Day 167 Saturday 20th February 2010 (again)

Johno says
Saturday 20th February 2010 again, yes we had traveled over the international date line and forward to the past and not back to the future. Instead of being thirteen hours ahead we were now ten hours behind which made a day of traveling easier to cope with knowing we wasn't actually losing any hours. First of all, we had a domestic flight back from Christchurch to Auckland at 11.30am, then a flight to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands at 5.35pm. Our domestic flight between New Zealand cities actually joined an International flight from Japan, so we were mixed up with a lot of Japanese disposing of their food and other items that are prohibited into New Zealand. However, we were reluctant to do this as we had bought our food in good old Christchurch and was feeling that we had every right to hold on to it to Auckland. Stace pulled out a banana at passport control and you would have thought she pulled out a gun as the security staff jumped on us almost straight away! We explained we were traveling domestically and not from Japan and we were swiftly moved on through passport control and through to the airport arrivals and fortunately without any fines for our fruit. I was tempted to pull out our two pears (or grenades) too but didn't want any of the security staff having any heart attacks!! Eventually we made it into Rarotonga Island, welcomed by a local playing his guitar and singing some songs whilst we went through passport control. Unfortunately we did need to dump off our remaining banana's as this time we were international visitors. The Cook Islands stand alone on the map and you just know that the nearest place is a long way away, strange feeling!! Rarotonga only has one road (without any street lighting or road signs) that circuits the Island and has a real good vibe to it, we couldn't wait to wake up and see what the scenery was like.

Day 168 Sunday 21st February 2010

Johno says
We woke up to some intense heat in our room, even though we had two fans on continuously through the night - it was very warm and the sun was out in its full glory. So, we couldn't wait to see Muri beach which was twenty seconds away via a path from our hostel - we then found a ridiculously beautiful lagoon with white sands and clear water - we were definitely in that postcard scenery now! Then we had a stroll and decided to head to the local supermarket for some food, the supermarket was not stocked at all well but we were told this is as good as it gets on a Sunday in Rarotonga, there was no meat, fruit or even pasta sauces so a few potatoes and a tin of beans it was for this evening all for the princely sum of ten dollars each (ok we did buy bread, butter, milk and some porridge too) which is quite expensive. Once we had seen to the domestic duties we decided to just chill out on the beach, the hours went by so quickly as we were being entertained by the local dogs, there were four in total playing about in the water and with each other, a couple of them decided that they would also adopt my beach towel and not wanting to upset the locals I agreed to share it for a while. There isn't much to do in the evenings on the Island as everything is closed for 10pm so we watched a DVD with a couple of other guests.

Day 169 Monday 22nd February 2010

Stacey says
I was pleased to wake up and see it was another gorgeous sunny day. We took the bikes and headed to the other side of the Island to go to the supermarket to get in some food for the week. On the way we stopped at the National Football ground, which was pretty simple as far as football pitches go. Steve got off and took some photos, whilst I waited and soaked up some sun rays. Avarua, which is the main town on the Island, was more built up compared to Muri Beach where we are staying, and also surprisingly a fair amount of cars driving around. We stopped at the markets to buy some vegetables, and then picked up some food for the week. Definitely was an Island style supermarket, no prices on anything and food just put anywhere and everywhere! We couldn't really spot any beaches to go and take a quick dip to cool down, so we began our cycle back, stopping to buy a water melon from a local seller by the side of the road, and I also fetched my own coconut from a garden by the road which had fallen from the tree! There were a lot of churches dotted along the route, and it seemed like every family had their own cemetery with a small number of graves beside the houses. We must have at least cycled 22km on the round trip today, most exercise we've done for a while! We walked down to the beach for a little swim and rest. We were pretty hungry by the time our chilli con carne was cooked, so we ate and then sat and chatted to a few of the other guests for a while, before retiring to the TV lounge and watched Terminal with Tom Hanks.

Day 170 Tuesday 23rd February 2010

Stacey says

We woke up to rain hammering down on our roof this morning, it was ridiculously heavy. So we figured we'd go back to sleep. The rain did not cease to stop all day, although it was still very warm and humid out. We bided our time playing games of scrabble and chess, read our books, talked to the other guests and making a yummy steak dinner. We did manage a walk along the beach in the light drizzle too, with the hope of a snorkel, but the water wasn't looking its usual crystal clear, with the bad weather. We've realized this is going to be an ultimate detox week, no internet, no phone signal, no pies, snacks, chocolates, or sweets of any sort and no alcohol, just pure R'n'R! The day did seem to pass by quickly somehow!

Day 171 Wednesday 24th February 2010

Johno says

Again, woken up by the passing tropical cyclones bringing in the rain and wind but hey we were on the Cook Islands. So, we waited in hope that the storm would pass but it was persistent enough to keep on going throughout the whole day. Eventually we decided not to let the weather beat us and decided to go for a snorkel out in the lagoon, once out into the water we were fine and visibility was ok enough to see banner fish, butterfly fish, blue fin travelly and some aggressive looking triggerfish trying to keep me away from its nest. We didn't fancy any rain bathing so we made our way back up the path to the accommodation for a shower. The temperature is still well into the mid twenties so at least it is still warm enough to know you are a fair old way from England.

