Merry Christmas, island style...

Dear Fam and Friends,

Our last day in Rarotonga today and we are nice and tan and ready for Fiji!

The day after Meadow left we definately had a little flashback on the insanely great time we've had with Meadow from Australia on forward and all the fun that kid brings to the table! That day we decided that we were next off the island and it was time to carpe diem (seize the day)!

We rented some snorkel gear and took off a little south to a good spot where we both concluded we saw some of the most abundant amounts of fish ever in such a small territory. From puffer fish to angel fish to territorial trigger fish we saw more fish in the shallow reef than we did our time scuba diving in Koh Tao, Thailand. The trigger fish are always funny because they look like minature parrot fish and really cute but if you get in their territory they swim right up to you and as Jay found out later, they even bite!

Another day passed going about our normal routine of lying by the pool or beach and reading for watching movies. The next day we took off on our mopeds for the southern tip of the island and brought with us our football and our books, all you need in life as far as we've been concerned. On the south side where we went there's four or five other smaller islands that during low tide you can walk out too or swim also because of the sharp coral. After walking to a couple of the surrounding islands we through around the football and chased some crabs before retiring back to the main island. On the way back we encountered heaps more trigger fish and Jay even got bit and a big one drew blood on his leg, scary little buggers!

The next day was Christmas Eve and I decided we needed something festive in our lounge area so I grabbed the fake Christmas tree from reception and brought it in and set it up on the pool table. A lady I met from Portland also, small world, bought some candy caines that we put up on the tree and it felt a bit more festive at least!

Merry Christmas! We lounged around a bit, made our usuall egg, toast and beans breakfast and than Jay and I exchanged our failed attemp at our rapt gifts! We both said we would spend 20 bucks so it evened out and we both got each other the same tank tops but different colors, I guess it's true good minds do think alike! It started to downpour from the night before as a Christmas stormed had rolled in making it feel a little more like Christmas so that afternoon we sat around and talked story about our travels and really everyone left in the hostel got a lot closer. After some discussions I hounded guard by the phone waiting for my family to call as we had pre arranged a phone call, to be honest the fifth or sixth one in the last four months! It was so good to hear all their voices as it made me really home sick afterwards but right before I could shed a tear we decided we should watch Borat and all was forgotten! What a great Christmas movie haha. That night we had a pig roast dinner with the owner of our hostel and all the workers who we've all become real close with. The pig roast took forever to cook so we all waited around and did what else, booze! By the time the pig was ready and everything else was prepared we had a beautiful Christmas dinner with a lot of drunk strangers and had a blast!

The next day the storm still lingered around as we said by to some people and watched more movies and read our books while eating our tune pasta, P and J's, and eggs and beans in between.

Today was our last full day and finally the storm dwindled away so we caught some rays and got our tans back and took our mopeds to a waterfall and got some cliff jumps in. Today Jay and I were so bored at one point in the day we started making food even though we weren't hungry! This island has been so relaxing and needed as we've been on the move for the last four months and needed a break but we both agreed today that we're ready to take on Fiji full on and party one last time before our epic journey closes to an end. I told myself I wasn't going to look at my pictures I saved on my iPod until I got home but I peaked at our China pictures today and we look so different with our haircuts and it sadens me to think how long ago that really was and what an incredible journey we've had. Anyway though I'll save my heart felt email where I'll probably cry for another couple weeks because Fiji is just a day and a half away, layover in Auckland tomorrow than we'll touch down... Miss you all!

Cheers,
Grant