The cooking Islands

Well i think there should be a name change for this small group of islands just east of New Zealand. It never gets below 25 degrees Celsius and at the moment it is so humid you could cut the air. Its the rainy season so for the last few days there has been massive downpours where the heavens have just open.

The Island I'm on, Rarotonga, is the main island in the chain. About half the people in the country live here. The island is like a pacific paradise. It is not built up at all. I am yet to see any big buildings and any new construction. There is a main road that runs by the beach around the circumference of the island the houses are main off here. Surrounding the island is a blue lagoon full of reefs and corals. Just beyond that are crashing waves and the deep blue pacific ocean. The island is lush and green and has a mountain set in the centre. Palms are everywhere and every so often you hear a rip and thud of a coconut falling to the ground. The coconuts are massive. At least the size of small watermelons.

The hostel is nice. Everything is open, the front room, the kitchen etc all open to the elements. Birds come and go, cochroaches roam around etc. The bedrooms are the only enclosed spaces and needless to say they are baking hot.

They have some mean mossies here and so I'm constantly coated in deet. Even though its cloudy and i have factor 40 on, my face is still red. The sun is crazy strong.

The people here are really nice and I'm sharing my room with a bloke from New Zealand. He took me into town on the back of his motorbike and the heavens opened up. The beaches are beautiful here - set between lush green palms and the turquoise of the lagoon. It really does feel like paradise. I had the beach as far as the eye could see to myself yesterday. I sat through the warm rain and had a doze. There is a trip to the local club today and so we get a lift there and get picked up. The buses aren't that cheap - neither is most other things and everything is imported from New Zealand! The locals all speak English as their first language!!