Raratonga to Home

After very heavy rain during the night (I could not sleep and was concerned that our hire car would have floated away during the night)!! In the morning we woke up to brilliant sunshine and I was relieved to see that the car was still in the parking place we had left it).

Rarotonga is the largest of the 15 islands which make up the Cook Islands. The population of Rarotonga is around 9,000.

The island is one of the most beautiful in the South Pacific making it popular with around 90,000 visitors each year. The volcanic peaks and white sandy beaches with overhanging palm trees, inside a Coral reef make Rarotonga a paradise island.

We went to the local Punanganui market – it is the place to be for locals and tourists in Raratonga on a Saturday morning.

There are food stalls with all kinds of fish, fruit, veg, crafts etc.

There was also music, dancing and a man removing the husk of a coconut with his teeth!!

There was a great happy atmosphere.

We then visited the local Museum where we saw a small collection of South Pacific and Cook Islands artifacts. The display of items from different periods of time reflects the historical background and the art forms present in the ancient times.

After some more sightseeing including visiting the Maire Nui Botanical Gardens and Cafe (where they use veg and fruit they produce) we went back to our Hotel to do some packing as we were leaving at midnight.

We are both sad that our amazing trip has come to an end but looking forward to getting home to see family and friends and Arnie.

A few of us from the hotel went out for a meal tonight before getting transport to the Airport. When we arrived there was a huge queue for check in and security. Everybody got searched and although luggage was X-rayed all our hand luggage was searched. I was sure that we would be delayed for hours but amazingly we were only 30 minutes late in leaving.

Our flight to Los Angeles took 8 ½ hours and we managed to get some sleep in between a lovely meal at breakfast. Not sure what time of night or day we were eating and sleeping. Not sure how our “body clocks will cope”.

Although our luggage was due to go straight through to Edinburgh we were told that we would need to collect our luggage at Los Angeles. On the plane we were informed that we would not need to collect our luggage but to be on the safe side we thought we would check – sure enough our two cases were on the carousel. We then had to check in again and go through security etc.

After a stopover of four hours we were on our way again. The plane was a Boeing 747 and we were fortunate to get seats near the back with two seats with slightly more leg room. Although the flight was a bit bumpy at times we managed to doze off and on. We only had a short time in Heathrow before getting our flight to Edinburgh. This time we did not need to collect our luggage until we got to Edinburgh. (I was not convinced that we would see our cases again but they were there when we arrived in Edinburgh).

We were met by Christopher on a sunny afternoon and when we got home we got a great welcome from Arnie. He is looking well and goes for a check up to Glasgow on Thursday.

By the time we got home Iain was exhausted and went straight to bed and slept for a few hours. I stayed up but by 10pm I could not keep my eyes open and went to bed and slept well and woke up feeling refreshed this morning.

We have just had a lazy day and trying to adjust to being back home – I have had a look at our blog this afternoon and can hardly believe that we have been to all these places. We have so many wonderful memories and experiences to treasure for years to come.

Once we have been home a few days we will both be writing about our special experiences and favourite things over the past few weeks.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers during our trip.