Here I Go Again

K, so I went from Australia - GMT+10(ish) to Rarotonga - GMT-11 then back to New Zealand - GMT+11 all because of a line someone drew on the maps. Marty and Christopher Lloyd had it tough!

Our last night in Rarotonga didn’t have enough sleep in it for my liking. We were rudely attacked by a Houdini-style cockroach! First of all it climbed the wall and got our attention, then jumped off the wall and started flying around our heads. We sat there, screamed our heads off like little schoolgirls for a few seconds then sprang out our beds and were on the other side of the room quicker than you could say entomophobia. We eventually pulled ourselves together and I constructed a trap from a fruit basket and carrier bag and Jonny proceeded to beat my bed with a pillow rather than the cockroach. When it was on the floor I slammed my trap over it. Sigh, relax. But then, was that another one on the other side of the room? No, there wasn’t anything under my trap so he had magically escaped! We then had him trapped in a corner behind Jonnys bed but it ran under it and disappeared again! We searched for it for about 20 minutes but couldn’t find it. At this point we realised we were well out-gunned so admitted defeat and retreated to the other building where the kitchen and lounge area was and calmed our nerves with a brew holding out as long as we could.

We did the cross island walk a few days before we left which takes you past the ‘Needle’ which is a landmark feature of the island, a piece of rock that stands up out of the mountain. The walk was surprisingly tough and the trail is near vertical at times, thankfully there weren’t any bugs (that we were aware of) and the only wildlife we saw were some lizards and chickens. When you get to the Needle, you can climb up further round it after the sign that says “At your own risk” and there are some chains and ropes there to help you up (see video). The whole walk took 3 hours altogether and the weather was really good for it too. I’d recommend it to anyone.

Did you know you have to pay $30 tax to leave Rarotonga? No? Neither did I until I was in the middle of the departure process lol, live and learn.

Unfortunately there weren’t any locals giving those flower necklaces out and the banjo man only just came out and was tuning his banjo as we were getting on the plane. So I’ll have to go back one day I spose. All in all though, it was a cool little island and a good place to have a holiday

Im in cold Christchurch, its the height of winter here atm and is about 4 degrees usually which is pretty cold and I’ve only had the one jumper (which isn’t very warm) up until today when I found a nice jacket thing for 20 quid. But I like the winter, its a nice change from Darwin temperatures of 40+ (and that was their winter too!)

Christchurch looks to be a very nice place and is quite similar to back home. Theres a huge park called Hagley Park thats split into North and South and has loads of rugby and football pitches on it and then just loads of trees and open spaces. Very cool.

We’ve been scouting around for somewhere to stay like a house or apartment and are waiting on people to get back to us on a few hopeful ones, been looking for jobs too but nothing there yet either. It’s gonna be strange starting work again though, im used to not working and could easily to it forever if it was possible…

The Internet cafes are a lot nicer here and cheaper and have games on them too which is cool.

I haven’t taken any pictures of Christchurch yet but will do soon, I have uploaded all my pictures now though so that should keep you busy for a while lol.

Missing you all still.

Out.

Pictures -

Adelaide

Sydney

Cook Islands - Rarotonga

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 10:05 am and is filed under New Zealand, The Big Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.