October 5 - 7 Raro - Papeetee (Tahiti) - LA - London - Home

SUN yet again!!

We get up pack our bags (cos we are going home) and run out to take pictures. Sit about lazing in the sun before snorkelling one last time and then lounging on the beach. It's really hot , the sun very intense. I get burnt.





A few of us are leaving together - the 2 Scottish girls, Frances and Tamara and Nick the London bloke (guy with the cowboy hat). Have decided to get drunk courtesy of Air New Zealand. We slip into the First class lounge at the airport. We last about 2 minutes before we are promptly booted out - a whole minute more than I thought we would last (Success!).

We are on our way to LA via Tahiti.......Many hours later we arrive into LA. We are supposed to stay one night in LA before boarding the plane next day. Net and I have decided why stop now? -rather than spend another night we might as well carry on with the journey home. We quickly run to the ticket desks to see if we can change our tickets a day earlier. Luckily there is a flight in a few hours time and seats available for both of us. Like at the beginning we are getting on different flights for our LA - London leg. We check in and say our goodbyes and get on our respective flights.

.........many more hours later I finally arrive into London. Thank god! I am exhausted having travelled more than 30 hours (I lost count/ track with the different time zones crossed)

The end

October 4 Raro

SUN!!!
We are out of money so Juha, our Finnish friend offers to take me into town on his scooter.

Note to future self:
a) Do not get on a scooter with no helmet on
b) Do not get on a scooter in which the speedometer does not work
c) Do not get on a scooter where there are pot holes littering the road
d) Do not get on a scooter with a crazy Finnish man (who happens to looks like Silas from the Da Vinci Code movie).

After getting back alive, Net and I go to 'our' Island and do the Glamour shoot. NOW before you start thinking soft lighting and weird porno poses, Glamour happens to be a magazine. They have a competition every issue whereby you take a picture in some exotic location with Glamour magazine. After much arguments about who would pose for the picture, I drew the short straw and posed with the magazine. Shame the sky was overcast, but never the less I better win!

After that we go snorkelling. There are tonnes of fish to see. It's really good snorkelling ground.

We go back to shore and find some of our fellow hostellers and spend most of the afternoon looking for coconuts and cracking them open. It's not easy work and takes Phillipe, our Swiss friend about half an hour to open one. Well done mate!

Go to one of the hotel resorts and take advantage of happy hour cocktails!

This world is so small. Net and I are sat at some cafe and we see some man we reckonise. It's our guide from Franz Josef glacier. We say hi to him even though he doesn't remember us.

The Crazy Dog
There is a crazy dog who keeps following us. Throw things at it, it doesn't go and fetch. Kick water at it and it goes mental. Just jumps. Looks like he can keep doing that all day - just jumping after water.
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October 3 Raro

RAIN!!

Do extremely little.

Luckily one of our fellow Brits, Jo has a car so she takes us on a drive around the island. Now remember this island is only 32km so it doesn't take long to go around it. There isn't much to do either so we end up going round the island and visiting the 'hot spots' in under 2 hours. We visit a waterfall that is pictured on all the postcards, however reality does not mirror the picture perfect postcrad image. It's is really small and rats are running around the falls. Hmm, we quickly leave and continue our drive. We drive to some scenic lookout point, which is really nice.

October 2 Raro

Bloody cold showers. This is island living! Brrr

This hostel is so loud. Our cheap-o dorm room in particular has walls that are paper thin and we can hear everything.

Net and I do very little for the day cos the weather is still overcast. There is a little island that we can wade to as the water is shallow and at its deepest it only reaches waist height (to short-arse me that is). We wander out to the island and find hermit crabs and little lizards.

In the evening we make a pasta dish, which is the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten. It's sweet sauce! Raro imports everything from NZ so I know this sauce comes from NZ. I don't understand why NZ makes pasta sauce sweet??!! Can Steve tell me??

We go out with the rest of the Brits fro the hostel to some bar in town. 20 people piled into a 12 seater taxi. It's cosy. It's a messy drink fueled night. The funniest thing I remember is the DJ (see below). What's up with the tash amigo??!!

On way back everyone is pissed out of their minds. 20 Brits in a 12 seater taxi - imagine! We all end up drunkenly "singing" Bohiemian Rhapsody (Wayne's World style) along with other songs, probably giving a really bad image of Brits to the taxi driver.

Go to the beach where our Finnish mate loses his flip flop to the sea. We find it extremely funny (esp cos we're all pissed).
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">Night Out in Raro

"> 12 Drunk Brits in a Taxi - typical!!

October 1 Rarotonga (Cook Islands)

4 hours later we arrive into Rarotonga (Raro) on the 1st October. Yeah, we get an extra day back!

The Island is small - 32km round trip. We get to our hostel to find we are sharing with a room with 3 other people - 2 Scottish lasses and a very vain British bloke. Actually we soon realise the hostel is full of UK people (Wales, Scotland and England) peppered with Swedes and Finnish. It's like an episode of Brits Abroad!

We are right on the beach, but the weather is really overcast. According to everyone it has been overcast almost all week.

October 2 Christchurch

Okay, so we make it to the airport about 9pm and get our sleeping bags out and find a 'nice comfy' spot to sleep.

Wake up aching all over the place and check our bags in. Next stop Auckland then onto Rarotonga (Cook Islands).