PARADISE FOUND IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC

DAY 22: Rarotonga, The Cook Islands

After the flight from LA to Rarotonga, Air New Zealand probably ranks as my favourite airline. The customer service was superb, so friendly and non-corporate which is so refreshing, the in-flight entertainment was spot on and the food was excellent. We managed to get a good six or seven hours sleep and only woke when there was a bit of turbulence. Turbulence doesn't usually bother me but when you're flying for eight and a half hours with nothing but the Pacific Ocean below you it can be a bit of a concern.

As we landed it looked like we were touching down on the beach, the airport being right on the edge of the coast. Turns out I also got the dateline wrong so we haven't lost a day yet - that won't happen until we go to New Zealand, so we're about 11 hours behind the UK now.

We were greeted by our hostel's minibus and taken to our beachside home for the week. We arrived at 7am and we couldn't get in to our room until 12noon, so decided to take in the incredible view from the beach and out across the lagoon to sea. There is a reef about 100m from the beach protecting us from the slightly fierce South Pacific Ocean.

Rarotonga, like many of the islands in this remote part of the world, has lovely beaches all around and has quite hilly, or even mountainous, inner-parts to the island meaning it can be overcast or cloudy for long parts of the day.

As the temperature began to heat up, and my tiredness kicked in, I decided to have a sleep so we moved down to the hammocks under the beach front apartments that are on stilts.

An hour later, I woke from my cocoon-like hammock and decided to go and check in. The office was shut from 12-2pm so still we couldn't get in to our room.

Feeling quite peckish we headed to the mini mart to pick up some supplies to make some sandwiches. Walking back I already felt like I'd settled in to island life. Time does not exist. Rules barely exist. Material items become less important, if not obsolete. When you have the weather and the surroundings that we have right now, nothing else matters. Except maybe an ice cold beer.

Eventually able to check in, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they were so busy they'd had to upgrade us to the premium beach suite - a self-contained unit on stilts with nothing but a palm tree fringed beach, the sea and, if there's not too much cloud, a front row seat of the sunset.

After yet another sleep on the beach, we decided to give ourselves a well-earned rest from the busy sunbathing and go and get some final supplies to see us through tomorrow, as it's a bank holiday, including the missing piece of today's near perfect events - ice cold beer.

Back from the shop with dinner, breakfast and beer supplies we spent the evening chatting and watching the sunset with a few cold ones on the veranda. Can't think of anything more perfect right now.