Avana Marina Condos Rarotonga

... and the consequences of a globally warming climate, by their height above sea level. <br>I was told that the Samoa tsunami wave passed by Rarotonga on it's journey toward North America. <br>Imagine living in "paradise' with a potentially catastrophic event about to enfold on your shores. Imagine the feeling of relief and gratitude when it doesn't materialize.

... Air New Zealand has a great product - consistently good service, new planes, nice food. They just need to fix their frequent flyer programme up and we'd be saying hei kona ra (goodbye) to Qantas.<br><br>As we descended down towards Moreton Island I even saw two whales just off shore. What a terrific end to the holiday.<br><br>Breezed through immigration and customs and we were in the cab at 8am.<br><br>Highlights - Air NZ ...

... very funny watching other people go through the same ordering process that we had.<br><br>Headed back to the cottage and picked up our sudokus where we&#8217;d left off. Yes, sudokus. There is no tv and no radio. No wifi. Any music I&#8217;ve burnt is on the hard drive at home. We forgot to bring a pack of cards so sudoku is our entertainment. <br><br>Was fantastic to get into a bed that didn&#8217;t involve climbing up a ladder but boy was/is that bed hard.

... massive deck of our villa. <br><br>Later that day we hired a scooter which we had read was the only way to explore the Island properly. This meant Richard had to get a Cook Islands driving license which he is very proud of!<br><br>The weather was changeable (we did experience a few tropical downpours) but generally it was always warm. The sun rose and set in about 10 minutes around 7am/7pm which meant it got dark or light very quickly. At night, the stars were inspiring. We were ...

... back, all climbing into the back of a pickup truck and then spent the next few hours discussing world politics, war, conspiracy theories, and the morality of porn and exploitation of women. It was deep.<br><br>Friday has to go down in history of being one of the most amazing days of my life. We were picked up in a little mini bus at 9:30 and driven to a waiting boat. Although there were specks of rain, not much could dampen the spirits, the bus was full and the whole ...

Polynesia It felt like the next stage of our journey when we took off for the Cook Islands. The Cook Island was always meant to be the holiday within the Holiday, and how true that is. We took of form Auckland on the 5th and landed in the Cooks the 4th of March. Going over the date line meant we gained an extra day and saw the sun rise on the 5th twice, but now we are behind Europe in time. We had spoiled ourselves and booked into a ...

... our American Dollars. The NZ Dollar was worth about $0.58 US. We used the easy expedient of figuring slight more than half the NZ price was the US price. Prices were more reasonable than on Tahiti. But our two main souvenirs are our life experiences and photo/movies we take. As we walked thru town we came upon a large grocery store. Inside I found a diet coke and a small bag of chips. From my adventuring experiences, I realized that the potato chips would provide a needed source ...

... this ocean oasis with a girl from Michigan named Stephanie, who I've already mentioned. Stephanie is cool and the youngest person in our group...I'm the second youngest...it happens that our group consists of 13 people, only two of whom are current wage-earners. That's me and Stephanie. Everyone else is a retirees. So let's check out my statistics...on the last service project, I was the oldest person in a group of about 30 18-year old Brits. This time, I'm ...

... la constelacion de la cruz del sur, que se dice que solo se ve desde aqui, yo creo por la cantidad de estrellas que habia... Cook Islands esta bajo la soberania de nueza zelanda, asi que se habla en ingles, y maori, y la moneda es el dolar nueva zelandes tb... A pesar de que es destino de un monton de bodas al dia por la playa, a mi me encanto este sitio e incluso se nos paso por la cabeza quedarnos mas tiempo, alquilar un ...

... practice, and very entertaining it was. Tonight we crossed the dateline and have a certificate to prove it so now we have another - Monday 21st We woke early to another warm humid day, to watch the tricky maneuverings by the ships captain, with pilot assistance, as we docked at the wharf. We were treated to music by the Police band, and a cultural performance on the wharf as we docked. We breakfasted early and spent the morning exploring the town area. By prior arrangement we met ...