Well today is our last day in Rarotonga and the Cook Islands. We spent a little time admiring the view from our balcony and Sangeet wrote a couple of postcards. As we still had the car we then decided to drive around the island.
Whilst walking out of the hostel we bumped into a couple from Blenheim, New Zealand who we have met before, they were going to the Mooring restaurant so we decided to give them a lift, especially as they were a great couple. They invited us to stay at their house they gave us their address and even said “we can pick you up from Picton.
Once we dropped them off we went to an Internet cafe Deli-licious, Sangeet tried the fruit smoothie made with local papaya and banana, I had a cappuccino. We logged onto the computer and booked the accommodation for New Zealand. (Our flight is today at 4:15pm the length is four and a half hours yet we get to New Zealand tomorrow at 8pm, I still find it so fascinating. Some people left New Zealand on a Friday evening and arrived in Rarotonga on Thursday evening so relived their Friday again! Just imagine that….you are having a bad day so you can fly to the Cook Islands and relive that day again!!!)
Afterwards we drove to the Maire Nui Gardens where Sangeet fell in love with the garden and atmosphere. We walked around the garden and saw some amazing plants, tropical flowers and vegetables, a lot of which is served in the on site cafe. They had mangos and papaya growing in the garden too. After the walk we ordered a feta cheese salad and a fruit smoothie with local fruits, Sangeet could taste the freshness I could not!
There are two roads that circle the island, an inner road and outer road. all the shops, restaurants, resorts etc are on the outer road which is the road most people use. we decided to drive on the inner road today where we saw lots of houses and plantations. Yesterday when we finished the walk all three of us were so glad that we just walked towards the car, apparently there is a waterfall (Papua or Wigmore’s Waterfall) at the end near the car park which we totally missed! Today we went back to have a look at it. As the tmpretaure was hot (around 30 degrees C) the waterfall was dry. Also the area around the waterfall is not well looked after. The little waterfalls that we saw as we walked down through the rainforest from the Needle were much more impressive.
After seeing the dismal waterfall we spent a little time at Aro’a beach, got gas, had a look at the golf course near the airport then headed to the post office to send the postcards. We then went to check in. There is a departure tax to pay, NZ$55.00 per person! just before security there is the bank Westpac where they take payment and stamp your boarding pass to say you have paid.
I still cannot get over the fact the flight will be four and a half hours yet we arrive 23 hours later, amazing!
After arriving in Auckland we checked into the airport across the road from the airport:
Novotel Auckland airport
Auckland International Airport
Ray Emery Drive
Auckland 2022
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