Desert island living

Life continues much in the same vein: sand, sea, sun; and it's brilliant. The wifi, however, not so much, so we are going to try an experiment in desert island living: no internet and no phones (they don't work here at all) until Los Angeles on Saturday.

So blog service will be interrupted, I'm afraid, but I will keep notes and update on the last few days when we are back in the modern world.

In the meantime, imagine a lot of this:

 

Island Time

The resort newsletter suggests not wearing a watch while here, as after all, everyone is on Island Time - and, oh yes, we are too, frittering our days in an endless round of eating, drinking, swimming, playing, eating, drinking, swimming, playing, with occasional kayaking/ snorkelling/ paddle boarding thrown in. The level of detail in this blog will consequently diminish, otherwise we will all die of boredom (this life is a LOT better to live, than to read about). So, highlights only:

Saturday: all of us woke up very late, at 10am, due to tiredness and time difference. But when we opened the curtains, scrambling to get to breakfast in time, the view revealed was jaw-droppingly good: white sand beach, palm trees, turquoise sea, and, hurrah, blue sky. So off to the pool after breakfast on Jemima's request to test it out, which included another impressive, short-lived thunderstorm (the pool was very nice but the beach is better, was the conclusion). 

So back to the beach for lunch, swimming, playing, sunbathing, reading (for me), and then the excitement of the day: our first sea outing all together in a two man kayak, with Jemima perched on the bow, to the desert island across the lagoon. And it was brilliant! Our river experience in the inflatable kayak stood us in good stead, Kevin and I got it moving well, and Jemima loved it, of course. Happy hour, showers, then dinner on the beach, with Jemima engaged in spotlit paddling and running races with whoever would oblige, and finally bed. And repeat...

Sunday: and repeat we did, although we started much earlier, jet lag relinquishing its hold; I had a quick morning outing along the road to stock up on the vital suncream (all ATMs and card machines weren't working due to a bank issue, so the lovely lady - in the second shop I tried - let me come back to pay tomorrow - how wonderfully trusting); and rather than a family kayak trip in the afternoon, Jemima and I went out together, and then she and I had a go snorkelling in the shallows - a special moment. 

Happy hour, shower, and dinner in a restaurant just along the beach this time, at the Sailing Club, slightly raised on a verandah with a beautiful view overlooking the beach, and Jemima happily playing in the sand below with New Zealanders Claudia (6) and Dylan (8) from our next door table, and then bed. And repeat...

Monday: and today's variations: it was pouring down when we woke up, after a few days of glorious weather (beautifully sunny but not oppressively hot), but cleared up as the morning wore on; I went to pay my debts (and ended up swapping addresses with the lovely shop lady - apparently she wants to come to visit), while Jemima played enthusiastic (if as yet slightly inaccurate) football in the rain, watched by Kevin from under the sheltering canopy; and we all went out for a paddle, Jemima and Kevin in a kayak, and me attempting stand up paddle boarding for the first time (I asked the beach kit man which was the front, as I couldn't tell, and he told me, slightly patronisingly, "the pointy end"...) - we all got to the desert island again, it was great fun, if hard work on the arms as it was windy. 

Then, most significantly, after a quick sandwich in the room, we went on the hotel snorkelling boat trip, which was brilliant - a chance to get further out into the turquoise glass-watered lagoon and reprise our Cairns snorkelling (Jemima with goggles and a woggle saying, "this is amazing"). Another great experience, with the bonus of a different snorkelling group joining us with food for the fish - having the blue fin trevallis zooming all around us to get it was brilliant. Then, as per usual, Happy Hour (Jemima spending most of it sitting in the warm sea, chatting to whoever is nearby, whether 6, 16 or 60), dinner on the beach, more playing with Claudia and Dylan, and bed. It's all rather brilliant - Jemima said Rarotonga is her favourite place from the trip. More to come tomorrow...

 

Saturday - the view from our room in the sunshine:

 

Looking down the beach and across to our "desert island":

 

Jemima in the background chatting to some other family, as usual:

 

Sunday:

 

 

Snorkelling:

Jemima and Kevin playing ball:

 

 

Jemima's favourite position this holiday, sitting in the sea:

 

Dinner:

 

 

Monday's photos (i.e. today) - to come tomorrow morning (it's bedtime now...)

Kia Orana!

Welcome to the Cook Islands! Jemima conked out on take off, and slept the whole six hour flight from Sydney, while Kevin and I did our best to emulate her. We landed in Rarotonga at about 3am Australian time, weirdly, in the morning of the evening we'd left, having crossed backwards over the date line (giving us two Fridays).  The middle of the night feeling was pretty painful, but we were serenaded through Customs by island tunes, and greeted by our hotel transport with flower necklaces (eis, I think), so the pain was somewhat lessened. 

Then a lovely drive across the island paradise to the hotel: steep tree-covered dark green mountains in the background, a few shops and houses along the road, lots of people on mopeds - it was all very undeveloped and South Pacific-picturesque, despite the appalling weather (leaden grey skies that developed into torrential rain battering the bus). 

We were umbrella'd into a wooden, woven-roofed reception to check in, breakfasted in a daze, and then retired to bed to recover. And a few hours later, the holiday really started. The resort is quite small, set in gardens, and sits on the edge of the stunning (even in the grey rain) lagoon, created by a reef circling the whole of Rarotonga island - a proper island idyll. A late lunch on the lagoon-edge beach with sandy toes turned into a very early happy hour, as Kevin and I sampled the cocktails of the day, and Jemima made sand castles at our feet, us all sheltered from the rain bursts by the canopy roof. (She also lost no time chumming up with whoever was available - children, staff, other adults - all were fair game, and Kevin and I were happy to let others absorb her energy today.) 

Then, after an extremely pleasant tiredness/ alcohol-induced hazy afternoon, back to the room for a shower and change before dinner in another wooden/ woven hut - everything appropriately tropical: drinks with flowers in; wonderfully friendly staff wearing flower headdresses (women) or shell necklaces (men - some also with a flower behind the ear); and the ever-present sound of the waves crashing on the reef. Perfect. We staggered to bed, hoping that we, and the weather, would both be better tomorrow.

Jemima being welcomed, still in her pyjamas from the plane journey:

 

 

In between the rain showers:

 

 

A sieve full of hermit crabs:

 

A map of where the Cook Islands are (under the blue dot):

 

The other island groups between us and Australia are places like Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu: