We’re finding Rarotonga very relaxing and a very beautiful place. Apologies in advance … this post has a lot of photos. Throughout the day we snapped shots trying to capture the essence of what we’re experiencing here … true unspoiled beauty.

It rained heavily overnight and we awoke to some clouds, but those cleared away fairly quickly. When we got up this morning we found that some creature had been active in the house overnight … and ate part of the papaya that was provided to us by the caretaker. Immediately my mind went to rats (Kevin & David, if you’re reading this, I have you to thank for that thought). We had noticed a few large geckos in the house before we went to bed and we later found out that they were the culprits (our housekeeper told us that’s what happened, anyways). It isn’t hard to see why there are geckos in the house, when the bathroom is completely open to the outside …

The home, in general, is very open to the outside …

And the views from it are spectacular. Here is the view from the bedroom …

And the view from the deck …

The yard is full of hibiscus, coconut palms, and a variety of other tropical foliage …

Just offshore from the beach in front of the home is a small island or “motu” that is picture perfect …

So after soaking up the sights this morning in front of the home, resting, reading, and Ryan taking a little walk along the beach, we both headed down the beach the other way for some lunch. The beach is dotted with a few beachside restaurants. Today, we ate at Sails …

… and then we walked home along the road (the main road that circles the island) to our beach house …

… admiring the flamboyant (or “flame”) trees with their bright red blossoms …

… and some beautiful blue flowers on some lily pads.

Once home, Ryan took one of the sea kayaks from the beach house out into the water. It was a blast!

For dinner, we walked down the beach again and dined at the Pacific Resort under, enjoying more great scenery and good food, too.

And the evening seemed special enough to Ryan that he even broke his diet a bit and had a glass of bubbly …

Just another fantastic day in paradise. Wish you were here!