When I close my eyes, I still dream of the Pacific

So it's pretty cold where we are right now. We're headed into the shortest week of the year which also means the darkest and quite possibly the coldest. 

We had a wicked frost on Wednesday here in the Waikato this week and although we are more than used to cold weather coming from Wellington where howling gales bring bitterly, biting cold days where the temperature struggles to get to double digits, the temperature there hardly (if ever) drops low enough overnight for a frost. When I woke up on Wednesday and went on the bike trainer it was -1 degree and even when I dropped the kids at school a couple of hours later it was still saying 0 degrees in my car. Brr! That being said it still warms up nicely during the day here even up to mid-to-late teens in terms of temperature so we can't complain about that!

I must admit though when I was cycling on the bike trainer that morning with hat, gloves and a puffer jacket (that's a first for me!) it was all I could do to close my eyes and dream of being back at the Pacific Resort where we stayed in Rarotonga 2 weeks ago. 

The resort is situated right on Muri lagoon and is a truly scenic spot.

The hotel pool was where we (well the boys anyway) spent the most time. As well as a great sized deep pool, it was surrounded by lots of comfy couches and recliners to wile away the afternoon reading (like I did - reading The Wild as I'd enjoyed the movie) and hanging out with the family.

There was a great rock for jumping off and doing bombs into the water - it didn't take Noah long to figure this out!

All the paths around the resort were surrounded by high bushes which made it feel as if you were privately tucked away while you were walking around and not in someone else's personal holiday space which was great.

There were scooters for hire right outside the front door of the hotel too if that was your thing.

Our room was just tucked away down the path below.

And Sandals Restaurant where we ate our buffet breakfast each morning was literally a 1 minute walk away. Sitting in the open with the warm tropical air around you while munching on a veritable feast was a pretty pleasurable way to start the day.

And beyond the restaurant the beach was waiting. The kids club was on every day and we could have sent the kids there as they had loads of activities on throughout the day but in the end we just all hung out together which was actually nicer as a whole extended family we were just enjoying the time and opportunity to catch up on the past few months apart.

And having the opportunity to catch up in such stunning surrounds was icing on the cake.

Having the Barefoot bar right on the sand meant coffee on the beach in the morning = no problem. Cocktail on the beach in the afternoon = no problem either!

It was pretty hard to tear ourselves away from this view any time we had to go back to the room.

 

Within the resort, we stayed in one of the older style family rooms which in all honesty were a bit dated compared to some of the other accommodation options that were available within in the resort. But for us the desire for our own space away from the kids (i.e. having 2 bedrooms) far outweighed the 'niceties' of staying a newer, more swanky room.

And still, falling into this bed after a long hard, day at the pool or in the sea was still a pretty comfortable experience as you can see.

And wouldn't you know it, right then my daydream abruptly comes to an end, and when I open my eyes I realise I'm still sat on my bike trainer, pumping my legs to keep warm in a freezing cold garage in the middle of winter.

Ah well, at least these lovely dreams and memories are free!