Life's A Beach

Apologies for the lack of blog updates, as expected our time in the Cook Islands has been uneventful – Exactly as we wanted. Life quite literally is a beach.

How to create a simple life. Be on an island:-

• That’s 20 miles by 20 miles wide.
• Where the only bus routes are Clockwise & Anti Clockwise.
• That has nothing but “bounty beaches”.
• That has super friendly inhabitants.
• Where the only supermarket on the island has full shelves once a week when the cargo boat lands.
• Where everything closes on a Sunday, except the Churches & the Pubs (Hic! Amen.)
• Where you’ll never hear the annoying ring of a mobile phone – there aren’t any.
• Where petrol prices only change once every 3 months when a new shipment is delivered.
• Where the TV has only one channel but still manages to show Euro 2008!
• Where there are only two main roads. One “ocean circular road” one “inland circular road”.
• Where, even though restaurants aren’t abundant there is an Italian serving pizza (note: J’s a happy girl!).

Now I know I’ve got to be careful here; if you’re reading this and you’re not one of the “lucky retired” then you’ll probably have had, or are currently having (naughty internet use!) a day at work, the last thing you want to hear is about life in the sun. I’ll keep it short, it’s been a wonderful few weeks and the perfect answer to the excess of America. There – Done. That wasn’t so bad was it.

I should also mention we did meet our meet our first chavs - The lesser spotted Kiwi Chav. Our experience of Kiwi Chavs is based on a bus journey where we had the misfortune to be directly in front of them. The description is as follows:

- Drunk at 7am …. That’s right seven in the AM!!!
- Not afraid of giving the wife a good open handed “love tap” in public.
- Whistling at their children like dogs to get their attention.
- Peppering their sentences with swear words that’d make Roy Chubby Brown proud.
- A wife that is over 40 and dressing like a 14 year old.
- Two uncontrollable children whom the parents had no inclination or ability to control.

Ps: Life is amazing – Golden beaches, temperatures never below 20 degrees, drinks at mid-day (why not), lying in every day, sunshine each day, wonderful tans, great food and great company. Sorry – couldn’t resist.

Lost With A Scooter

We have spent the few days here whizzing around the Island on a scooter (Andy passed his scooter driving test out here – no doors to close!), swimming in the sea and cooking for ourselves. The greatest joy for me on the 1st day, after doing a bit of shopping was getting back to the flat and making myself a cheese sandwich - just cheese in bread - (if you’ve travelled through America, you’ll understand, simplicity in food is not their forte!). Enough of my self-imposed food issues – We are in paradise now!

Rarotonga itself resembles the island in Lost, with a big ominous volcanic rock at the centre, an impenetrable rainforest surrounding it, and a beautiful sandy beach (And probably the same amount of people living on it too!) Note: no black mist or polar bears to date.

Anyway, it’s been cloudy since we’ve arrived but still hot (25+), and the sea is perfect for swimming in. Andy swam out to the reef yesterday, and saw fish. I read a book on the beach and watched sand crabs scuttle about. I believe this is how our month will be spent. Happy Times!

Needless to say, we probably won’t be updating the blog too often over the next month – but keep leaving comments as it’s nice to know you still remember us (though once Andy’s beard is fully grown you may not recognise him).

Janine