Aroko Bungalows Rarotonga

... that the 'western' Cookies have put together.

Lunch at Trader Jacks again. Bloody fantastic calamari strips. Gee they were good. The other meals were ok but certainly not as good as our first meals there. Had a few mojitos - deeeeeeeeeeeelicious. Was a really nice way to wrap up the holiday.

Headed back to the hotel and the Kiwis we'd met on the lagoon cruise yesterday were out by the pool. Had a few beers that turned ...

... or going our route on the weekly flight out to LA. It seems most of the flights are night flights as the runway is so small it's probably best that you don't see how close you are to the sea before take off lol!

The natural beauty of the island itself is what keeps people coming, outlined with palm trees and a wide sea green lagoon allowing for safe snorkeling, and acts as a barrier from the ...

... the big two Raro resorts - The Rarotongan and The Edgewater Resort. The Rarotongan is literally in the middle of nowhere. No idea if they have a free shuttle to Avarua but if they don’t you’d have to hire a car or catch the bus to escape. Edgewater is a bit closer to town but still a long way and it‘s also the bus or hire car to get away. The Rarotongan looked pretty flash but the Edgewater looked a bit tatty. At least Muri where we are ...

... before retreating. Everyone from the hostel was going on a pub crawl so I didnt want to be anti-social(even though I had no desire to drink) Guides were really cool and played local music for us before we left. Some fun in the bars, wanted to go home early, but bus didnt leave till 230

... Raviz is the best & only indian. It takes an intense 15 minutes of walking to see its entirety. Unfortunately the rain persisted heavily the first few days so beach time was non existant which helped me finally lay the Count of Monte Cristo to rest. Island life is slow moving literally. There are 2 buses that transport folk round the 32km island for $7 return, aptly termed clockwise & anitclockwise. If you want to drive, you will need a Cook ...

... NZ for the privilege of looking over at us while we were paying less than a quarter of that for the mirror image. Anyway, the posh Island Night consisted of a number of authentic songs and dances, the absolute highlight being the fire dance, which involved a group of semi-naked blokes hurling flaming poles into the sky in an attempt to impress the ladies. I think it worked for most, it was pretty spectacular and drew quite a (non-paying) crowd from the ...

... not welcome in church, crazy tourist!) and to take off my tennis shoes and put on my lovely sparkly church sandals. The CICC (shorthand for the church we attended) is in a beautiful whitewashed, hand-crafted structure, the grounds of which include a large cemetery. I've included photos, so I won't spend more time describing....but the effect in person is quite amazing. Stephanie and I found a seat in the right-hand isle next to a shining yellow-glass window ...

Having been allocated brilliant seats at the front, before we even sat down we were moved! Our "nice" seats had miles of leg room to accommodate a baby changing shelf................ I have no idea if we took off on time. The aircraft "Sat Nav" didn't seem to have the Cook Islands so the plane was just heading to "destination unknown" in the South Pacific. Plenty of time to catch ...

... Judy (Papamoa couple) for lunch and with them negotiated what we thought was a reasonable deal with a taxi driver to explore a little more of the island. $20 an hour sounded good. He took us to see Robert Loius Stevenson's museum, past some impressive 2007 South Pacific games venues, a golf course, the airport and the new Aggie Grey's hotel. After three $120. Either his maths was no good or he was having us on. He explained that $20 was just for around town and we had driven some ...