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Cook Islands

Cook Islands

Bec
2004-09-17 15:51:27

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/>Avarua's museum, next to the sports ground, is worth a visit and so is the library next-door.

This building houses the School of Medicine which is affiliated to the University of the South Pacific (USP). The USP is based in Suva Fiji but it is jointly owned by 12 countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Samoa).

Many fine properties like this one on Rarotonga's round the island road are secondary residences for wealthy New Zealanders.

I was quite satisfied with my lodgings at the Tiare Village but I think I would have equally enjoyed staying here, at Vara's Guesthouse on Muri Bay.

Vara's Guesthouse is far from Avarua but it has the advantage of being located directly on a beautiful beach.

Another advantage of Vara's is the nearby Rarotonga Sailing Club.

Aitutaki
Here is a view of the South Eastern corner of the Aitutaki Atoll taken from the plane as I flew in from Rarotonga.

Worth mentioning on this photo are the Rapota island on the lower left and the Tapuaetai (One Foot) Island which is the central of the three islands near the edge of the atoll. We will see close-up photos of these islands taken on a lagoon cruise.

Here we can guess Vaipea village on the lagoon side of Aitutake's main island. Arutanga, the largest village, lies on the far side of this island.

Tourists are greeted and sent off with a charming South Pacific song. Those New Zealanders really know how to do it.

I came close to staying here at the Paradise Cove Hotel but I chose to stay at Tom's Cabins which was more central.

Toms Cabins was not as nice as Paradise Cove but it did have a beautiful beach.

Tom's Cabins was close to the Arutanga supermarket and wharf from which the lagoon cruises leave. I chose to go with a small group in a fast boat.

The lagoon cruise was really worth it. We stopped to snorkel on a reef head that featured huge giant clams and went for a long walk on a sandbar next to Motu Maina in the southeast corner of the atoll.

I was glad I had chosen the small boat option over the big boat option because I would have been quite unhappy on this motorised contraption supposed to look like an ancient Polynesian double hulled canoe.

I'm always amazed at how some tourists accept to be herded like sheep and entertained with phony contrived cultural shows all over the word. As Barnum used to say, there's one born every minute!

This view of beautiful Motu Rapota should clean your mind of the pollution of the same island that I showed in the last picture,

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