Rarotonga: only second best in the South Pacific
Written: Sep 09 '00 (Updated Mar 08 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Muri beach, local people, parties.
Cons: Some places are 'dream breakers'
The Bottom Line: Rarotonga certainly is charming, but we found out another island even better in the Cook Islands...
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| tongareva's Full Review: Rarotonga |
As most of us, my girlfriend and I had always wanted to visit a tropical island. We could have decided to go to Jamaica or Martinique but we wanted to find a place off the beaten tracks.
When I was a kid I used to dream of visiting the world in front of my lighted globe or in an atlas book. At those times the Pacific seemed to be the furthest place one could go to and the Cook Islands the inaccessible destination.
We therefore decided we would spend four weeks in the region: two in Cook Islands and two in French Polynesia (when going that far away from Europe we might as well be willing to stay a bit longer and visit Tahiti and some outer islands).
We arrived in Rarotonga after a 30 hour journey, exhausted but happy and anxious to discover that place at the other side of the world (for us at least!).
We booked a room at the Pacific Resort on Muri Beach on the Eastern side of the island. The hotel is very nice with its tropical-style bungalows and the beach is beautiful: probably the best spot on the island. Because I must admit, Rarotonga is certainly a real tropical volcanic island but the beaches in other parts of the island are somewhat disappointing. There is no real lagoon on rarotonga: the barrier reef being too close to the beaches.
Anyway, we found ourselves very happy to have chosen that area and that particular hotel. The food was excellent but not very varied. Although the hotel is doing its best to offer all sorts of different menus, food is basic but good. Don't expect to try a lot of different fish dishes, there is only one or two different fish you can eat, same thing with the meat: only pork and goat (not lamb, goat!). For the best barbecues on the island, we would go to one of the outer motus right in front of the hotel. A barbecue grill is there for everyone and you are free to use it. You can actually swim there or even walk to it at low tides. Be aware though, you must wear something on your feet as the coral is very sharp.
A good way of visiting the island is to rent a little motorcycle. They rent them at the hotel and I suppose every hotel has got some. No need to rent a car, the island is just 20 miles in circumference. You will need a driver license that you can get at the local DMV office in Avarua (the capital). No exam, you just pay a few NZ dollars and off you are. (that license also revealed itself to be a good souvenir that I still show here as a joke to officials!)
For going out, there is a great place called 'Trader Jacks' right on the sea port in Avarua. Its an American style bar packed with tourists and locals. It is THE place to be in the Cooks according to some people we met. And obviously they had been sticking around for quiet a while! Another nice place for a drink is 'PJ's bar' on the North Western tip of the island after the airport when going west (anticlockwise). They make all sorts of tropical cocktails and they are wonderful! Near the Pacific Resort on Muri beach there is a nice restaurant called 'The flame tree' where they cook exactly the same food than the one at the hotel but more European style. Someone told us there is also an Italian place on the West side of the island, but who would want to eat Italian when being in such a different world!
One day we parked the motorcycles at one end of the island and took the local bus to the opposite side where we started our across-the-island-trekking. What a great experience. If tropical islands are recognized for their beaches, one thing you have to do when visiting Rarotonga is taking a walk trough the bushes. It actually took us the whole day and was more difficult than expected. But what a spectacular view once you reach the top. Don't try to do this without any food and water. There is a particular mountain on Raro that is called 'The needle' and you have to be there to really understand why it is called like this. At the end of our trekking we were glad to find our motorcycles but before heading back to the hotel we swam in a waterfall. This was very romantic, as you can imagine.
We met nice people from New Zealand who we are still keeping in contact with. We spent almost the rest of our stay with them.
The locals are very friendly folks but some are very poor. Obviously heaven is not the same for everyone... I found a bit disappointing that some parts of the islands are rather dirty. I remember a particular spot where there was a flat tire, plastic bags and cans on the beach. I personally picked up the bags and the cans to throw them in a garbage bin. Unfortunately I couldn't do much about the tire. This breaks a bit the 'Paradise dream' but people are people and are the same anywhere on earth.
There is also that hotel (Sheraton??) they started to build on the Western side of the island and that was never finished for some political reasons as I understand. It looks very desolated and doesn't fit with the beauty of the surroundings.
Overall though, our stay on Raro was very enjoyable with some ups and downs. As my girlfriend says: 'not good, not bad, just different.' but we will keep wonderful memories alltogheter.
We left Rarotonga after a week and headed for one of the outer island in The Cooks: 'Aitutaki'. This was really the top place of our Polynesian tour putting Rarotonga as second best. But that's another story. If you are eager to discover that beautiful place: do not miss out my review on Aitutaki!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tongareva
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Location: Born and raised in Europe, but citizen of the world.
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 9 members
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