We arrive in the airport and There is a band to meet us and girls are giving out flower necklaces its great.

We arrive at our hotel and the view is of paridise from our room we can see a crystal clear blue lagoon and in the middle of it are 3 deserted islands which you can walk to as the waters only waist deep. then ion my left a can see hills and lush green rainforest like something out of king kong. Its amazing!!

The first day we just chilled at the beach and then had a walk over to the islands. you can see loads of brightly coloured fish  swimming by your feet. One fish swam up and tried to attack kris just keep on swimming into her legs, i could stop laughing. We found out later that these fish are really teritorial and are well up for it if you get too close. One girl got bit and her legs was really bleeding and she didn't want to go back in the water so she had to hitch a ride back on a couples Kayak.

The next day i went to get a Cook Islands driving license so i could hire a bike. The test was so easy i had to drive up the end f the road turn round and then drive back, PASS. I think its impossible to fail. You don't need to wear a helmet, There is no traffic lights or speed cameras and there were quite a few stray dogs, cats and chickens running around the island  so you have to be quite careful. we met loads of people who had fell off their bikes so i just always took it slow. It took us about 1 hour to drive around the whole island it was amazing and really beautiful and we also drove up to a waterfall which was really nice.

The food over here is amazing  lovely seafood and the best views we are so lucky

on sunday we went to the Cook Island church the singing in there was amazing but the Pastor kept on saying that people should go there for the word of god and he would stop the singing so he could preach more.

One night we found a massive cockroach in the room and i s*** myself im crap at stuff like this so i had to kill it and then get kris to throw it out i don't think she was that impresses with my manliness 

also the mosquitos love me over here every morning i wake up and ive got about 10 more bites on me, i don't understand how i have loads and kris hasn't been bit once. one night my foot must of been sticking out the bed because when i woke up the next morning, my foot had about 10 bits and it had swelled up to about double its size. It didn't look good. from then on we burnt 2 coils in the room and covered me with repellent

we went to the local market and saw loads of Black pearls (thats their main export) and we saw all the statues of the Cook Island God he has got a massive willy. he is even on some of the money its really funny on one side of the coin its the Queen's head and on the other its a bloke with a massive penis

Kris and me really wanted to do our scuba diving course  while we were here and we found a really good company about 2 minutes from where we were staying they were called Pacific Divers. We had a look at the other companies on the island but this one was definatly the best and the only place we went to where we met the diving instructor. His name was Steve and he was really funny and sound we liked him straight away, also the company was a family run place we met his girlfriend and their baby girl and they made us feel really welcome. So we both booked our PADI Open Water Diver Courses when you pass this you can go anywhere in the world and dive. The course took 4 days with the first 2 just doing theory work and watching videos. Then we were off on our first confined water dive (in the pool) with all the gear on, it was really strange the first time you breath underwater, your brains is telling you this is wrong but after a few seconds its just really easy and natural.Our first dive we just practiced a few skills like taking your regulator out your mouth then put it back in all underwater. The first dive went really well for both of us and i was really looking forward to diving in the real sea. Our second dive we did it in a deeper bit of the lagoon at lot more interesting then the pool because there was loads of fish to see. After this dive kris wasn't so keen she didn't like taking her mask off underwater and had a few problems doing it she really wanted to quit but me and steve talked her into coming out on the first open water dive to see how she likes that. Kris had loads of nightmares that night and was worrying about the dive but because she had already done all the theory she was half way to completing the course so she came out on the first sea dive

The boat ride out there was really bumpy and i felt a bit dizzy and ill but Kris was GREEN by the time we got to the Dive point. i did a James Bond style backwards roll into the water (oh yeah!) and then waited for Kris. As we went down Kris panicked and you could tell she really didn't want to do it so she dropped out and waited on the boat for me. after my dives they took kris back home then i went out on my second dive of the day. I really enjoyed it its a different world down there and on my second dive a massive turtle came out of a cave and was swimming next to me it was great. But diving isn't for everybody. I had to do another 2 dives the next day and then an exam and i passed the course. Kris passed all the exams as well so if she ever wants to do diving again she wont have to do all the book stuff as well.

After i completed The Open water course i booked myself on the advanced level i had to do 5 more dives and they are classed as adventure dives. I went on a Night dive that was really different you see some strange fish at night and your imagination is playing tricks on you wondering what is just passed your torch beam waiting for you in the darkness.

I did a Photography dive so most of the sea photos you see in the cook island photo album i took.

i did a navigation dive where you had to get to a certain point by using a compass but i got a little lost and the current took me slightly off course. i panicked a bit because i was on my own and i had to surface to see where the boat was to get me back on track. steve came with me the second time and every was fine so i passed that as well

then i did a wreck dive, i really enjoyed this dive

my final dive was a deep dove we had to go down to 40m which is the maximum depth for recreational divers, you feel really lightheaded down at that depth and a bit drunk we had to try and do a puzzle down there and i had to try and write my email backwards i didn't know where to start (but i don't think i could even do that on the surface)

I also went on another 2 dives with Pacific Divers.I was hooked one dive we did a thing called moon walking, you take your fins off on the sea bed and but them under a rock so they don't float off. then you can jump around i followed Steve he was doing flips off the rocks and so was i you feel like your in space because your really weightless. The second dive we found 2 White tip reef sharks i was right above them, and then saw 4 great moray eels they are horrible and i s*** myself when they swam out at me.

After i completed all my dives. we were invited to Steves for a bbq loads of people turned up and it was good food and loads of drink. it all went a bit downhill for me when the tequila made an appearance but i soldiered on (you know me) we then all went to a bar called the Staircase where i taught all the locals to Breakdance and me and a Diver called Matt started a dance off the locals took it really seriously and were proper going for it. i was pulling out some magic moves but then we were booed off after matt laid down and i span him around it was a well funny night (maybe you had to be there)

Cook Islands has been amazing i haven't really got a tan because i have been diving so much but its been worth it

I met the best group of people in The Cook Islands and im really going to miss it

Thanks for a great time