We had planned for a trip to Australia in 2020.
We changed plans.
We changed destinations.
We went north, up to Cairns & Port Douglas.

My god it felt so good
to be anonymous
to be unreachable

to hear multiple languages
to not be able to understand
nor even need to

to be languid

to be warm
to see the sunrise at 6am 
to hear the birds 

to see people smiling
to see the families 
to be with my family

to be part of something & simultaneously totally separate
to be exhausted by the newness, the noise, the kilometres walked, the over eating

to sleep deeply
without dreams
without waking in the night

​to wake & feel free

to feel calm
to feel happy
to feel alive

to live in the now
​knowing there will be no interruption
no distraction
​nothing to do except be present 

I love Australia
My heart melts with love the moment we cross the coastline to arrive 
& melts with sadness the moment we cross the coastline to leave

Long summer days, warm ocean temperatures & beach retreats are a perfect end to my favourite season of the year.
Today as I'm writing this it is most decidedly autumn, it's grey, it's windy & it's raining on & off. 
Fortunately it's not cold.
Our days are shorter, now that daylight saving has ended.
It's a cyclical thing & let's face it, not unexpected.

March to April went like this:
Beach Retreat >> recovery at home >> 5 days filled with family >> recovery at home >> Holiday with family & friends in Australia >> recovery at home

woah ! that didn't leave much time for anything else really did it.

Nevertheless at the end of March I was able to attend a workshop which covered hand printing techniques you can do at home.
​I was going to write a post about it but actually can't be bothered ! Not because I didn't enjoy it nor that I didn't learn anything new, nor that it didn't spark a few ideas of things I want to try because it did do all of those things however I was kinda hoping it would draw a few things together & until that happens I have to let it simmer.

We took a break & went to Rarotonga.
It was planned, booked & paid for before the end of last year so we've been looking forward to it for a while.
This is the 3rd time we've been there for a holiday.

It seemed between seasons for many of the tropical fruits but guava, starfruit, banana & nu (young coconut) were a.m.a.z.i.n.g. & there was a lot of fresh insanely delicious tuna.  ​

We re-visited some places which were favourites last time & they are still favourites. 
We found a whale & marine wildlife centre we didn't know was there & discovered that Rarotonga is a centre for humpback whale research in this part of the South Pacific.
We even bought some things you'd never expect to find including island style shirts for men which were made in Hawaii, island style girl's dresses, also made in Hawaii, island style boys shirts made in Thailand & all sporting Rarotonga labels.
Oh, & a brand of Australian knives !

Strangely I took very few photos. I couldn't be bothered. We went walking mostly in the late afternoon & there was too little light for photos but the sunsets were beautiful. 
Internet is excruciatingly expensive so we were pretty much 'disconnected' for the whole time. 

 . . . and here's a list of favourite places:

The Mooring Fish Cafe which has absolutely the best fish salads, a gorgeous outlook & fantastically unflappable genuinely friendly staff. 

Vonnia's is a hardware, homeware, fabrics store which is where I bought the knives.

Tuki's Pareu which has fun kids clothes & amazing amounts of fabric island style & wider than any I've ever seen which is used for Tivaevae.

CITC (Cook Islands Trading Corporation) has the crazy but well made Hawaiian shirts & dresses.

The Saturday market is great for food, seasonal fruit & vegetables, & the ladies who sit close to the band rotunda & who cut & make Tivaevae are incredible !
I have a project I'm going to complete by Christmas for someone. It's the Rarotonga equivalent of a DIY kit & is totally amazing. I'll do a separate blog post about it.

LBV has great coffee & really yummy croissant & veg quiche.

Coco Latte has great coffee.

Wigmore's is a really good store if you are on the southside of the island.
I found one of my favourite NZ goat cheeses in there for $3 less than at our local countdown supermarket here at home !! 
and finally a few more photos just to finish off with :)