With all the stress at the moment, my mind keeps drifting back to Aitutaki. Whilst packing, or on hold to a real estate agent, I’ll think of how peaceful and relaxing it was to just float in waters so blue, to see fish swim around you, to laze under the shade of trees. I need to win the lottery so once I move to Melbourne, I can go on a holiday! *wishful thinking*

I’m NOT a beach person. I remember thinking at one point before I left “Why am I going to an island in the middle of nowhere? “. I do love to swim, I love animals, I love trees and nature, and Aitutaki has an abundance of that. I did actually enjoy the beaches here though. Our resort was right on the lagoon. It wasn’t crashing waves, it was calm. It wasn’t crazy sandy, it was a lot fine coral, reef shoes were a must. I loved it though.

Well, apart from the sand flies. Those I loathed with a fiery passion. They loved me and mixed with a coral cut, I ended up in the hospital late one night. I was fascinated with the hermit crabs. I’d never seen them in the wild before, but there were millions of them. All different sizes, shells, colours. Excuse my nails, the salt water did nothing for them, or my hair.

It was paradise. Okay, okay, maybe not. If dogs were allowed on the island and they had a better internet connection, it’d be paradise. I can understand now why my Sister fell in love with the place. I don’t think I mentioned, but when we landed, I had a slight panic attack. I remember thinking “Oh god Natalie, what have you done “. It took me a couple of days to unwind and be okay with being unplugged from the world. I figured if something happened to the rest of the world, we’d find out eventually.