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Raro last hurrah: day of the scooter

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And so the inevitable last day dawned. Thanks to Air NZ rescheduling we were leaving at the convenient time of 1.30am. On the plus side, we had a full day to enjoy; on the less awesome side, we had to stay awake for longer than we’d managed on the whole trip to date.

After checking out and leaving luggage in the lock-up we nipped over the road to the Budget office. Before long we were the owners of temporary Cook Islands licenses – sufficient for a one day hire – and ready to unleash our two wheeled fury.

Easy Rider

Easy Rideress

No helmets required provided we kept to the slightly lower speed limit. It had been ages since I had ridden a motorbike and while these were humble scooters it was so much fun.

We spent a few hours just scootering around, stopping here and there on a whim for photos.

I'm a sucker for ruinous buildings

The flame trees were striking with their gorgeous flowers and distinctive canopy

One of many churches on the island

On the way into Avarua with its rugged backdrop

The large police station, no doubt funded by all the driver licenses they process

Near the mouth of Muri Lagoon

We nosied around the ruins of what I guess was a church

Across the road was this church

Lunchtime deluge

A nearby building

Raro dogs at Muri Lagoon

Somewhere on our scooter travels

Back of the abandoned resort from the road to the island's waterfall

More rustic buildings along a random inland road

An old roadside shop I think

We reluctantly returned the scooters to give ourselves time for a final snorkel back at the resort. After a big dumping of rain in the middle of the day it had cleared up nicely and we still had a few hours to kill. We enjoyed a cocktail by the pool and later found our last bottles of beer (not cold but drinkable) to keep us hydrated while watching our final island sunset.

Mike on the hunt for fishes

Found some

First cocktails of the trip, finally, though not from lack of trying

Enjoying the last Raro sunset

We miss this!!

Between dinner, internet and reading we hung in there til the shuttle’s arrival at 11.30pm. At the airport, the customs and security officials seemed a touch officious and once through that, we realised we had forgotten about the $55 departure fee (ouch) and so joined the hefty queue of similarly disinclined fellow travellers.

But waiting for the boarding call we could only look back on the past few days with a great deal of fondness. It was a fantastic holiday. With so many other travel plans we may not get back to Raro in a hurry which makes this trip all the more memorable.


Filed under: Pacific Islands, Rarotonga '11

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