Brilliant Stay - Twice! - Avarua Escape is just magic! Delightful hosts. Second visit from Australia in 7 months! There are two, one bedroom, fully equipped units, spacious and extremely clean. Wonderful, clean pool. Washing machine etc free to use. Situated about 500 metre easy walk to main township (shopping) or cafes or Tamarind Restaurant, Trader Jack's, Lazy Trout Cafe, Lucky Rooster cafe (breaky of lunch), central bus stop (every half hour). Close to everything - supermarket, pharmacy, ANZ bank, Western Union Bank, hire cars/scooters. Very safe. If you are a couple or solo this is the place to stay. Just the little touches .. bread, butter, assortment of little jams, coffee, milk on arrival in fridge. Plenty of spare towels. Hosts Jodie and Macca live on the property (with gorgeous cocker spaniel, Dixon). Nothing is ever too much trouble for these wonderful hosts who go out of their way to ensure you are enjoying your holiday/break. Won't stay anywhere else.

Papa Ng - I booked this tour without much thought as I thought it would be great to walk about and learn about Raro from someone first hand. This tour was the best surprise ever, Papa Ng is the village elder most of us '90s have heard about but never had. He has the presence and knowledge of a sensei with the kindness of a grandmother. The rich history of Avarua and how it came to be was explained with such ease. We were told about the modernisation of the buildings and their significance. One of my favourite parts was the personal stories Papa shared with us. He is learning about traditional medical using the flora and fauna of raro, which I hope will be passed onto the younger generations. One of my highlights was the chanting at the Marae, I may not understand the language but the energy and mana that was entrenched in that chant still sits with me today. I would highly recommend this and the crew is so lovely they had prepared light refreshments (tropical fruit) for us. <3

The tour that didnt happen.... - Booked for this tour as i love history. Waited outside Trader Jacks and no one came. Finally rung up to be told that as i was the only person on the tour, they had cancelled it. Would have been nice to get an email or call to advise of this!