Hi Everyone,

Apologies for not having uploaded any photos for ages. It appears that SD card readers are alien technology here!

So whilst we've been in Rarotonga we've done lots of chilling out! The weather is just lovely and the scenery... amazing! Last week I did the cross-island trek which basically involves hiking through jungle and forest up to a mountain known as the Needle and then through jungle for another 2 1/2 hours to get to the oposite side of the island. This was great fun and I felt so good that everyone but me had slipped or fallen at some point on the trip except me... until I got 3 paces from the end when I slipped on some mud and landed on my arse on a pyramid-shaped rock. I've got a big bruise now!! The tour guide, a 68-year-old dude called Pa is some kind of herbalist who reckons he can cure all kinds of nasty disease using deadly nightshade! He's gonna be on BBC TV soon on a show called Trekking in the Wild World doing the trek I did.

We also did a Mountain Jeep Safari which was really interesting and we saw some of the most fantastic views of the islets off the beach. We also learnt a lot about the history and people of Rarotonga. We also went to the local market which was really nice too, where Priti bought a small painting.

We've been out to eat at two really nice restaurants called Flame Tree and Sails. Both were excellent and quite a nice change from the food we had in Fiji!

One thing we don't like about Raro is the bloody mosquitos. I was sick of them in Fiji and now we're both really sick of them here. We must have about 20 bites each at the moment and I'm certain the repellent you can buy in the shops just attracts the little b*****s.

The beaches here are just amazing, I haven't seen water this clear in so long. Though I did get bitten by a fish!

We can't believe that we'll be home in just over a week. What a mad adventure this has been, but still a week to go so until our final blog, see you soon...

Love,

Tom and priti

PS, we've just booked tickets for Universal Studios in LA ;-D