DISCOVERING PARADISE IN THE COOK ISLANDS

This destination is somewhere that I'll be reminiscing forever... Take a moment to imagine glistening turquoise waters, palm-fringed beaches and lush, rugged mountain peaks.. Imagine clear lagoons where you'll find an array of marine life, colourful sunsets over the reef and the smell of the ocean in the air as soon as you step off the plane.

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Just like Hawaii, but without the crowds. If you've been dreaming of a tropical island escape then pop the Cook Islands towards the top of your list.. I'm going to elaborate on what you can expect from this idyllic island paradise and I'm sure by the end of this post you'll be craving an escape there yourself.

WHERE ARE THEY ?

If there's one thing that I learnt from my little escape to the Cook Islands, it's that not many people actually know where or what they are... Picture the vastness of the South Pacific, and then picture 15 tiny specs of land/atolls, spread over 2,000,000sq/kms (somewhere between Fiji and French Polynesia), that's the Cook Islands !

GETTING THERE

Although they're merely tiny specs in the ocean, they're surprisingly accessible.. From Australia, you can arrive after 2 relatively short flights with a quick connection through Auckland. Virgin Australia, Qantas and Air NZ are options and I even believe there's a direct flight from Sydney into Rarotonga ~ amazing ! (Hopefully this is relevant for people travelling from further than Australia).

The flight was actually delayed for a couple of hours in Brisbane so I was worried about missing my connecting flight (which I would've).. but luck was on my side and it turned out they use the same plane for both flights. The plane arrived around 12:30AM in Rarotonga, so make sure you have a transfer organised. AND you cross an international dateline so it's important to check the exact date you arrive so your accommodation matches (we travelled 'back in time' and arrived the day before we left).

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GETTING AROUND

There are a few options when it comes to getting around Rarotonga and these include:

- Walking/hitching a ride (if you can get one)

- Riding a bicycle (be ready for a bit of exercise and maybe a sore bum)

- Catch the bus. There's a clockwise/anti-clockwise bus and you can most likely find the timetable at your accommodation. It costs $5 each time which I personally think is a waste of money as you might need to use it 4 times a day.

- Hire a car. This is great for families or older people who might be a little nervous about the next option.

- Hire a scooter ! This is nothing like hiring a scooter in Bali.

When you hire a scooter on Rarotonga, you actually get a license to take home with you which is a nice keepsake (and proof that you endured the test haha). It makes me laugh now, but I felt the same pressure as when I got my license when I was 16 ! There's a bit of a process to get it, so take a couple of hours out of your morning and make sure you have everything with you (passport, cards/money etc).

You'll have to line up, hand your passport over and fill out the registration form.
Line up again and receive the theory test. There are questions that are relevant to hiring a car but you have to complete those anyway.
Line up again, get your answers marked and if you've passed you'll be told to go and hire a scooter from either AVIS or the Polynesian car hire next door (I chose AVIS for the cheapest option and there were less people in queue).
Hire your scooter and go meet the police officer waiting to judge your abilities.
Weave your way through some cones, making sure you don't hit anything and correctly use your indicators etc.
If you pass, go back inside and get your license printed.. Success !!

It's kind of a process but it's worth it to have that kind of freedom. And keep in mind that you just hired the scooter before you actually passed the test.. so it's important to pass. The scooter hire was 15 NZD per day which was fine once we split it (it's not like Bali where you can literally hire a scooter without any test for 3 AUD per day). A tank of fuel was 5 NZD and we filled up maybe 2 or 3 times in the 2 weeks. The island of Rarotonga is just over 30km in circumference so you won't be travelling huge distances and the max speed limit is around 50kmph anyway.. it takes about an hour to circle the island.

CURRENCY

Everything is in New Zealand dollars and then they use their own traditional coins for the smaller change. These are so cool ! There's even a triangular coin.. Keep a couple when you return from your trip if you like to collect them. Being NZD, everything was quite expensive. For example, renting a kayak for 20 NZD per hour is pretty steep. Most things on any menu were roughly 15 NZD onwards, so I would 100% recommend staying in self-contained accommodation. That way you have the option to cook for yourself if need be. This saved us ! (the extra $$$ and the fact that most places aren't vego/vegan friendly).

