Cook Islands Things to Do Tips by mtncorg

This is the main island and capital of the Cooks. The international airport was built in the 1970's - the island was accessed by boat before then. There are many motels and guest houses scattered about the island. Lots of information can be obtained from: http://www.ck/ You can stay on the beach, swim in the waters, catch a native dance session, rumble about in the jungled interior, listen to beautiful music in the island churches on Sunday, shop about in the main center of Avarua or the Saturday market, visit the national museum just east of Avarua, bicycle around the island - endlessly :-)

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Website: http://www.ck/

What is a beach without a sunset? Maybe a beach facing the West? Here in the Cooks, you can have both sunrise and sunset. You can stay out on the beach afterwards and gaze skywards to the Southern Cross and the billions of other stars. You can stay here for a long time.

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Website: http://www.ck/

Here is the secondmost visited island in the Cooks. It has a large island on the northern end of a glorious triangularly shaped lagoon of 45 km circumference. See my Aitutaki tips for more ideas.

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Website: http://www.ck/aitutaki/index.htm

Bear with me here - I hope to move this and the following tips to a separate 'Aitutaki' page but until I have the folks at VT add this island, these tips are all included in the Cook Island section in general.

Aitutaki Intro:

Idyllic beaches and lagoons, warm people, Maori culture
Very quiet and a very long ways away

This will truly spoil you for other beach vacations in the future!

On Aitutaki, you will find a piece of the South Pacific you may have dreamed about. A gorgeous lagoon sprinkled with beautiful white sand beached islets and a friendly welcoming people. This is truly at the end of the transportation line, but as you sit out along a lagoon beach gazing over turquoise waters - what an end it is!

Captain Bligh and the Bounty were the first Europeans to visit in 1789. Here, the first Christian missionaries set foot in the Cooks. The island has been settled since about 900AD. Before the ariport in Rarotonga was built in the 1970's, Aitutaki was the main air point of entry for the big amphibous Air New Zealand craft that used to use the lagoon. The main island is topped by a 120 meter high hill - Maungapu - which is supposedly the top of Rarotonga's flattened peak, Raemaru - found on the western part of that island. Warriors from Aitutaki chopped off the Raro peak and brought it back here.

There are several guesthouses that you can stay here at, though many people only come for the day on the Air Rarotonga excursions. Stay longer here if you can.

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Website: http://www.ck/aitutaki/index.htm

This is the mostly quiet business, government and religious center of Aitutaki. As you can see from the picture, there is a constant bustle in the air. Small stores and guesthouses sprawl along the main road north of here.

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Website: http://www.ck/aitutaki/index.htm

Best beaches on the main island are found southeast of the airport - Ootu - near the Aitutaki Resort Complex/Pearl Beach Resort. Remember your sunscreen.

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Website: http://www.ck/aitutaki/index.htm

Even better beaches are visited by the lagoon cruises. Here you spedn a day on the lagoon - a triangular reef of 45 km enscribed a broad lagoon. Snorkelling and lunching on some of the whitest beaches you will ever see.

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Website: http://www.ck/aitutaki/index.htm

Turquoise bath waters, dazzling white beaches, this small motu - visited by most lagoon cruises - is the epitome of a beach vacation. This will truly spoil you for other beaches. Tupaetai will become your gold standard.

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Website: http://www.ck/aitutaki/index.htm

Friday afternoons, business shuts down and the island's attention focus upon the rugby pitches. The main sports field is by the small wharf in Arutanga. Even if you are not a rugby fan, it is well worth your time to watch how the island comes together in the afternoon sun. Watch how sports could be before television money and megamillion salaries jaded player, spectator, and owner. Men play rugby and women play netball.

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Website: http://www.ck/aitutaki/index.htm

Here on Aitutaki, as throughout the Cooks, the London Missionary Society was successful at converting the population. Aitutaki was the first landfall for missionaries in the Cooks - 1821. There is a small catholic church in Arutanga, but center of predominance falls tothe Cook Islands Christian Church lying just to the south with its white walls of crushed coral limestone. Sundays are very quiet - as in much of the Pacific - except for the beautiful music being sung in the churches.

Another feature on Aitutaki used to be Island Night - an event every Friday night at the Rapae Cottages. Unfortunately, the Rapae is in ruins while it waits for a buyer to rescue it. There are several other places where one can see some of the dances though.

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Website: http://www.ck/aitutaki/index.htm