COOK ISLANDS
In many ways, the Cook Islands, roughly halfway between
New Zealand and Hawaii, out-Pacifics its ocean neighbours. It may be small – just 240sq km across 15 islands – and home to 18,000 people, but it’s also mighty, spreading itself across an epic 1.9 million sq km of the big, beautiful blue. No building is allowed to be taller than the highest coconut tree; time is a suggestion rather than a specific; and pristine, coconut-palmfringed beaches surround every island. That these beaches are renowned is saying something, considering what else is on offer in this part of the world. But while development has been kept to the bare minimum, what the islands lack in glitz, they make up for in hospitality and a genuine welcome.
You can make your way around the entire main island of Rarotonga – population 13,000 – in little more than half an hour by car (or by one of the two buses – one going clockwise, the other anti-clockwise), but crossing it means a hike through rainforest and volcanic peaks. If hikes aren’t your thing, and driving feels like cheating, simply circumnavigate the island by kayak instead. Head north to the atoll of Aitutaki, where a lagoon with deserted islets peppering its turquoise waters makes for the kind of Pacific utopia that has to be seen to be believed. Just 1,500 very lucky people reside here, whose heritage is worn on their sandy sleeves with ancient temples dotted around the atoll.
Further north, you reach Atiu, the island of birds – where rare breeds include the kopeka, which navigates via echoes – and home to just 400 people, but with a heritage dating back to the warriors. There are five villages, a handful of cafés and a coffee plantation that produces some of the best arabica around. And, while you can easily escape fellow travellers on the Cook Islands, there are some you may not want to, including the humpback whales that head for these warm waters at this time of year.
In the evenings, a Polynesian feast of pork cooked in an earthen oven is coupled with the storytelling dances and singing of a people whose history can’t be erased – even the Christian missionaries found their songs adapted to the liking of the locals.