Week 2

I'm much more on time with Week 2's update :)

This past week has been great fun- we've done loads and it was my birthday! (Though I did get a bit homesick this week too). Up at the hospital I have been properly with the Paeds Dr, Dr Dawn who is lovely and is letting me help out as much as I can which is great. Mostly it has been little kids with chest infections/ bronchiolitis but we also look after the neonates and do all the post natal checks so there are plenty of cute little Cook Island babies for me to coo at! We even had a couple of C sections last week.

At the backpackers we've had a few new additions- some Kiwi surfers who have been a number of times before and have taught us how to pick the best coconuts and get into them! We all headed out to town on Thursday for an Island Night at one of the restaurants and it was amazing, drum music and trbal dancing from little kids right up to the adults. They even got Ali and Alex up on stage so I have some pretty good photos of them making a fool of themselves. We then headed out for a drink and a dance and were quickly over run with guys off the Kiwi Navy boat which was stationed here on tour. One of them tried the chat up line "Do you watch League?" meaning rugby league and got very offended when I told him I prefered rugby union. Another asked Ali and one of the other guys if they could please dace with their girlfriends which got them laughed at too.

For my birthday I finally opened the cards I had brought with me from David and Pam and found some great photos of DH and I inside to keep with me for my trip. After an afternoon getting a tan we went to one of the beachside bars and had cocktails at sunset before heading back for some (very) cheap fizz, dinner and crispy cake. All in all a pretty good birthday for being so far from home.

This weekend we have been adventurous and hired snorkels and gone snorkelling over at one of the posh hotels and we saw lots and lots of fish there. Sunday we decided to take a hike up one of the hills here and headed up the one behind the backpackers. Its only 300 odd m high but coming from sea level that is plenty to give you some incredible views. The track was pretty overgrown and steep in places but it comes out on a high plateau with just bracken on it and you can see all around.

We've booked to do our PADI Scuba cert for next weekend (at a big discount on the advertised price) for much less than it would cost in the UK and have the option to go on to do the PADI openwater if we enjoy it by just paying the difference. We're also planning a trip to Aitutaki one of the outer islands as we've been told about so $100 flights and told we can stay at the hospital accomodation for free so hopefully we can arrange that.

Love J xxxx
p.s. my postcard offer still stands!