Back on Rarotonga, we were picked up by our accommodation for the last 2 nights of our trip, Rarotonga Backpackers.  We were staying at the beachside (they also have a hillside location) and the waterfront bungalow ($80 US per night) was beautiful. The bungalows are up on stilts, with an unobstructed view of the ocean, ... (read more →)

The following day, our last chance for sun in Aitutaki, didn’t pan out much better than the previous days, unfortunately.  Gray and overcast. However, we were fortunate that the lagoon cruise we had arranged ( Glass Bottom Boat Cruise) turned out to be a private cruise around the lagoon: all other guests had cancelled last ... (read more →)

The next day was our day to kayak on Ootu beach. The weather had other ideas however, and it rained almost all day.  We sat and played Scrabble. Ian won.  The day wasn’t a total washout, however.  For dinner, we went out for our best meal of the trip at Tupuna Café, which was the ... (read more →)

 Since every hotel was full of the crew for Survivor, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.  We toured the island by bicycle – and saw no other tourists. There aren’t many sights to see around the island, but it was a pleasant way to spend an overcast day.  We tried to eat at ... (read more →)

  Our stay on Aitutaki was unfortunately not very well timed.A lot of the lagoon was closed down due to the filming of Survivor: Cook Islands.  A couple of months before the trip I had spend several hours on the phone calling every hotel in Aitutaki desperately looking for any room, and we finally found ... (read more →)

Ian and I spent 3 weeks in the South Pacific, visiting Tahiti, Easter Island, and the Cook Islands. We finished up in the Cook Islands. We backtracked once again to Papeete where we stayed with our by-now good friend at Chez Myrna, and then it’s only a short 2 hour flight from Papeete to Rarotonga.  ... (read more →)