My waterproof camera has relapsed for a third time, the stupid little shutter has broken. The night before I went to Aitutaki too, so no more pictures of fish.
So on Thursday I took my car back, which was a bit of a shame but never mind. I also made friends with the little boy staying in the pool unit, he must be 7 or 8 I guess. He has a toy called Venom (from Spiderman 3) who unfortunatly got left in Banana Court in town. He also asked about my piercing (hes not very shy) and I had to explain what it was, which was interesting, haha. My piercing is, for those of you who thought I should have taken it out, thriving in the sea salt water and sunshine.
Got up at 6am on Friday (the earliest morning yet!) and got driven to the airport by a London taxi driver. In Rarotonga. What are the chances? He said how he much prefers it here because everyone is friendly and when he goes back to London noone has the time of day to talk to each other in shops. Anyway, I then checked in and was given the advice of 'watch out for the Aitutaki boys, they are animals' by the check in guy. I boarded my plane and arrived in Aitutaki 45 minutes later, to their very cute tiny little hut which equates to the airport. The guy from the bungalows was late in picking me up 'the car has broken down and I had to find my grandmother who had the rental car keys and then I cut my foot...' so I was standing about in this little airport just wondering what was going on. Anyway, I got my flowery necklace and was taken to my LOVELY wooden bungalow on stilts on the beach. I dropped my stuff off and then Solo took me round to the 'town', I asked him why all the houses (or most of them) are on stilts and he explained it was because its cheaper than getting loads of concrete in for foundations. Interesting! Haha, anyway he took me round to the harbour where I got put on a boat with; one New Zealand couple celebrating their 10 year anniversary, one New Zealand honeymoon couple, one swiss couple, one British couple from London and one very eccentric old German woman who was dating the Captain - Captain Fantastic (as he called himself). So we sped across the HUGE lagoon, with crystal clear water showing all the coral. We stopped briefly at the ship wreck from 1930 where there are a load of Model T Fords kicking about. Then we went a bit further out and snorkelled. Saw loads of huge clams with pretty purple and white patterns inside them as well as multicoloured little fish which were really pretty. Also, a Parrotfish, which is kind of whitey silver with purple looking dots on it. It saw around me and then I saw a load of them headless on the back of the boat which Captain Fantastic had just caught for lunch. We stopped on Honeymoon Island which is where couples on their honeymoon are meant to find coconuts and plant them on the beach, so it is covered in loads of baby coconut trees. So two of the couples did that. Then we had lunch in a little hut on the beach. We had the Parrotfish which was really really nice, with bread and butter as well as a million different types of fruit. I also got my passport stamped here for One Foot Island and Honeymoon Island! Then we got back on the boat and stopped off on One Foot and then Shark Island from Shipwrecked! The tables were still there and it was wierd, like walking on a TV set! Could see Tiger Island opposite. I duno how they made them look like they were in the middle of nowhere because they're both surrounded by all the other little motus! So after my little cruise I was driven back to my bungalow where I had an AMAZING shower in my nice clean, modern bathroom, haha. After that I went down to Pacific Resort for a meal and island night show. Was a bit pricey... to say the least! I had chicken spring rolls with vegetables to start which was fab, and then a HUGE bit of steak on really creamy garlic mash with salad which was the best thing I have eaten in agges, been craving steak big time! I had a pinot noir with that which turned out to be a bad decision because it was a bit sharp for my liking but it was bareable! For pudding I had chocolate mud cake and homemade ice cream which was bliss but I nearly didn't finish it because I was so full! Crazy!! The dancing at this island night was wayy better than on Rarotonga. And the drumming and singing was live and so much better, there was this huge old woman (who reminded me a bit of the grandmother from Belleville Rendez Vous) beating a drum made from what looked like an overturned barrel. I then got dragged up to dance (I was planning on saying no but I got asked by this little 8 year old boy who I couldn't really refuse) which involved me having to attempt to hula dance with the little boy in the centre on my own while everyone watched!! Its good that by this point I had had a few drinks!! It was fun though, and lots of other people had to too so that eased the embarresment, haha. I kept occasionally feeling guilty for spending so much for that night (it was $87 in total)or whenever I treat myself but then I remember I have worked my arse off and I'd rather spend the money over here on things I like and will enjoy so there, justified! So afterwards I went to reception so they could call Solo and he came and picked me up, and while we were leaving the resort gates he asked, 'Lizzie you drive?' and I said, 'yes...' and then he turned the wrong way down the road, and I was thinking, what is going on, where is he taking me? After a while we pulled into a petrol station and he pulled up and said, 'okay Lizzie if you could just drive the van back so I can take my moped back up, just follow behind me.' and I was like, whattttttttttt. Anyway, I climbed into the van (the size of a people carrier, nothing like my little fiesty or micra!) and stuck it into drive and followed him 10 minutes back along the road, whilst still slightly tipsy! But I don't imagine these things really matter much on Aitutaki; no insurance, drink driving...
So on Saturday I had a rather rubbish day as it rained lots and lots and lots. It passed by about 4 so I went to lie on my beach but it was a bit of a dissapointing day. Was taken to the airport at about half 6 where I met the 10year NZ couple at the airport, Vanessa and Tim. They were with a very posh London couple who they introduced me too and I had a brief convo with them, the husband yaaing away about his son living in Edinburgh and then moving to NZ but how he would move back to Edinburgh if he ever came back. I had a really nice long chat with Vanessa in the airport though, shes really nice, they mustn't be very old, I reckon mid 30s or so.
On Sunday I met Matt (who arrived very late Sat night) who is a medical student studying at Oxford and is doing a bit of work at the hospital here as part of a 10 week work thing the uni lets them do, hes already been working in Sydney. Hes really interesting and we had very long conversation last night, v friendly n funny so thats been good company. Also gave me lots of Oxford tips, and said that theres a 24 hour bus to and from London for 8 quid return, which rocks! So thats all been cool.
Today I've not done much; walked into town and bought postcards and stamps and met Tim and Vanessa who were sitting in a cafe with another woman having a 'business meeting' as Tim called it, because he works in some kind of importing exporting thing from NZ to here. So that was nice, I've bumped into them so many times I'm half expecting to see them when I'm in Auckland too! After I left them I had a wander around all the pearl stores (of which there are many) and then finally settled on a very thin silver band with a small grey/green/purple pearl on it which is lovely.
Just finished packing, much to the amusement of Matt. Lucky for me my bag seems to be rather stretchy and so I've just about crammed everything into it. Just. No more shopping for moi! So I'm all packed, ready to be taken by my London cabbie to the airport at 2am tomorrow morning ( Tuesday the 4th and I arrive in Auckland on Wednesday the 5th because of the date line, I think this may confuse me a little) so I don't think I'll bother going to sleep, just stay up and read. I've got two days in Auckland and then on Friday I'm gona get a bus down to Raglan to see Nash! Very exciting.
Much love,
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