Home » Cook Islands » Rarotonga island, Aitutaki island

South Pacific - part III

Rarotonga island, Aitutaki island

Hector Yague
2005-10-09 15:58:46

Displayed times (last time: )

Rarotonga island

On the 27th of November 2004 I fulfilled a personal childhood dream: going to a lost and remote Pacific island. As an avid reader of The Treasure Island, Patrick O'Brian's novels and all around anything that's got to do with SVII and SVIII seafaring colonization era (pirates and buccaneers included), I have always dreamt of traveling to any of these too-tiny-and-off-the-bloody-way-to-be-chartered-in-the-map islands. I dunno, but they've always set my imagination on fire. And now, I have finally ticked this one off the dream-list.

You might have noticed that I flew off Auckland (New Zealand) on the 28th of November but I landed here in Rarotonga on the 27th. That's because, as opposed to Julius Verne's character in Around the world in 80 days, I hadn't forgotten to account my passing over the imaginary date line, at some point in the Pacific Ocean. It's like having entered a brief time loop. Cool, isn't it?

Alright now, let's get down to business. Rarotonga is the Cooks' main island, the largest, most populated (with a mighty 8000 Cook Islanders) and better catered for tourism. Don't get me wrong, this island is still minuscule, barely 10 km wide from one end to the other, and nowhere near the tourism hell of Bali or Kho Samui. It's way more laid back and less exploited than either of those two, which I appreciate. There's this only road circumnavigating the island by the seaside joining up all the resorts, restaurants and stuff, which have been loosely distributed all around the island perimeter without focusing upon any single portion of it. Why would they, if it barely takes like 30 minutes to drive it around the clock. The center of the island remains virtually unpopulated as it's pretty craggy, with an handful of high peaks totally covered by rainforest offering excellent treks and better 360-degree lookout ...