed and make some breakfast. I was still sore from the burns the day before so I opted not to head straight for the beach but rather attend the Sunday church service with the locals. Yes, that's right, I attended a church service. Who'd have ever thought it! The visitors had their own special place to sit where we could listen to all the local singing (the first language over here is Cook Island Maori), which was really lovely and my main reason for going. After the service they fed us, which was another good reason for going - lots of nice fruits.
After that I headed down to the beach, this time with a book and a whole bottle of suncream. The tide was in so there wasn't much beach, but I found myself a small spot up against a rather comfy rock and started reading a book I had picked up in the little library. Before too long the beautiful waters lured me in and I went for a swim. It was a bit choppy today as the wind was quite strong, although sadly it was a hot wind. It was also very humid again. After a while I got too hot and headed in for lots to drink and a brief snack. I was also suffering from blisters from my new walking sandals so nipped out to the little pharmacy to buy some plasters - joy! I went for a little walk from here just around the coast a bit although I did not find much of interest. It also decided to rain exceedingly heavily whilst I was out - only for about 3 minutes but it completely drowned me. It also seemed to make it even more humid, which was not a good thing. I headed back in and got my camera and went for a walk along the actual beach. I headed anti-clockwise around from Muri Beach going past 3 of the small islands in the Lagoon. Took a few photos and paddled in the water. I then encountered a rather enthusiastic Spaniard called Francisco who wanted me to take his photo. I couldn't get rid of him then! We have arranged to do the walk across the island tomorrow - here's hoping we don't get lost or anything!!! After I left him on the beach (I told him to swim across the lagoon to one of the islands - seemed the best way to move him on!) I headed back to my place to drop off my camera before heading back out into the waters. It was still quite windy but I really needed cooling down - the lack of air-conditioning is a real bummer! It gets dark fairly early here so once in at about 6pm I tend to stay in - the last thing I want is to be mutilated by mosquitoes, which happened to the woman in the next studio up from me. So I made my dinner and then continued reading my book and planning what exciting things I was going to get up to tomorrow. At about 10pm I just crashed again - no doubt to be woken early by the damn cockerel!!
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