OUR ACCOMMODATION

I travelled with a beautiful friend of mine and we decided to stay on Rarotonga for the entire trip ~ we chose not to stay on Aitutaki because I read somewhere that it can get a little bit boring and we love landscapes/mountains so obviously Raro is perfect for this. Returning from Aitutaki though, I would recommend staying at least 2 nights there, it is THAT beautiful.

We were in the Cook Islands for about 2 weeks so we decided to split up our accommodation experience. Our accommodations were cheap but fine (for what we needed). I'm the kind of person that would much rather put my dollars towards experiences rather than accommodation.. We didn't stay in guest-houses or anything like that so on average we paid about $50 per night. Our first accommodation was on the eastern side of the island where we could watch the sunrise.. and the name 'Sunrise Beach Bungalows' speaks for itself.

We were right on the beach, but along this part of the coast the reef barrier was quite close so it wasn't ideal for swimming (which was fine because we wanted to explore and swim elsewhere anyway). We did manage to make our way out to Taakoka Island (in the Muri Lagoon), wading our way through the water dodging all of the sea slugs on the seafloor. Super random but we wanted to see this little island up close. It looked so gorgeous.. check it out below.

For the rest of the journey, we stayed on the other side of the island near a 'marine reserve' on Aroa Beach. Hence why we chose this beautiful place. Aroa Kainga Bungalows is the name. We stayed in small 2 storey house with the owners living upstairs. Fully self-contained and literally a 2-minute walk down the road to the beach. There were a couple of separate bungalows on the property also. The owners were so lovely.. they let us use the bikes to ride along the beach for sunset and also let us borrow snorkel equipment if need be.

With a small supermarket down the road and a kitchen, once again it was a great way for us to save those $$$ and cook our own meals. Simple, cleanly, affordable and perfectly located.

WHAT'S THE FOOD LIKE ?

Being a tropical island, you can imagine things like coconut, papaya, avocado and bananas are available.. fruit is in abundance. We even had a delicious passionfruit vine growing at our 2nd accommodation which we were free to pick each morning for breakfast. You can find things like papaya salad or mixed fries made from potatoes and other roots. There's plenty of chicken, pork and ofcourse fish on the menu. There was one awesome café which we enjoyed a lot because they offered chickpea burger patties and that sort of thing.. this was the Beluga cafe' located on the western side of the island. Such a funky little corner right by the ocean and a perfect place to stop for a bite if you're cruising around the whole island.

A few nights a week there's a small food market called the 'Muri Night Markets'. This was so interesting to see what the locals brought to the table.. lots of curries, burgers, pizza, seafood meals and obviously fresh coconuts ! I would definitely recommend this as it was also our only time to 'dress up' which felt nice.

THE CULTURE

I'm just trying to be as honest as I can and I'm sure that everyone has beautiful experiences, but I found the locals to be a bit stand-offish.. but with good reason. The last thing they would want is their tropical island paradise to end up overrun by huge resort chains and tourists, like Bali or Hawaii. I feel like there were so many secrets to be unveiled that were buried within the local knowledge. So we just kept it that way and explored on our own. On Rarotonga, I was kind of expecting something a bit more traditional, like villages. But it's not really like that. They just live in normal houses.. it's funny the things you expect before you arrive somewhere and get to know the place. Aitutaki is a little less developed than Raro, and I found the locals to be very jolly and welcoming.

It's a really safe, relaxing destination ~ perfect for anyone who wants to switch off from their job and just wind down. Apart from a couple of grumpy experiences with the locals, we felt so safe the entire time, being 2 chicks travelling together. We explored back roads and even after the sun had set... we were picked up around 2-am from the airport and dropped off safely when we arrived. I would recommend this as a family-friendly place to explore as well.

WHO SHOULD TRAVEL TO THE COOK ISLANDS ?

- Honeymooners.. absolutely this is heaven for you guys !

- Families.. it's so safe. And you'll love exploring this paradise. Everything is so close with the island being so small. Muri Lagoon is a beautiful area with kayaks to rent etc.

- Friends.. travelling with another girl was so much fun because we would get creative and have such a good time testing out my new camera.

- NOT anyone looking for a party. This isn't anything like Bali, Thailand or those sorts of places. It's tranquil, quiet and peaceful. The kind of place you'd lay on the beach and read a book.

