Don’t mix 2 song titles, Ron, it’ll get everyone – me included – in a muddle!
I know that should be rainy days and Mondays, but lazy days fitted today perfectly and it’s a Monday!
We’ve just done our first overnight flight – 9 hours from LA to Rarotonga! For the first time ever, I slept on a plane – must be something to do with being horizontal. Ron, however, did not! L You’d have thought we’d have both crashed out as this was our 3rd flight in one day! (LV to Phoenix 1hr, Phoenix to LA 1 ½ hours, then the Rarotonga one!) Personally I think R didn’t sleep cos he was still too fed up about the ridiculous delays at LA Airport. We should have had almost 3 hours to chill out, get some supper, do some blogging in the lounge at LA. However, in their wisdom, the US security guys had decided firstly to close the First/business class check in (which is usually very quick) then just to have three of six possible screening lanes open. Oh yes, then you had to have everything – laptop, mobile phone, etc laid out individually in a tray – along with your shoes, coat etc etc! The result was that most people ended up with 3 or 4 trays and a bag or 2 to go thru the screening process – you can imagine how long that took! So we ended up blogging as we ate! Not that we mind the security – just the lack of staff to do it properly. The lack of flexibility in the minds of most American officials that we’ve met doesn’t exactly help either.
Anyway, the good news (a minor miracle!) our bags have arrived safely – and on the same flight as us!
We got off the plane in the dark at 5.15am (1 hr early due to no headwind) to the most glorious scent of tropical flowers in a balmy 26⁰! Wow! And yes, it is January! The sun came up around 6:15am to show the true beauty of this island. The resort we’re staying in is great – right on the beach, and looks everything like the tropical paradises you see on travel programmes.
We started the morning feeding fish in the south pacific 30 yards from our bedroom window! Then a lazy Monday.
I know that should be rainy days and Mondays, but lazy days fitted today perfectly and it’s a Monday!
We’ve just done our first overnight flight – 9 hours from LA to Rarotonga! For the first time ever, I slept on a plane – must be something to do with being horizontal. Ron, however, did not! L You’d have thought we’d have both crashed out as this was our 3rd flight in one day! (LV to Phoenix 1hr, Phoenix to LA 1 ½ hours, then the Rarotonga one!) Personally I think R didn’t sleep cos he was still too fed up about the ridiculous delays at LA Airport. We should have had almost 3 hours to chill out, get some supper, do some blogging in the lounge at LA. However, in their wisdom, the US security guys had decided firstly to close the First/business class check in (which is usually very quick) then just to have three of six possible screening lanes open. Oh yes, then you had to have everything – laptop, mobile phone, etc laid out individually in a tray – along with your shoes, coat etc etc! The result was that most people ended up with 3 or 4 trays and a bag or 2 to go thru the screening process – you can imagine how long that took! So we ended up blogging as we ate! Not that we mind the security – just the lack of staff to do it properly. The lack of flexibility in the minds of most American officials that we’ve met doesn’t exactly help either.
Anyway, the good news (a minor miracle!) our bags have arrived safely – and on the same flight as us!
We got off the plane in the dark at 5.15am (1 hr early due to no headwind) to the most glorious scent of tropical flowers in a balmy 26⁰! Wow! And yes, it is January! The sun came up around 6:15am to show the true beauty of this island. The resort we’re staying in is great – right on the beach, and looks everything like the tropical paradises you see on travel programmes.
We started the morning feeding fish in the south pacific 30 yards from our bedroom window! Then a lazy Monday.
The place is full of flowers and P & T we’ve found the starlings you told us about! For those not in the know, Polynesian starlings are nothing like their UK namesake – the same size but slightly built, brightly coloured and with a lovely song.
We have the constant sound of surf breaking on the coral reef 100 yards offshore, as the sun set at 8:15.
Plans for this week ? well, we’re planning to hire mountain bikes tomorrow and do some exploring – M decided it had been far too long since she rode a motorbike to risk one of the fairly powerful 2 seaters they have here! Then we’ve booked a Polynesian evening – meal and show with drums, music and dancers for Tuesday evening (we reckon we’ll have burnt enough calories on the bikes to cope with a Polynesian “feast”! Then a guided walk up into the centre (Hills!) on Wednesday (just in case we need to burn off a few more calories!)
Thursday we have no fixed plans for, Friday we’re going on a glass bottomed boat trip (with a fish barbeque - yum!)
Saturday, there is a market in town and we will get the clockwise bus to this, (10 minute journey) or 50 minutes if you get the anticlockwise bus by mistake, as it goes all around the island first. On Sunday we are planning to go to the CICC, a Maori language church before we depart for Auckland at teatime arriving in NZ around 9pm. For those who like to work out timings as far as we are concerned the flight is 5 hours, but we arrive on Monday evening! Something to do with longitudes....and time zones!
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