Island life

Well rather than detail my day to day life (which would get very repetitive) here is a general feeling of my time on Rarotonga.

I get up late normally, generally because I have not quite got in synch with the time difference and can't get to sleep at night. It is like being back home on the weekends. If it is sunny I get up, eat some breakfast, drink some juice, shower, dress and walk round to the lagoon to lounge in the sun, read my book, listen to music and swim when I just get too hot to stay lying there. After that I head back, usually checking e-mails en route and saying hi to those of you that have e-mailed me (Al Williams on his latin american trip is sounding increasingly more spanish with each e-mail)

If it is cloudy or rainy, I usually get the bus in to town, have a spot of lunch, go to the internet places there that are much faster and sort out what I still need to sort out. So far I have booked my return flight to Ecuador, my Galapagos trip, confirmed the date of my flight home to London, updated my CV and started looking around re work. Pretty productive really.

For those of you that want to know, I will be back in London on the morning of Saturday 8th July. No doubt feeling kind of bleary and jetlagged but that is the official "end of travels, welcome back to reality" date. Not sure how I feel about that! : )

Anyway, I have gone off on a tangent. Back to Island life. My evening generally involve sitting around chatting to my house mates, listening to the sea crashing just outside the house, teasing the dog with tidbits of food, and watching the occasional DVD. I did go out for an Island night last Thursday, with local dancing, music, lots of vodka and oranges, a typical Rarotongan meal etc. That was good fun, despite my finding myself surrounded by some very sweet but dour looking Europeans. The guys from my house were on a different table, but I soon ran over to them to have a healthy dose of silliness (can you believe that the Europeans were unmoved by ABBA, the Sugarbabes.... all those silly "who cares how daft you look just throw yourself around the dance floor like you just don't care" tunes).

There is talk with my current contingent of housemates, of having a house bbq some time this week. That should be a good laugh, we'll try and get the lovely Vara in to the party spirit. The old American couple should be in their element, as the husband loves to expound on things bless him (life before computers, the 5th scouts jamberie in Holland in the 1930s, being able to walk the streets without fear in his day etc...). He doesn't mean any harm at all and is very knowledgeable, but it can be difficult to extract yourself when he gets started. I don't think I have heard his wife speak at all, although she is very smiley. The Brit boys in our house keep threatening to bring up politics. I think if that happens I am just going to make a run for it and hide until the conversation (or series of lectures) is over. Still he is very nice about the 1930s Polish scouts, so I am fond of him. Just wish that he had a volume and pause switch for when you need a bit of a break.

What can I say, they are all a nice bunch of people covering a very great age range (18-80+), it makes for some funny moments.

Well that is my island life update. Right now I am going to see some nice diving people about how much it would cost to get my PADI here. Hope that it is reasonable, as, if for no other reason, it can't be hot and sticky under the water surely! Umm cool water and no really dangerous sharks in the area (Hammerheads aren't that evil right - not like the White, Tiger and Bull sharks). Bring it on