Day 172 Thursday 25th February 2010

Stacey says

First of all waking up at 5.30 to try and catch a sunrise, but unfortunately was far too cloudy to see it, so back home and back to bed. After breakfast we got chatting to Brendan for quite a while, the guy who is co-running the guesthouse, which ended up him teaching us how to open coconuts using the bar outside, so Steve had a practice of trying to break it open, trying not to put his hand or body through the spear! Brendan nicely prepared it for drinking for us, then cutting it in half to eat. He then pulled us off some passion fruits from the tree, I was pretty stuffed after all of this indulging! Wahooo some sunshine breaking through the clouds! So we head out to the beach, Steve heading for a snorkel around the mutu island with a loaf of bread to feed the fishes, whilst I decided to walk down the beach, I bumped into our dear doggy friend who has been following us around quite a bit, she seemed happy to see me, and we decided to walk/swim over to another island. She accompanied me all the way across, I then took a walk around it, see some locals fishing, walked back and sat chatting with one of the locals for a bit whilst my doggy friend was playing. About an hour later we crossed back over the water, it's a good 500m or so, I tried racing with the dog, but she was a lot faster, she turned back to fetch me then took off again, doggy paddle couldn't even keep me up with her. We then shared my towel for a good rest, soaking up some sun, before Steve joined us. This evening we decided to go down to a café for one of the infamous burgers that have been talked about in our guesthouse. It was very yummy, double beef burger, cheese and lots of salad, chips and half a bottle of coke each, we appreciated this after a very healthy week thus far!

Day 173 Friday 26th February 2010

Johno says

Today was definitely going to be a beach day with the sun making an appearance behind the clouds, and judging by Stacey's beetroot face from yesterday you can pick up quite a bit of sun even from behind those clouds. Whilst sitting on the beach there was a wedding taking place so there was entertainment in the form of the ceremony and photo shoot to follow. There isn't much to do on this part of the Island really as the only busy place is found in the town area 10kilometres away so the evening was again spent in our quiet hostel with only the sound of waves from the beach or the occasional car going past on the main road.

Day 174 Saturday 27th February 2010

Stacey says

A banging on the bedroom door in the middle of the night made me jump out of my skin, only to be told we must get out as fast as possible there is a tsunami on its way! Brendan (guesthouse manager) was to take us in the van up to his house on the mountain, everyone was dashing about like headless chickens having been woken up out of deep sleeps, with a Canadian women flapping trying to wake everyone up and get them moving faster, we were missing 3 people out of the 12 from the guesthouse, they wouldn't wake up and we had to dash, we didn't have any clue as to when it was planned to hit as the news was sent around by word of mouth! Brendan said that this never happens and he's not really sure what to but to get as high up as possible. We all piled into his house and turned on the radio, "This is a tsunami warning, please evacuate your homes and head inland, this is not an exercise, this is for real" kept repeating over. It was very tense. But soon a report came through stating that it was due to hit at 8.14am, it was around 5am, so that was a slight relief, Brendan went back to collect the guys left behind. It was due to hit another Island before Rarotonga so we were hoping that would give us an indication of what was to be expected. There was nothing on the one T.V Channel and just that one radio station, so we just sat tight waiting for updates in the front room! There were loads of cars driving frantically all trying to get up on the hills. We were then also getting reports on Cyclone Sarah which was hovering around the Cook Islands, a tsunami telling us to head up high and inland, and cyclone warnings telling us to stay inside, it was just nuts! Everyone relaxed a bit once the sun was rising, we all had our humour still intact. We were told it was as a result of an earthquake in Chile which measured 8.8 on the Richter Scale. At 7.45 we headed further up the hill, we passed a boat attached to a car trailor with goats and dogs tied up inside the boat, we had to laugh at that, was a funny site all baa'ing away. We had quite a scenic view from the hill, and the sky was a nice sunny blue, we all just sat and watched the sea waiting for a wave to come through, we'd been told it was 0.44m, but there was no general updates on the radio on how its affected the other islands, but we felt pretty safe, we waited intently watching, 1 minute to go and still nothing, the sea looked choppy but nothing harmful was heading our way it seemed, we waited on for about an hour or two longer until we got clearance to go back home. One big anti-climax, not even a little ripple! They reported some surge around the harbour, but nothing dramatic. So we were all very very relieved to know it was all fine and safe. I guess these things can never be under estimated, and it was better to be prepared incase it was a bad hit. My, what an experience that was!!!! So back for about 10am, for a little nap, and spent the day zombie'ing around the guesthouse, hoping Cyclone Sarah would stay away and not affect our flight scheduled for midnight!