We caught just the tail end of the sunrise this morning; either we're sleeping later or it is happening earlier or both. With absolutely no schedule for today, we lingered over tea and coffee on the deck before walking to the LBV (Le Bon Vivant) bakery via the beach. It was a gorgeous morning, and even at that time early hour there were kite surfers and kayakers on the lagoon.
Food heaven, and even served topped with a flower
Our view while we lounged
I've had my eye on something at the bakery since our first day here, and decided today that it was now or never. It was a meringue-y, pavlova-y type thing, gorgeous to look at and even better to eat. It would not travel well, however, so for the first time we actually ate our breakfast pastries on the bakery's deck. As on Rapa Nui, we watched the world go by: scooter, scooter, scooter, car, scooter, bike, dog, scooter. There must be a thousand scooters for rent on Rarotonga, and they are cheap (NZ$ 25 per day). We almost rented two Monday for the the remainder of our stay (and with our motorcycle endorsements on our drivers licenses wouldn't have needed to get a separate Cook Islands license), but decided we could see more while riding the bus.
I bounced back to our bungalow after all that sugar, and we needed to expend that excess energy on a nice long beach walk. We walked even further north along the west side of the island than yesterday, at least eleventy miles in the loose sand, until we were wiped out. We climbed up to the coastal road, caught a counter-clockwise bus back to Muri Beach Hideaway, and collapsed, secure in the knowledge that we had gotten in today's workout. For the first time, we sat in the wooden loungers on the deck above the beach and napped a little (yes, even me!).
We awoke hungry, and we're using up the last of the food we either brought or bought. Today's lunch was peanut butter sandwiches followed by the second of the two huge papayas Vina had placed in our kitchen when we checked in. Sweet as candy, and more sugar...just what we needed.
We snorkeled this afternoon, close to the fourth motu. The water was a little choppier today due to the strong winds from the east, so we finally gave up and just sat on the beach watching the huge waves crash on the reef. It was a bit like watching fireworks, some of them were so spectacular.
With no firm plans for the rest of the day, we decided that, though we had seen plenty of sunrises, we needed to see a sunset before we left Rarotonga. We caught a clockwise bus over to the Edgewater Resort on the western side of the island. There are no motus there, and the reef is much closer to the beach on the western coast.
We arrived just in time for happy hour, and extended it to include dinner, too. I drank a punch that packed a punch, with dark rum, coconut rum, peach schnapps and banana liqueur. After just one of those, I couldn't feel my lips. Dinner was not inexpensive, but we started our week here so frugally that we had some New Zealand dollars left to spend. A side note: though Rarotonga uses NZ dollars as its official currency, it does mint its own triangular-shaped $2 coin. It's a brilliant strategy...take a coin that costs almost nothing to produce, make it a unique shape so it's memento of a Rarotongan vacation and everyone who visits leaves with at least one, nicely supplementing the Cook Islands treasury.
We caught a bus and arrived back at the Muri Beach Hideaway just after 8pm. After spending some time talking with our new neighbors (she's from Missouri and he's from Australia), we are falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing on the reef and wind rustling the palms for the last time tonight. Weep!