31 January 2007 - Cook Islands??? Yes Please!!!

So, i arrived in Rarotonga last Thursday night and pretty much crashed out straight away after the long day. I had to fly from Queenstown to Christchurch, then Christchurch to Auckland then Auckland to Rarotonga! Mission.....

Friday was roasting so spent the day on the beach which is a 10 second walk from my room. The hostel was really cool and met loads of people there....English, Canadian and Dutch. The Muri Beach lagoon is just outside the hostel and it is pretty impressive.....a definite paradise. Did absolutely nothing the whole day....amazing! Friday night is party night on Rarotonga as it's the only night when the bars are open late so a load of us went down to the local bar "whatever" for a few drinks. When we left around 2am there was a local guy passed out at the bottom of the stars, completely out of it......another local told us that he was a sergeant for the Cook Islands police....brilliant!

The next day a load of us hired some scooters and made our way to the police station to take our driving license in order to get a Cook Islands driving license. I'd never driven a scooter before and had 30 seconds practice before the test......it involved driving on the road to the supermarket and back again while the bored policeman pretended he was watching......not sure how i passed but he seemed pretty happy with my driving! The next few days we spent bombing round the island on the scooters, it was great!

Rarotonga is the perfect place to just chill so after the hectic last few months it was the perfect place to be! Really wasn't looking forward to leaving but i only had 5 nights there and they were going pretty quickly....

So, Monday was my last night on the island as i was leaving for LA the next night.....a load of us went off to the "Banana Club" for my send off as they were all staying on for a few days longer......had a really good night and we made our way back to the hostel at midnight. My flight left the next day at 10.20pm where i have a stop off in Tahiti before i head to LA.....haven't heard many good things about LA but staying in Hollywood so it should be fun!