After a long, dull day in Auckland I arrived feeling very tired at Rarotonga airport to be greeted by a Ukalele player at 3.45am on 16th April, a crying child had been such a joy on the flight..... Having been up for 24 hours I crashed out as soon as I saw my bed.

I spent the first day (and a few others) relaxing by the pool with my ipod going again except when it decided to have a day off for some reason and had several books to enjoy. It was slightly crampt at times and reminded me slightly of the tv show "Benidorm" from last year but nice enough. The beach which was a bit rough but very attractive to look over with big waves crashing in behind the 100 meter lagoon. I did manage a little snorkelling there one day, very nice it was too - and I won nothing on a crab race.

I took the around-the-island local bus and got off at Muri Lagoon, a much superior beach with a beautiful lagoon I kayaked on to get to one of the small islands. A very idyllic spot.

My first few days here were fine, then disaster struck - I had some pasta at the restauarant in the resort and had terrible stomach problems (I'll let you guess what they were) and was violently sick and felt terribly drained for a few days. Not fun on your own, and at one stage I thought I may have had to take a trip up to the hospital. It wrecked my mood for a while too and made me look forward to getting home.

Very slowly my health and mood got back to normal and I managed a trip to the local church on the Sunday, very enthusiastic singing but the service was lengthy but entertaining nonetheless. Afterwards they supply a massive buffet for free, not quite the thing you want with very dodgy guts!

I went on an historical walk of the biggest town, Aitukaki - sadly the guide we had admitted he knew little about dates etc and confessed that two of the buildings he showed us were "horrible". Not the best tour! A better one was the Raro Mountain Safari that took us high into the mountains for magnificent views of Muri Lagoon, the paw-paw and banana plantations, old chiefs sites , the rock summit Te Rua Manga and the Avatia valley. This was much more fun in an open top jeep with guides who actually knew something about the area!

Typing this in the games room at the resort with a couple of hours to go until I leave for my last country - USA. Its been a great trip despite with various ups and downs but maybe because I know I'll be home in a week I am starting to look forward to that now. Not least because Crystal Palace have a great chance of making the play-offs! Photos to follow, I dont think this PC is up to loading any.