O my giddy aunt what a fantastic day wednesday was...and i have the scratches, bruises and mosquito bites to prove it; A small group of us decided we wanted to do the cross island trek via a mountain called Needle Point (called so for very obvious reasons). However when we found out that the guided tour cost NZ$55 (30 quid ish) we thought it'd be better to save our money and do it ourselves.... unguided!! Well as you can imagine there is a reason there is a guide and a reason why he charges so much!!! It started off really easy and spirits were high with singing and chanting as we marched through the real outback and up the side of this mountain. After 3 hours however (2 of which it had been raining) we were completely soaked, absolutely filthy as it was now muddy and slippy and everyone kept falling over, pretty hungry and well on the way to being dehydrated. Needless to say the troops were a little quiter! However perseverance prevailed and we managed to find a stream and picked up two lost aussies aswell! Walking down this we were able to follow it out to a waterfall where we all had a good swim to clean all our cuts and muddy clothes. It probably doesn't sound that great to anyone else but it was so much fun. None of us knew where we were going but neither did we care. The island of Rarotonga (and i guess its the same with all islands) has its own time scale completely. It is soooo relaxed..... as am i. We then all headed to Bananna Court which is where loads of hostels meet in the evening to party. There was free vodka and plenty of music. despite cuts, bruises, itching mozzie bites and aching legs we all managed to dance the night away until the very early hours of the next morning. That turned out to be a bit of a bummer for me as my pick up for my flight to NZ was at 4.30am and given that we didn't get to bed till gone 2am i arrived in NZ looking (and feeling if i'm quite honest) like a badgers arse!!!! xx