In Los Angeles

The heat, humidity, constant rain and, above all, the *#&* mosquitoes ended up being too annoying and painful so I changed my flight and went back to the US last night. The cook islands is very pretty, but I just couldn't enjoy it because of literally hundreds of mozzie bites. I'm planning to in back in july/august when it's less hot and humid and there are fewer bugs. That time is also when the big cultural festival is held, so it would be a good time to visit.

After an incredibly long boxing day (47 hours, thanks to passing the dateline right around midnight), I have now spent two days on the Cook Islands.
Of course it rained the whole first day, but the second day was pretty good with only short periods of showers. Tonight I went to an island night and watched Cook Islands dancing and tomorrow I'll go on a tour of Rarotonga.

Going to the cook islands

I'm in the Air New Zealand lounge in Auckland, waiting for my flight to the Cook Islands later tonight (arriving early morning today, thanks to passing the date line).
The cell phone coverage isn't exactly great on the islands so I probably won't be able to post any pictures until I get back to Auckland on January 7th.