Ok folks,
Storytime from the South Sea's. Opua, Bay of Islands, NZ to be exact.
So, Rarotonga, Cook Islands we managed to dock in and then spent a few miserable hours fixing things on the ship. I got the illustrious position of fixing the ships head (toilet). One of those hand pump ones that takes about 25 pumps to clear! We all get a good laugh at Eli whenever he comes out of the bathroom cos he's always sweating profusely from the heat and pumping that funny ol head! Anyways so after completly dismantling the head and putting back together we were desperate for a shower and getting off the "Ferdy Turd" as was now called. The next day we discovered Rarotonga was a simple island, 32 kms to go right round and 2 buses one that said "clockwise" on it and one with "anticlockwise"! The main animal of this island was evidently the chicken as it was just about everywhere! A mother hen and her chicks would be right in the middle of town pecking outside the shops. The main ships dock was the place where all the local kids would hang out, jumping off the dock and pushing each other in when the other wasn't looking. Their favourite dive was the bellyflop which looked quite painful but seemed to be super fun for them!
The best of Rarotonga was zooming about on little mopeds which could take you all over the island to the best beaches. However, the worst part was having to share a ride with FD "fat Dave" on a tiny moped which was definitely way to uncomfortable/squashed to be worth getting to the beach on! Turning around made for an interesting ride in itself as Dave was almost falling over with himself on the bike let alone me. The silver lining was when I got 10 bucks to take the bus back but managed to hitchhike with a local lady who gave the boat a bunch of banana's that would yield some quality banana bread in due course!
Tonga...
The voyage consisted of some 800 miles and furthur disappointment in the fishing efforts. The main joke of the ship seemed to be the virgin Josh who would be presented to the king of Tonga for a suitable princess and show off his great dishwashing skills as a proof of his honor! Oh and of course the catch line of "Everybody nap now"! which is exactly what we gladly did!
