Chemtrails not working in Raratonga

Day one

We were a bit lucky, in that Mamabear received a travel voucher for up to a certain amount from her place of work ( a 'reward' for long service)  - which enabled us (with a bit of our own $$$'s added to it ) to book a weeks leave in the Cook Islands.
We have never been there before! Mamabears parents have been there 2 or 3 times and then after Mum passed away Dad used to go on its own there many times - like every second year!  He bought a new shirt every year - so If I go and count those we would know for sure how often he managed to part with his savings!!

It certainly seemed to be a nice and relaxing place - and - surprisingly - a place for firsts.  Mamabear astounded that they would hire a scooter and explore the Island on those.  (And in those days N O helmets were required!!!) There is also an image of Mum "frolicking" in the sea - something the girls have never seen her doing!!

The Last trip Dad made was on his 80th Birthday and he seemed to have a good time celebrating with the staff and guests.  Rachel bought him the Tee-shirt and it should prove to be prophetic! It was indeed his last trip. 
So in a way - it was a trip for us as much as in finding out what the attraction for them was as well as for us to be relaxing and taking opportunity of a leg up to get there. 





Planning started in earnest a while ago and eventually the big day came.  Y a w n  - a 3.30 am start to catch a flight from Christchurch to Auckland. Once there, there was not a lot of time to muck around and we walked to the International Terminal briskly in order to not miss the connecting flight! Though myself managed to catch a very quick pancake at Macca's for my brekkie, before boarding the flight to Rarotonga.

4 hours flight time - and I forgotten how to sit still that long, eventually feeling my back going stiff and sore! Still - blue sky all the way.  Mamabear was a bit worried if and how the plane can find this  tiny island in this huge and mostly empty ocean!!! No worries if you are having a GPS!
We got greeted like royalty and picked up and delivered to our new home for a week all ok.  Noticed the heat compared with Christchurch - a 25 degree difference! Oh and the Sun and blue sky so rich in color!   We unpacked and headed for "happy hour"  followed with an evening stroll, to find the local beach and also  a local diary and takeaway.

Arriving on a Saturday, we found that all shops had closed by late afternoon and of course were going to be shut on Sunday as well and we needed some supplies, which proved to be a bit of a challenge.   Luckily there was a Takeaway / Petrol station and Diary 1km down the road that was open so we strolled there.  Found  no one in the Takeaway to take orders for a meal.  While Mamabear waited for someone to show - I strolled into the nearby diary to see what food can be bought - eventually got 2 bottles of wine and also found a roasted chicken (sealed in a bag)  so flagged our takeaway and bought that instead - to have it consumed along with a bit of bread on the beach across the shops - along with a romantic sunset setting (need good camera to take decent pics).

Al Fresco  Dinning at it's best - yuss!

Early-ish to bed after the early morning.  It gets dark by 6.30pm and we had a starry night initially with the promised clouds rolling in blanking out the Milky way!!  The bed was large enough for aircraft carrier landings - and you need to send telegram to MB if I want to talk with her.

 :P
 :)
good night!

 The Cellphone did struggle to take a decent shot of the sunset!!










 

 The outdoor BBQ area - should we want to do the outdoor cooking thing!

PS. Before we left for our trip - I did think about dialing into the "0800sunnytourist" system - but flagged it - more on that later!!

Have fun!