We flew out of Nadi in the evening of the 2nd and arrived in Rarotonga at about midnight on the 1st, having crossed the international date line. At long last I've got back all those hours I've been losing along the way! Rarotonga is the largest of the 15 islands that comprise the Cook Islands and is home to the capital, Avura. The population is about 14,000 and the people have close links to the New Zealand Maoris. The total land area is only 241 square k...

Yesterday we checked into Mareani's Backpackers next door to the resort and managed to get our own room, with a fan. The only probelm being that the power was pretty temperamental and kept going off, not ideal when the room was like a little sweat box even when the fan was circulating the humid air. The communal bathroom door closed with a rusty nail and there was only cold water in the dripping shower - oh well! All meals were included in the price of the roo...

Today was a very lazy day, doing things like laundry - whooooopeeeee! For dinner we ate at the resort again - they have a bit of a monopoly really and yet again it was below average - Keren's meat was actually raw and was sent back. The entertainment this evening was crab racing, which was made really enjoyable by the 2 local guys hosting it, who had everyone laughing (even me!). We even put a bid in on the English crab, Johnny Wilkinson, although we were ...

Today we got the little shuttle boat back to the mainland and then the bus back to the airport at Nadi, thinking we would be able to get a sea plane to the Yasewa Group. Sadly this was not to be and after much faffing we thought we may end up staying the night at the airport. We then opted to try and get to the Mamanuca Group, which is nearer to Nadi and our luck was in. We managed to book on a flight to Mana in the Mamanuca group with Sun Air. Check in w...

Bula!!!! Hello in Fijian, from our little island. Today we got up late and headed out of Nadi on the local bus to Rakiraki, where we were to transfer to this island. Being the very smart people we are, we decided to save money by travelling on the local transport - hmmmmmmmmmmm - not too sure it was such a good idea. The bus was absolutely rammed full of sweating locals, then we had to change at Lautoka and on this bus they played a Bollywood film at full v...