SIGHTS AROUND RAROTONGA

HIKING

We explored a couple of different options when it came to hiking but settled for one mountain in particular. I'm going to sound like the biggest goof because over time I've lost the map of the island and I can't remember the name of this hike/mountain. It was inland of Beluga cafe.. we opted out of the 'Needle' because we would've had to leave our scooter on one side of the island and circle back around to pick it up. The hike that we did had a gorgeous 360-degree view of the island and even the 'Needle' in the distance as you can see below. We could also leave our scooter at the beginning and pick it up on our way out. Perfect !

SNORKELLING

We found the best snorkelling to be right out the front of our second accommodation. Head to Aroa Beach and jump in the water from there.. it's amazing ! We were even greeted by a massive moray eel.

SUNSETS

The best sunsets were on the southern/western side of the island. We would take the bikes for a ride along the beach in the afternoon because the sand was hard enough. The sky would light up like fairy floss sometimes and the water would still be glowing a turquoise blue. Magic !

EXPLORING

Once you have your scooter, go wherever.. take the back roads ! Obviously being respectful to anyone's property.. the western side of Rarotonga had so many beaches to pull up for a swim. Along the southern side of the island is 2 unmissable palm trees hanging out over the water. A photo opportunity and a chance to marvel at something so picturesque. There's also an area along the southern stretch of road where we stopped because of a beautiful field of tall palm trees. We called them 'island fireworks'.

WIGMORE WATERFALL

You have to pay a couple of dollars to get to this waterfall but it's worth it for a little freshwater sanctuary. Super easy to find.. just follow the road and you'll come to an end. This is also where the trail for the 'Needle' begins/ends.

THE AITUTAKI EXPERIENCE

This is definitely a highlight for me.. and an experience that brought goosebumps and happy tears to our eyes. If you're afraid of flying I will point out that to get to Aitutaki, you'll board a smaller aircraft from Raro. With maybe 30 seats, you'll take off in the morning and enjoy an INSANE view of the island of Rarotonga. After this, it's just you and the vastness of the South Pacific ocean.. what a sight to behold. Clouds floated by as we searched for the tiny island spec that we knew awaited us... and then, all of a sudden this little spec appeared and it's more beautiful than anything you could imagine !

A few tiny, palm-covered islets surrounded by a reef barrier. We couldn't believe our eyes. We landed and were met at the airport by our amazing and hilarious guide who (I kid you not) looked exactly like Maui from the kids movie Moana.

So this tour is called the 'Vaka Cruise' and we all jumped on board an open-air bus which took us for a small tour around the main island and into 'town'. We were able to learn a bit about the history of the island and afterwards, we made our way to the boat.

This boat is a gorgeous, traditional Polynesian canoe/boat and has stunning details carved into the front.. we all boarded the vessel and headed off to enjoy some of the islets mentioned earlier. We were greeted with fresh coconuts and enjoyed the most delicious, fresh lunch full of seafood and all sorts of salads.

We were taken to 3 of the small islets where the boat would beach itself and we could get our feet in the sand, explore some of the palm-fringed beaches and crystalline waters. It felt incredible to be somewhere so remote ! The canoe was anchored in the open waters to give us a chance to snorkel some spots of reef and to swim with GT's. This was an epic experience ! They circled around us and were incredibly powerful swimmers.

Our last stop was the famous One-Foot-Island where we enjoyed much of the same thing.. climbing palms that were overhanging the water, venturing through dense palm forests and along the shore where we found so many beautiful ocean treasures in the form of shells.

Palm trees are my favourite thing so for me, I might as well have died and gone to heaven. Our sunburnt, well-fed, happy little selves were then transported back to the main island where we boarded our flight back to Rarotonga and viewed the island from above once more. We were literally crying of happiness as we flew back over the island. I would highly recommend scoring some window seats because the view is one of those that will etch into your memory bank forever.

So what do you think guys ?? Have I sold this one to you or what ? I'm sure by now you can visualize yourself frolicking around the Cook Islands as I have... I had always thought this place was going to be one to break the bank but I spend roughly around $2,500 AUD for the entire journey (flights and all). Well worth it for a couple of weeks spent in pure paradise. If you make it there, let me know ! I would love to hear what your thoughts are also.

The Cook Islands is calling - start booking your holiday now

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Much love !

Lexie