Impressions of Rarotonga

This is a beautiful tropical island and it is HOT HOT HOT. The temperature has risen to 30C day and night, but we must be getting used to it as 30C at night doesn't seem too hot now.
This island is not Rarotonga, just a little one we windsurfed to yesterday!

The scenery is stunning - lots of fruits we have never heard of before. Soursop - its like a cross between pinapple, grape and apple. The bananas grow wild and taste like nothing we have tasted before. There are also lemons, avacados, paw paw and mangos.

A reef surrounds the island and the water in the lagoom is warm with many brightly coloured fish - its like swimming in an aquarium. But there are mossies and big bugs like hornets. There are cockrels, chickens and chicks everywhere.

The perimeter is 32km and is more developed than we had expected. The whole perimeter is either privately owned, holiday accomodation or managed public beach access. There is a back road a few hundred metres inland and most locals live along that in varied type of bungalows or shacks. We have been suprised about how many different christian religous demoninations are here - perhaps about 20. There are many graves everywhere adorned with brightly coloured silk flowers, very often in people's gardens.

Apart from a strip of land around the outside the island is mountainous and covered in tropical rainforest. We did the cross island walk yesterday - infact its not a walk but a climb and a descent. Good job there were many exposed roots and shrubs to provide foot and handholds.
We are totally stunned by how beautiful it is - we have to pinch ourselves to believe we are really here.
But there is no rocknroll here - just a strange mixture of traditional polynesian dance music played on drums and tiny guitar like things and western pop. Am looking for a job as a rocknroll teacher. If I get one I might forget to come back.