A picture of serenity: My backyard in Muri on a week's self-catering holiday in Rarotonga. Photo / Joanna Wane
A picture of serenity: My backyard in Muri on a week's self-catering holiday in Rarotonga. Photo / Joanna Wane
Time is an illusion in Rarotonga, as Joanna Wane discovers.
Island time has its own special flavour in Rarotonga.
It’s the morning we woke to stormy weather and stayed tucked up in bed, assuming the turtle tour we’d booked wouldn’t be happening that day.
No worries, we’ll wait for you, they said, when we rang Ariki Adventures to reschedule and discovered conditions underwater were perfect. So we jumped on our pushbikes and streaked up the west coast, dressed in windbreakers and togs.
This is how close I got to a turtle in Rarotonga, using a sea scooter to propel myself below the surface. Photo / Ariki Adventures
Below the choppy surface, the world was utterly and magically serene. Like Crush, the surfer-dude sea turtle from Finding Nemo, everything seemed to move in slow motion as we bobbed within metres of these extraordinary reptiles who’ve outlived the dinosaurs, and watched a phalanx of eagle rays skim beneath our feet.
It’s the guy who drove past as we stood waiting (and waiting) at the round-the-island bus stop in Muri on our way to Shipwreck Hut for sunset cocktails. Rolling down his window, he said he’d give us a lift if we were still there by the time he came back. We were and he did.
It’s Aunty Nono, one of the hosts at a progressive dinner through three local homes, who has two lawnmowers parked between her late parents and husband in the family’s backyard burial plot.
Aunty Nono by the graves of her late husband and parents in her back garden. Photo / Phil Taylor
Before he died, her “foreigner” husband (a grand-nephew of Sir Albert Henry, the first Cook Islands premier) asked to be taken back to Aitutaki, the island where he was born.
“I said, ‘Dad, if we take you back to Aitutaki, I don’t think we’ll be coming to visit you a lot,” she told us. “Maybe once a year or maybe not at all. Whereas here, we’ll see you every day when we’re raking the rubbish and can sit to have a chat.”
It’s the languid, goofy beach dogs who roll on their backs for a tummy rub, and it’s the free-range roosters who don’t wear wristwatches and disturb the peace by crowing at all hours of the day and night.
Climbing Te Rua Manga - the Needle - on Rarotonga's cross-island hike. The view from the top is worth it, with a carpet of thick bush unfolding in all directions to the sea.
“Living their best lives,” is how guide Barry Goldsworthy put it, as he led us on a challenging cross-island trek, accompanied by a particularly fine-looking feathered specimen that stalked us through the bush.
Nicknamed Edmund (after Sir Edmund Hillary), the rooster had the stamina of a mountain climber and knew exactly when and where we’d stop for morning tea.
Goldsworthy’s legendary dreadlocked Uncle Pa knocked off 5000 guided crossings before retiring at 75. Kiwis can be a bit gung-ho about outdoor adventuring but don’t be fooled: it’s a gnarly hike and the (optional) climb to Te Rua Manga – Needle Rock – requires the use of fixed chains.
Guide Barry Goldsworthy from Maunga Tours on Pa's Cross Island Hike. Photo / Phil Taylor
When Covid closed the borders, it crippled the economy of the Cook Islands, where tourism makes up more than 70% of GDP. But for many, it was a time to reconnect with their roots.
“It forced a lot of us to go back to living off the land, which was a good thing to see,” said Goldsworthy, who’s an expert on local flora and fauna, including the vandalism wrought by imported species that have thrown the ecosystem out of balance.
Some 80% of Cook Islanders live overseas and, as the father of four young kids, he knows there’s a high possibility of them leaving, too.
“When they grow up, we’ll encourage them to live their life and experience [the wider world]. But we hope we’ve done enough to plant the seed that they love the island lifestyle and will want to come back.”
The simply beautiful Cook Islands Christian Church at Titikaveka, on Rarotonga's south coast. Photo / Joanna Wane
Houses don’t have mailboxes in Rarotonga, the largest of the Pacific nation’s 15 islands with a population of about 11,000. There are no street names or traffic lights either, so finding your accommodation if it’s not in one of the resorts might rely on its proximity to a nearby landmark.
Ours was a Baha’i church, but the dominant faith is the Cooks Island Christian Church (CICC), which recently celebrated its 200th anniversary by sprucing up the gorgeous white coral and limestone churches that ring the island.
On a historical walking tour of the capital, Avarua, I learned the Cook Islands once made its living by exporting oranges and pineapples until deregulation in the 80s destroyed their monopoly. The first airport was built on Rarotonga and a fledgling tourism industry was born.
Temu Okotai, the founder of Cook Islands Tours, shares some colourful stories on a historical walking tour of the capital, Avarua. Photo / Joanna Wane
Our guide, Temu Okotai, the founder of Cook Islands Tours, was a former general secretary of the governing Cook Islands Party so his insights into both the local culture and politics were fascinating and often quite delightful.
One of his best stories was about the guy who burnt down the courthouse (and several adjoining government buildings) to avoid a date in the dock. He served time for arson and, a decade after his release, was elected to Parliament. He’s currently the Minister of Corrections.
Rarotonga is divided into three districts according to the ancestral vaka (canoe) of the people who settled there. These are headed by influential chiefs, who can be either male or female. There may be much to blame the missionaries for, but the promotion of equal gender rights to hereditary titles is apparently one thing they got right.
The grave of Albert Henry, who was elected as the first Premier of the Cook Islands in 1965 and is buried in Avarua. Photo / Joanna Wane
Customary land cannot be bought or sold, but that doesn’t protect against family squabbles. The fight over one particular title has been in and out of the Land Court for more than 30 years. That’s island time, too.
“I wish you well for the rest of your night,” said our final host at the progressive dinner, as he bade us farewell.
“Keep smiling, because in the Cook Islands, there’s nothing to do but relax and smile. If things go wrong, just remember someone has it harder somewhere else.”
Checklist
RAROTONGA
GETTING THERE
Fly non-stop from Auckland to Rarotonga International Airport in approx. 3 hours, 50 minutes with both Air NZ and Jetstar.
