2nd week in Rarotonga now completed and we’re happy to report it was
much more relaxing.

We got some snorkeling done finally. The 1st attempt was good but not
much we haven’t seen before and it was a bit too cold to float around
too long. The 2nd attempt a couple of days later was much better.
Beautiful crystal clear sea, much warmer, huge fish all just off a
gorgeous golden beach as in the photo below. Ben even swam with a
school of tuna!! Pretty good huh?!

We spent some time with some nice interesting people: couple of Dutch
girls, a few Germans, Brits, Aussie surfers, Kiwi lads who tried to
catch fish with a spear most days (without success) and an American ex-
pastor who is fascinated by conspiracy theories whose Aussie partner
makes yummy lime cheesecake.

Our standard day in paradise: wake at about 10am, take it in turns to
make coffee, drink in bed, get dressed and have brekkie at just before
midday, sit and read in the sun till about 2.30pm, walk to the shop
for food supplies, make a cheese sarnie for lunch, sit in the sun a
bit more till 4.30pm ish and have a shower and lie down after a hard
day and then its beer o’clock followed by cooking tea and a chat. Not
bad. Much more relaxing than we thought it would be at first. Plus
between us we’ve read most of Bill Bryson’s books!!

We treated ourselves to a nice meal before heading to the airport for
our 9 hour flight to LA. On to our last country!

We have now been on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands for just over a
week. Unfortunately there is no wifi so this post will probably only
appear when we reach LA.

We’re staying at Rarotonga Backpackers which has no restaurants or
cafes anywhere nearby, people don’t wash up and tidy after themselves
and one group of people seem to think it appropriate to cook hugely
complex meals in a tiny communal kitchen. Oh and the weather’s not
been very good and shop/restaurant hours are short with public
transport times being inconvenient. Other than that it’s great.

No really, it is! The pic is of our lovely beachside hut which is
about 30ft from the sea. This was our home for half our time here and
now we’re in the main house and have been upgraded to a huge ensuite
room rather than the tiny double with shared facilities we had booked.

We’ve been to church both Sundays. Don’t panic parents we’ve not found
god but the gospel singing here is great. We watched 5 games of rugby
in one day – players were from tiny kids all the way up to huge scary
Rarotongan lads. Otherwise we are sunbathing, reading a lot, cooking
for ourselves and occassionally treating ourselves to meals out at the
restaurant and takeaway that are within walking distance. We are
especially getting very excited about our US part of the trip!!