Advertisement
Published: November 21st 2007
Edit Blog Post
Welcome to the Cook Islands
International airport terminal Kia ora from paradise, I’m now in the Cook Islands and it is beautiful here. Paradise does come at a price however, as Raratonga is only 32km all the way around the Island, most of their food has to be shipped from New Zealand meaning it is expensive especially when coming from the US where it is so cheap. I was staying at Varas backpackers and it was right on the beach, it was beautiful if a kind of strange set up. Varas caters for a whole range of guests, from dorms to luxury bungalows but the dorms are in the best location looking right onto the beach and right beside the decking with the sun beds on so it was always the people paying less that got the most of the facilities, which was great for me but if I was one of the people paying a lot of money I would be gutted.
There isn’t much to do here in Raro, there are two buses one clockwise, one anti clockwise which can bring you into town where there are about 10 shops not really selling much so I spent most of my time lying on the sun lounger (in
the shade of course), snorkeling; the fish here are amazing and reading my way through a library of books. There are two uninhabitabed tiny islands that you can walk to from our hostel as the water only comes up to our waist where a few from us from the hostel went in the early evening to have a bonfire and just chill out, this was quite surreal as if you walked to the other side of the island all you can see is the sea and nothing else for miles and miles.
However I did have active days, one day I cycled around the whole island, the topography here is amazing, white sands, blue lagoons and in the middle lush mountains, cycling around made me appreciate it even more as I went through many of the back roads not seen when on the bus and was able to see more of the cook islands way of life, their farm lands, schools houses. While the Cook Islands are now a popular tourist spot, a lot of the cook islanders still live in poverty meaning that many go to New Zealand to get work meaning that the population is taking a dramatic
decline, despite this they are so friendly, always laughing and would help anyway they can.
The next day a few of us ventured of the cross Island walk, starting at the north we made our way to the south, climbing up tree roots, jumping over logs and crossing rivers, getting to the top of the mountain was hard work but on the way down it was more fun as we scrambled around, I’m not sure if we went the right way as they was not a path, you just had to pick which way you thought was best and go for it, a couple of times we picked the wrong one and had to come back on ourselves but as we approached the end we were pleased with ourselves and surviving our jungle experience. I can also tell you that I somehow managed to get a lot muddier than anybody else and I mean a lot, I think mud is attracted to me, the bus driver needed persuasion to let me on the bus and only agreed when I said I would stand at the front and not move, I felt like a naughty schoolgirl.
The next morning was a
me and my coconut
i opened this one all by myself, it took me 2 and a half hours busy day indeed, getting up at a ridiculous hour to watch the rugby world cup final and after all that losing the thing, I then headed to the markets which sell local fruit and arts and crafts, after I wandered around for a bit I hired my moped and went to go to my driving test, In order to drive in the Cook Islands you have to take a local driving test - its a bit of a joke really, you hire your car/moped and then drive it to the testing centre, the policeman then comes out and asks you to drive it around the block while he waits on the steps when you come back, he gives you your driving license. So I've done it, I PASSED MY DRIVING TEST, the policeman told me to watch my speed and then I was off speeding around like a mad thing, I don’t think it is wise for me to drive in England, I’ve discovered I’m a bit of a speed demon.
The next day I was off to the airport to get my flight to Aitutaki, another one of the Cook Islands. This is my first time in a small
plane, there were only 3 of us and the pilot and I felt like a film star. Aitutaki features in the top ten places to see before you die book by the lonely planet and I can see why, its totally unspoilt though now is becoming a big tourist destination, I was only here for 2 days so I wondered around and did a lagoon cruise where I saw the new series of shipwrecked being filmed, (Warning there is a girl with a annoying laugh). After an extremely relaxing 2 days I headed back to Raratonga and spent the next couple of days lazing around the hostel. It is beautiful here but 10 days is enough for me especially as i'm not a sun person so it was with great excitement when it was time to leave to go to my next destination, though it will be hard to match the beauty here on the Cook Islands
Advertisement
Tot: 0.156s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 60; dbt: 0.0749s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
sonja
non-member comment
well done
thanks for the very informative blog and the great pics. we are heading to rarotonga in march and it´s is really good to read artikles like yours to be informed. save travel, sonja and toni