Last post for Rarotonga

Hi all - we finally splurged and stayed in a hostel (indoors) for a night, so we can take advantage of the high speed internet to catch up...

Here's the last post for Rarotonga, and hopefully before long we'll be caught up on NZ posts as well:

Rarotonga Day 6, Saturday 10-May
Today we headed to the south side of the island again to tour the Maire Nui Gardens that we had only glanced at a couple days before. We took the bus and arrived at the gardens after what appeared to be a heavy rain shower - good thing we missed it. The garden was kind of boggy but the water droplets on all the flowers and leaves made for some beautiful pictures. The gardens are full of big blooming tropical plants, palms, and wild versions of all the house plants we have at home.

After that we strolled down the road to Tikioki Beach expecting to eat lunch and rent snorkel gear again, but alas the shop was closed for the weekend - "island time" at work again...
So instead we walked along the beach for awhile taking in the scenery until I had my Jimmy Buffet moment - I "blew out my flip flop"! I didn't "step on a pop-top" but we did cruise on back home. now I understand the song completely :)
So we had lunch at the hostel, repaired the flipflop (trusty sewing kit) and went back to the beach for a swim and another sunset walk. This was our last full day and we were not ready to leave - we'll definitely have to go back someday!

Rarotonga Day 7, Saturday 11-May
Didn't do much today other than pack up and lug our giant packs to the airport via the bus. The airport is very small and quite pleasant, with an outdoor waiting area at the gate! So it's off to Auckland, and we crossed the date line and lost a day. Absolutely beautiful clouds during the flight as well...

Here are the photos