Day 5 Thursday

Feb 23
Slept great.  Getting around 10 hours of sleep, waking to a cocks crow.  Justin went out to check out some beaches, while I woke up.  I went out to enjoy the sunrise with my journal.  Justin got back right when the next door neighbor, the, branch president walked out on the beach.  

We chatted with him for a little while.  He works at the airport as their security...wears combat boots and all.  He has a drug dog.  He said they prefer to eat the small fish; they taste better.  

Grapefruit for breakfast.  It did have a different texture, more tough? but still good.

 Mango tree.  They use a long stick to get the high ones.

 
Random yard.

Petrol Station.  It seemed often they were out of either petrol, or diesel.

 How they paint lines in the Cook Islands, with a rope to get it straight.

 Typical school.

Most people do not own lawn mowers and weed whack.  This lady was at it for at least two hours.

We returned the (awesome) scooter, then checked our email at an Internet cafe.  Immediately we saw an email with the grandest importance:

  an offer had been put in on our house. 

Uh.  I couldn't think straight.  There was booming music and a strange keyboard so I kept making typos, not to mention a worker who's sex is still a question.  Justin typed a response to our realtor.  Mind numbing.
We had been trying to figure this last day out.  We needed to get our bags to the airport lockers so we wouldn't have to drag them around.  Looooong story short, we rented a car for $40. 

The lockers were broken and would have cost $20, and a scooter $20, so this turned out perfectly.   We did a little store shopping.  It is so easy to find fun girl things, but boy stuff, forget it.  

We ate at a little roadside restaurant, fish n chips and their yummy lime soda made on the island, Vaima.

  I noticed I forgot to give Charlie, not the chicken, the key back at Tiana's, so we drove allll the way back there.  Visited a beautiful garden.  Got more ice cream at Wigmore's.  Justin got a double scoop: boysenberry and his favorite, lime.  So creamy. 

 Stopped to see the Air New Zealand plane come in.  This is a big thing to do here.  The plane lands, it feels like it's going to hit you and I've been told it's quite a rush.  Due to winds, the plane rerouted so we missed it. 

 Plane already landed.

 Where you stand to wait for the Jet Blast.

Me waiting.  I look sad, but I'm not.  I'm happy.  

 Coral that looked like a skull.

Fisherman.

 We drove up Happy Valley road and hiked on the trail at the end of it.  Rough road at the end.  Lo and behold, this was the trail I remembered as a kid.  Hiking through taro fields.  It felt like the Garden of Eden.  Grass had been mown.  Impeccable.   Stunning.  We kept saying "wow".  Highlight of my day for sure. 

 Back in town, we sat on the rocks of the harbor watching the giant turquoise waves roll then crash onto the reef. 

 
 Getting hungry, we set off to see what all the hub bub was down the street.  Looked like the locals, after Rugby, come downtown for a swim in the wharf.  A couple dozen kids splashing about. 

 We almost ate at RFC/ Raro Fried Chicken, but seeing a rat on the premises was souring.  

I love their "also available" items on their menu.

There were scooters EVERYWHERE.
We ate at Trader Jack's.  We shared a Hawaiian piazza.  It was great!  We got to sit right over the water.  Romantic.

 
   Now we're sitting in our Suzuki rental with random rain drops on the roof, I'm  typing, and Justin reading a Stephen King book on his phone.  We're waiting until our 1:30am flight.  Nap time.

I heard they loved corned beef and it looked to be true.  This is the selection in a gas station.

We often saw prepared food by registers.  This was egg salad sandwich.  Salmonella anyone?  

Table of prepared foods in Wigmore store.  I think the three bottles of white liquid must be coconut milk.  Yellow is taro root.  Usually there was rice with beef and veggies. 

Everyone wears jandals:  flip flops, or no shoes at all.  
You will never guess what I did.  Our flight was yesterday at 1:30am, so here we sit at the airport trying to figure out what to do.  Too bad we already turned in our rental car.  I am over the moon with madness at myself.  To my mind, Thursday 1:30 am, was in reality Friday.  
Phew.  We didn't sleep in the airport,  next to the haunted lockers that would make clicking sounds randomly, or on the metal benches.   Another couple had their flight changed and didn't know.  Their driver let us borrow his cell phone (after we had to ask), to call Air NZ.  Justin got most of the details worked out before his cell ran out of minutes.  Crap.  He told us about a cheap hotel across the street, and said no to us paying to use his phone.  So we walked across the street and asked for their cheapest room.  We asked if we could use their phone, and she said that they don't sell calling cards right now.  We offered to pay to make a local call and I also noticed a post it on their phone that said local calls $1, but she totally ignored me and started humming.  Weird.  She took us to our room.  It was dark, but I saw a set of bunk beds.  Then another set of bunk beds.  Crap.  We were in a backpackers hostel!  Justin and I looked at each other with huge eyes but told her thanks.  We were standing there in shock when a three inch cockroach ran for our feet.  

I opted for the top bunk.  

$60, but we didn't sleep on a bench. 
***

My owie is not much to look at, a small scratch.  But the story, to me, was much more grand.  This happened last night.  We decided to go out snorkeling at dusk.  When it started to get darkish, and it was getting harder to see where you were going, I started to freak just a little, especially because it was in the same place where we had seen the moray eel.  When we were almost to the shore, walking over rocks and coral, Justin startled a large white fish which darted straight towards me.  I let out a huge blood curdling scream (remember how serene this beach is) and fell on my knee.  I was thankful it was a minor owie because coral can hurt.  It did bruise up the next few days.