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Trip Start Nov 07, 2004

Trip End May 20, 2005

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Flag of Cook Islands Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Thursday the 5th of May was quite literally the longest day of our lives, it lasted 46 hours! We crossed the international dateline on our way to the Cook Islands and so are now 10 hours behind GMT. We're staying on Rarotonga, the largest of the 13 Cook Islands. It is pretty much how you'd imagine a South Pacific island, with lovely beaches and very laid back locals (perhaps fewer hula-skirts though). The look and feel isn't too different to the Carribean, but the weather isn't so oppressively hot.

We didn't have too much planned for our time here; the only must-dos were to go to an island night and spend some time diving, both of which we achieved by day 3. Although the 'Island Night' food wasn't up to much, the dancers made up for it. The dancing girls were svelte and graceful, which made us wonder what had happened to their somewhat larger aunties (who were built rather more like barns)

01- Cook Island House

. As the tempo of the drums increased the male warriors stamped and shouted, while the ladies' booty-shaking put Beyonce to shame.

The diving was pretty impressive, despite the fact that a lot of the coral had been damaged by a recent cyclone. The visibility was about 40m and we saw lots of bright reef fish (but none of the hammer-head sharks that frequent the area in their breeding season). The speed boat ride back on the high seas was also pretty exhilarating, making up for the missed opportunities of jet-boat riding in Queenstown.

The remainder of our time has been whiled away on the beach, catching up on the sleep missed at night thanks to a healthy rooster population. The guest house we were staying in was good fun, a far more communal atmosphere than anywhere else we've stayed, and we all had a big BBQ on Sunday afternoon. It even has its own resident kitten, that has been spoilt mercilessly and is now 3 lbs heavier than when we arrived.

Only one more country to go, next stop LA.

Caroline and Mark

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