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We flew into a tiny Pacific island called Rarotonga and were greeted by a local playing some Caribbean type tunes on his stage at Custom immigration control. What a way to be greeted at 23:30 in an airport, we knew we had landed into Island life.
We were picked up and were shuffled off a short distance away to an amazing beach bungalow in the middle of nowhere. At first as we were driving, I thought WOW you've done something right in life to end up in a holiday pad like that and thought there was no chance that that was our accommodation, then to my surprise Kelly pulled in and said here we go, this is your place for the week! I was amazed. It even came with its own Volleyball net and hammock.. Perfect just what we needed after NZ's pinball experience.
The star constellations were amazing from our bungalow and amzingly clear. The only sounds to be heard were from the crickets and the gently lapping of the waves. We were in paradise.
Our time on the island was mainly spent reading, chilling, hammock'ing, swimming, lazing on the beach, a bit if volleyball, football a few runs in the sweltering heat and a cycle ride around the 35km island. The heat was extreme out there and we had to hide away between 10 and 15:00, so we made the most of the morning and afternoons and then chilled in the mid sun hours.
The island is beautiful, tropical, panoramic, lush with plantation and very chilled out, an island paradise that you can understand how people come out her and disappear, Everyones on go slow but still functional. The on shop on our side of the Island blarred out the lated tunes whilst people danced down th Islands or hung outside chatting with the locals. i don't think I saw one person without a smile on their face
The great thing about the islands are that not too much development has happened, there's one road and it's pretty rural. There are few cars with most people opting to travel by bike or simlpy walk.
We adopted a dog for the trip - Spike and took him for his morning and afternoon swim, he was a great companion and fun to play with. We also ventured out on a 5 hour game fishing trip around the island. We had state of the art equipment and had 7 lines in the water but we didn't come away with anything, the Captain was complaining about the Chinese trawling the waters in recent years which has led to minimised marine life. It used to be a hotspot for Marlin and Tuna but sadly it's deteriorated over time. We still had a great experience seeing the island from the outside in and enjoyed the dark blue crystal clean pearl waters of the Pacific waters. Well, that was when I wasn't using all my concentration on not throwing up!! A highlight was stepping out of the boat and seeing all the Manta rays. Such beautiful gentle animals.
The rest of the time was spent exploring on our little motorbike, more swimming, chilling, reading and enjoying beautiful sunsets on the beach. It's a great destination to get away from it all and it feels like you're stranded on an island paradise. Great place, definitely worth a visit.
Next stop USA, California ;-)
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