Our hotel was a 17 roomed 'boutique' hotel on the beach called Moana Sands, not the plushest hotel in the world but OK and the location was perfect. Right on the beach, soft sand, warm crystal clear sea and on the wide part of the lagoon as the island is surrounded by a coral reef, the waves crashing into it all day and night long, that was our lullaby to get us to sleep. The temperature averaged 24 degrees during the day 22 degrees at night and we only had one day of rain the whole time so were very lucky as you are more or less guaranteed rain while you are there, as with all the Pacific Islands. This is the main island of the Cook Islands and we didn't go to any of the others, maybe next time. It is not a designer island, it is what it is, a little rough around the edges, not ostentatious but warm, friendly and safe and one of the most relaxing places we have ever been. There is not a whole heap of things to do so you have to be content with great little restaurants to find, walks along the beach, 2 buses - one to go clockwise the other anti-clockwise! - warm sea to swim in, coral reefs teaming with fish to explore, kayaks etc. You can also go deep sea fishing, horse riding, walk into the hills etc but we chilled, well mostly!
We caught the anticlockwise bus (which was late but who cares) into the main town of Avarua as it was market day, a day not to be missed as we were told lots of times and many of us from the hotel got on it. Derek went off to the Police Station to get his Cook Island driving licence, a mere $20 and a bit of extra revenue for the island! I went into the market and followed the sound of the drums and island music. There was a big crowd watching them dance and they were wonderful, I would love to know how they move their hips like that. I have video to put on this blog but can't seem to get it on their, think I have to pay for another upgrade thing on this. anyway they were great and eventually Derek joined me and we watched them for about an hour then walked around the market looking at all the lovely gifts and colourful sarongs etc. There were some lovely unique gifts too, painted coconut shells, lots of jewellery and all the normal food things that are sold in a market, the pawpaws or papayas are huge and taste fantastic, we had lots of them and big pineapples, YUM!
We also met some lovely people at the hotel, another 6 couples especially who were mostly around our age and several nights would find us outside joining in a BBQ and making cocktails on the beach. They were good company and made our holiday even more special so thank you everyone for making these evenings special for us, you were great company.