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Day 13-19

13- Off to the market today but when we got there it only had one stool but i got a fishhook necklace, so we wandered into town via every shop on the way as it was still raining. In town we had alook for mothers day pressies and back to hostel. We had new arrivals tonight and it was curry buffet night so we all jumped in a van with Gordon the mad South African and went of into the night. The food was really nice adn we went off to trader jacks for a beer afterwards. I talked to Neil alot and it turned out we were in  a lot of the same music and he had a played in a band with some guys I knew. The back to hostel, we may as well have had a boat as the whole island seemed to be flooded. Gordon splashed some people on purpose but i dont thin k it would have made a difference. Back at the hostel we watched The Beach, it's an alright film but i think it made everyone think of home. It makes you think about what you are doing and you have doubts but thats all part of the trip. If i was comfortable with everything i was doing and everywhere i went it would be a very different trip. The best thing about the movie is i think it bonded a lot of us together, some are going home and some are on their way out but we are all in the same boat.

14- Down to Aroa beach today in the...SUNSHINE!!!!!!

RAROTONGA HAS RAIN THAT DOESNT STOP. 250CM IN A WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!

It was windy but still hot and the water waas warm, we bumped into Neil and Rosa and walked back to the hostel and sat around the pool and beach getting very sunburnt. We had a good long chat with Paul the owner about Guernsey as he likes small islands. Then as the sun was setting everyone moved down to the beach. No photos of this one it will be in my head only. It was really quite odd as everyone there had wathed the Beach with us the day before and we were one big group. One of the guys opened a few coconuts and we all shared a cool drink. Then we started a fire and watched the millions of stars.

15- Today was BOILING!!!! We hired some bike and rode into town which was a really silly idea in the heat. We got our own snorkels today as we're going to use them a lot. It was Pete's birthday today so he had a bit of a do mostly with the really loud annoying swedish girls from the hillside backpackers. There was a confrontation and I shall say no more.

16- Up early today to go down to Muri Lagoon for Cap't Tama's glass bottom boat cruise. The first part of which was really disappointing as we had heard it was really good but we could have done it ourselves for free. We were taken out to a part of the lagoon and told to swim about...it was not that great either, aroa beach has more marine life. Then they took us to one of the islands in the lagoon and said we could wander about for 30 minutes...it takes 3 minutes to walk around the whole island. The next bit was alright though and really saved the day for me. We had a nice bbq and then a bit of a show where the guy taught us how to get coconut cream from coconuts (which isnt the juice from inside it). The he took two girls from the crowd and showed us about ten different ways of tying a sarong. Then he called up one guy and asked him to choose the other so yours truely became an official Cook Islands model...oh yea. After a few different ways of wearing sarongs the guy asked us if we trusted him. i said sure and we had to close our eyes while he sliped spmething into my sarong. When we opened our eyes both the other model and i had huge buldges between our legs ( nothing new there HA HA AHA AHAHAHAH). The idea was that we would do a version of the Hakka while swinging the buldge back and forth. We had to shout "AAArrrrr" "Raaaaaaaaaa" "Soooooo" "Peeeeeeeee" three times and on the third go our host just shouted "I look stupid" everyone had a good laugh. Then back at the hostel we sat around the pool with Rosa, Neil, Deborh, Andrea and Jo the Swede telling old bad jokes before we had another bbq and watching a Bill Baily dvd.

17- Today Mia got here cook island motor cycle licenceand we wandered around trying to find the best deal on a scooter and soon we were on the open road zooming around between 40-60 km/h with no helmets. It was a really good laugh and we stopped all over the place to take photos at such places as the half way point, smurf st, upwind rd. The only real problem with the bike was leaving it in the sun and letting the seat get to boiling point so when we sat down we got burnt bums. We must have gone around the island about five times. Another awesome sunset this time a deep deep red. It was Petes last night and he was back of to Slovakia...he really reminds me of jim rhesus. So we stayed up talking to him until someone spotted four boats roaming around the reef. We all stood on the beach waiting for a body to wash up as we were all sure they were rescue boats...turns out they were fishing boats trying to catch flying fish.

18- We jumped back on the scooter today and went to see the prison close up and to drop off the bike. We had a great meal at a place called tamarn house. We tried the reef sub again but it wasn't going. Then back to the hostel for another night of random chatter.

19- Up early and off to the Cook Islands Culture Village where we joined local historians and they showed us a lot of different things about fishing, weaving, medicine and uses of the coconut, the tree of life. There was one guy who was a new born christian witch doctor who seemed to be on a bit of a rant. In the hut where we were told about the dancing costumes we were told that the belt around the grass skirt is called a tittie. They wore these so when they dnaced it was their titties that flew up and down rather than their skirt. Now i have seen the dancers and she had a point ha ha ha. The best bit was just after lunch. Lunch was a mixture of local friuts and a really odd starchy banana pudding. The after lunch we were all called down to a small stage where they showed us some local dance moves, it was great. Back at the hostel we had to pack for our trip to Aitituki but half way through Neil and Rosa came back and niel was really pissed off as he went to get a tattoo and the guy just did what he wanted. Niel is covered in tattoos so knows his stuff but was really disppointed with this new one. We then spent the rest of the day chatting by the pool in the hot sunshine, next to the tall coconut trees, with views of the ocean. Then we were all talking about food so Mia and I went off down the road with everyones orders for chicken and chips. The it was time to say our goodbyes to Niel and Rosa as they were off to thialand, laos and cambodia. Then to Deborah and Andrea as we wouldn't see them again before they left.

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