The South Pacific has always held an exotic allure for me… images of Captain Cook and his crew discovering island upon island, populated by sinewy Polynesian men in loincloths and grass ankle cuffs, and lusty, dark-skinned beauties wearing flowers in their hair. I suppose the non-movie version would also include Europeans exploiting the natives and bringing over their various white-man’s diseases to nearly wipe out said natives, but I’ll stick with the movie version.

All that aside, we were simply delighted with the current state of affairs on Rarotanga, the main island of the group of inhabited and uninhabited islands comprising the Cooks. Spared from chain hotels and overdevelopment, it remains perhaps what Hawaii was about 50 years ago. One main road – without a single stoplight – rings the island, served by 1 bus running clockwise, and one running counterclockwise. Many folks – natives & tourists alike – eschew busses in favor of scooters. Chickens and their little chicken families run free, and operate as free alarm clocks for anyone needing to wake up early (ahem, and for the rest of us as well). Building codes do not permit construction above the height of the tallest palm tree on the island, and therefore nature appears to rule the place. Somehow, that just feels right. Sunday is church day, and the sounds of beautiful voices in the local Maori dialect can be heard from nearly any point on the island. Local cuisine ranges from delectable papaya to potato-like arrowroot, to freshly-caught mahi mahi, grouper, snapper, and more. The number one shopping item on the island is the legendary South Seas black pearl, grown and harvested in the smaller, neighboring Cook Islands. And the people? Truly the friendliest locals around. They take tourists in stride, give them restaurant tips, happily answer questions, and even invite them to church.

And the punch line is…..all of this perfection was ours for the low price of the New Zealand dollar… a considerably less-expensive experience than neighboring French Polynesia (Tahiti et al), where the euro rules.

Our adventure began with a night flight on Air New Zealand - LAX to Rarotonga - and ended 10 hours later with 3 very groggy but happy travelers (now sporting leis) enjoying a sunrise check-in at the casual but friendly Lagoon Lodges bungalows. Our little bungalow was conveniently positioned next to a giant trampoline, which would become Sophie’s numero-uno destination for the next 2 weeks. Other amenities included the gorgeous and generally-deserted snorkeling beach just across the road, a swimming pool, tropical breakfast served up each morning by Mama-pu, and daily afternoon happy hour offering the finest papaya smoothies we’ve ever had. Wrapped around all that was hotel manager Yogi’s unfailing friendliness, willingness to help, and cheery personality.

When faced with island mentality, the question of “what should we do today?” quickly devolved into “do we really have to do anything today?” This was a wonderful development. Swimming, driving, eating, and sightseeing just became something to do between naps. While lounging at happy hour with our many new friends (Cheryl & Oz – a NZ/American couple – being our favorites), we would swap notes on which seaside restaurant offered the best sunset, the best music, the tastiest fish. Then we’d all head out for the evening to test each other’s theories. And so each day went.

Eventually I had the idea to pop over to Aitutaki – Rarotonga’s little sister, and the jewel of the South Pacific – to check out the exquisite turquoise liquid beauty rumored to surround the island. A lot of $ and a 45-min flight later, we landed on a tiny airstrip on a certified slice of heaven. Aitutaki almost defies description, it’s so breathtaking. The island is home to what I believe is the world’s largest lagoon – pure turquoise waters, with a clear sandy bottom. Little “motu” (islands) covered in palm trees provide a spectacular backdrop. Our own hotel, the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort & Spa, provides a short boat ride across a small channel to its own private island, where our already-impressive arrival was enhanced by a conch-shell-blown welcome. Our bungalow was exquisite - all gorgeous wood and natural materials – and a quick stroll around the island revealed hammocks strung up between palm trees, many lounge chairs (all with a million-dollar view), snorkeling opportunities for as far as the eye could see, and gorgeous frangipani bushes with hair-adorning flowers available for the picking.

In the midst of all this intense beauty and relaxation, our concentration was broken – ever so briefly – by the arrival of a German family, complete with a toddler and baby-in-stroller. THAT is how good Aitutaki is… 2 sane adults would fly a total of 22 hours with small children, just to spend a week in paradise. (ok, so we did that too, but we also had the one-week family stopover and jet leg recovery period in California first…)

I do the Cooks a woeful injustice not to allot 10 pages of glorious refrain here on my blog, but I must simply hand over the reins to our photos. (Sadly, our camera broke the day before flying to Aitutaki, and our cheap, emergency underwater camera didn’t quite capture the magic…)

Bless you Cooks, and thank you for the priceless memories.

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Our first steps on Rarotonga just before dawn, looking back with fondness at our Air NZ flight:

At Lagoon Lodges, our modest but comfy & cozy bungalow:

Sophie’s favorite island activity:

I thought this was funny, since we say ” counter-clockwise” in American English, and I’d never heard ” anti-clockwise” :

Other Sophie-preferred island activities included watching the chickens:

My favorite photo from this trip:

A triumphant Soenke, after 1 1/2 hours of wrestling with this coconut:

And back to the trampoline:

I couldn’t believe this. Hamburg STILL found us, even on the other side of the planet…

This was fun - Cheryl & Hugh’s Reef Sub Tour… on top looks like a boat, downstairs windows like a sub. Great for viewing sea-life:

Soenke & Sophie didn’t miss a fish…

Including this sea turtle. We also saw a Moray Eel but I didn’t capture that on film.

A nice view of the island:

We’re having fun!

Sophie’s personal taxi service:

Now that’s a happy beach bunny…

This is a sacred site on the island, where they (among other nicer things) used to do sacrifices. Sophie HATED it there.

Banana, anyone?

More island beauty (this is a little ” motu” off the coast of the main island):

The beach at our hotel… we rarely had to share it with anyone!

This was our rental car. I loved that on the Cooks, the license plate had their everyday greeting - ” Kia Orana”… it means , I think, ” be well”, but also is used as ” hi!” .

Lots of pool loitering:

The ultimate South-Pacific-style view from our front porch:

Another gorgeous sunset on Rarotonga…

BUT WAIT, not done… off to Aitutaki for 2 days of more heaven than I ever thought I’d see on earth. Too bad that a little person broke our camera the DAY before we went there, and we were left with a cheap underwater camera to capture all this magic…

Our little plane whisked us off to….

THIS

And THIS

Quite a bit of THIS

Ahhhh, this..

And, God bless it……… THIS

Very happy me

Bye bye Aitutaki…