Rarotonga the Cook Islands

Wednesday, May 2nd Rarotonga, the Cook Islands

Finally, paradise! No coconut shells and grass skirts, but a clean and beautiful island. We arrived at 6:30am and we anchored just off shore. We made our way to shore, by tender, and met up with our Excursion group. We were on a 4WD Safari into the interior and what a ride! There were nine of us in the Land Rover and our driver was Mr T! There were two women from Canada, another couple from Canada, a woman from Israel and a couple from Moscow. Jack and I were sitting at the back. Our tour included going up a road that turned into a rain gully. Some of the ruts had to be at least two feet deep. We were going up hill and everyone was sliding back ..we were crushing Jack ..and so I lifted myself to try and give him so room but at the same time we hit a huge hole and I was smashed down on the floor of the vehicle. I stayed there until we finally stopped and then slid myself out of the back. After that, I had a hard time getting in and out of the truck. Jack and the Russian man always waited to help me out, thank god, or I probably would have had another causality. Today I do have a very large bruise on my back, but it really doesn't hurt too much! Anyway, our excursion was really quite good and the guides were very informative and humorous. They did tease us about the tee shirts that said "Send more tourist, the last batch tasted great" because this was once a cannibalistic island. After grazing the booths that had rapidly appeared at the dock, we tendered back so that we could shower and do the "Cruise Thing", eat! Today we are at sea! We slept late and ate breakfast before returning to our room to get the laundry! Oh yes, a dose of reality does show up now and then! The Laundromat is just a few doors down from us, which is convenient. There is one on almost every deck but they still get rather crowded and if you are not there when your washer or dryer stop...you guessed it...dumped!! We have heard many loud and unkind words come out of this door! Anyway, eight washers, eight dryers and four ironing boards with irons on each floor cause a major traffic jam. We usually try to go during dinnertime, but today we decided to go for it! It really wasn't too bad, we came out of it unscathed! After such a feat, I decided to get some sun on the lounge chair on our balcony while Jack went to another of the lectures on Investing (snore, snore, snore!). Jack stopped by the Pizza place and brought back Pepperoni Pizza and we dined in our room on that and our own Green Tea, which we bought in Sydney (Two cases of it). Jack is now exhausted from the strain of this cruising, and has fallen asleep crossways of the bed. I'll have to wake him soon so that he can send this note. Anyway, I'm sure he won't want to miss dinner!

Jack has added a picture of us on our last, and I hope last, formal night!

Tales from Bora Bora are to follow.....