Where has Screwtape been?
I keep forgetting this place exists; alternatively, I keep thinking of things I might write up into posts someday, but never quite do. Ah well, such is blog.
A while ago, my parents inherited a sum of money and decided that the best thing they could do with it was take my sister and I on a holiday to a tropical island, an event I've been informally referring to as The Last Allen Family Holiday. Last month, the time came and we spent ten days in the Cook Islands, and the main island Rarotonga in particular. In short, it was awesome.
- The moment we got off the plane and saw the emerald-green mountains jutting up toward the sky, practically right there beside us... I hope I never forget.
- Rarotonga has a main-road encircling the island about 20 to 50 metres from the shore, and it takes about half an hour to circumnavigate the island by car. Pretty much everything important (all the shops, government departments, resorts, car-hire places) is on that main road. When we got there I jokingly suggested that rather than traditional north/south/east/west, we should use the cardinal directions from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books: "hubward", "rimward", "turnwise" and "widdershins". It turns out the two bus routes on the island are called "Clockwise" and "Anti-Clockwise" and I did later observe a local referring to the "inland" side of the room, so I guess it really is the natural reference frame after all.
- Coconut palms. They're so closely associated with tropical islands it's like an overworn cliche, and yet it's absolutely true. Three or four coconut palms in our back yard, coconuts strewn around so liberally you stand a good chance of stubbing your toes on them in the dark, the coconut palms themselves growing nearly anywhere they please like thirty-foot dandelions. Coconut palms. Everywhere.
- For transportation, we hired a car - but for the proper tropical island experience, we hired a convertible. Zooming around with the top down and the wind in my hair and a practically 360 degree view of blue sky and coconut palms... another view I hope I never forget.
- Swimming, snorkelling, cycling, a somewhat strenuous bushwalk to the top of one of the jagged, tree-coated peaks in the middle of the island, and a day-trip to Aitutaki, an even more ridiculously perfect tropical island... yeah, it was grand.
About the only downer of the entire trip was that on the second night, some schmuck snuck into my bedroom and made off with my camera (which I brought for recording the sights I saw) and my laptop (which I brought for transferring photos when the camera was full). Luckily, they didn't notice my wallet (in my satchel with the camera), and I didn't have anything particularly important on there that wasn't backed up.
I've been rather enjoying the process of shopping for replacement items, really - I've bought a new computer, and am currently shopping for a new camera (about which more later). Probably the biggest disappointment was that the thieves didn't nick my mobile phone, so I don't have an excuse to upgrade.