Cook Islands for a week, and what a week we had!! I arrived on the Monday after a crazy 12 hour flight again. We landed in Tahiti through lightening storms. There were girls who welcomed us to the airport and gave us flowers for our hair. It looks beautiful in Tahiti. Only there for 40 mins before transferring to Cook Islands and Rarotonga. Again beautiful island. Surrounded by a lagoon with jungle covered mountains in the middle of the island. The first night there we went to a dance night where couples competed in a dance comp. The Cook people are amazing dancers, they shimmy their bums like crazy to the music. The music is great as well, lots of the stuff we listen to at home, RNB that i love. The bars were fab. On the next couple of days we had curry night at the hostel and a bit of bad weather so watched DVD's. Then free vodka night. Becs and I went out and had 4 free ones. They put on 20 litres of free vodka but it is gone in 20 mins. Our hostel was the only one in the bar so we had free run of it. One silly girl tee hee had 13 vodkas and spent the night throwing up on the toilet floor, very classy. Another girl sat there and fell asleep from drinking to much and then threw up in front of everyone all over herself. Like something out of the exorcist, it was horrible!! Becs and i got rather tipsy to put it lightly. We were supposed to be being sensible as we were off on a hike the next day but we drunk too much vodka, danced like no tomorrow all night. I had a group of people around me at one point cheering me on. I can only imagine i was dancing like Michael Jackson!! The next day, oh dear. Becs looked like death warmed up. I am still 23, oops 24 and don't suffer yet so i was tickety boo. Off we went on a hike of the island with another couple called Becky and Mike. We went unguided without a map, a small bottle of water and no food. We had made ourselves lunch at the hostel as we should have been back for lunch time. The climb to what is called the needle was ok. Pulling yourself up a few hills and roots but nothing too strenuous. Becky was feeling pretty sick. Then we reached the needle, a big rock with amazing views of the island. That was about 2 hours in. Then the descent, oh the descent. It took the grand total of 5 hours and was horrific. (In a funny way.....now) We got lost, had to shimmy down mud slopes grabbing hold of ropes. Crossed the same river 8 times, i looked around and Becky had fallen in and bashed her leg at one crossing. Then she walked into a tree. I twisted the same ankle twice and nearly gave up. However, an hour before it got dark we emerged on to the road at the waterfall at the end. We spoke to people back at the hostel and we had gone the right way, it was supposed to be that hard. Nobody warned us damn them. We went snorkelling the next day which was fab because there were loads of fish, swimming all around me. We had to loosen up our muscles as i was aching like i had run a marathon for days. Nothing like a year's exercise in one day. It was the highlight of the island in Lonely Planet guides, so had to be done!! Fab Island Rarotonga!!