Sokala Villas 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 ...

... waves. The center of the island is made up of tropical green mountainous scenery and pretty bright coloured flowers.

We spent the week relaxing with a book in the hammocks under the beach hut, snorkeling in the lagoon mesmerised by the beautiful tropical fish. To save some money we cooked for ourselves and made several good curries using the local fish, which is really meaty and very filling.

... 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 ...

Woke up early and rented a bike. Rode around all 32 km of the island. Checked out the saturday market and grabbed food in town. Kited in 20+kn SE, but too tired to kite for too long. Long nap. Most of my friends left today :( just after I learned all the names.

... the island to an amazing snorkelling area. Hiring masks etc, we waded into the water and saw more colourful fish in clear warm water. The visibility was stunning and I was able to distinguish an octopus from similar coloured rocks, more blue star fish, Picasso fish, puff fish, tunnel fish, angel, parrot, coral trout, but no sharks or turtles, despite me being convinced that I saw one, which I later found out, was not. We then dried off, hopped back onto the ...

... stunning! Such a beautiful beautiful place. And the hostel is brilliant. Right on Muri beach which is the best on the island, fronting a stunning turqoise lagoon - and to top it all my bed is right by the window on the balcony so I wake up staring at the sea every morning. People here are great and its a really sociable place - the drinking isnt helping my budget tho........ The other day I hired a ...

... us the reason we were late taking off was that due to ferocious side winds, we needed to max out on the fuel we carried in case we couldnīt make it to NZ and needed to return. In order to achieve this fuel load, 35 bags were removed and would be following along tomorrow. We spent the whole flight wondering if it really was our bag(s). Needless to say, when we arrived in Auckland we were greeted with no luggage. And that was the beginning of our problems...

... They needed no visual reference screen for their singing. One would suddenly stand in the center of the room and begin to sing in the strongest voice I'd ever heard...and then everyone would rise after her and I was absolutely surrounded by Maori song. Up in the balconies, mostly mens and teenage boys, also adding to the incredible stew of sound. After the service, Stephanie and I streamed outside into the tropical humidity, barely able to see the path over the ...

Llegamos con un sol de morirse a un hostal bastante cutre con un calor de flipar, nos quedamos aqui un par de dias, alquilamos una motito para recorrer la isla en 30 minutos y buscar otro sitio mas acogedor... Terminamos en Aremango, un hostal mas limpio pero mas caro tb... Esos dias han sido dias de letargo, de leer en la hamaca a la luz abrasadora de este sol isleņo, y curarnos un poco de las ultimas semanas... Fuimos a hacer ...

... and waving. Saturday 19th Another lovely sunny warm calm day - 23+ degrees. We've managed to talk ourselves into daily exercise, that's apart from up and down several flights of stairs several times a day, and did our 7 and a bit laps which equates to about 4 kms we think. After an aborted attempt at sending emails in the morning we finally managed a reasonable connection in the afternoon so got that first epistle sent along with our birthday wishes to Colin, and spent a pleasant ...