Jetstar has a time machine. We boarded our flight in Auckland on 1st May and arrived in Raratonga on 30 April. The joys of crossing the International date line! Something that makes planning for these trips complex and confusing.
We arrive at our resort at 9:30pm and our spacious and airy villa looks a bit minimalist. Sliding open the rear French doors we hear waves lapping in the darkness. The next morning we awake to the piece de resistance! The view out of the window from our bed is paradise, golden sand beach, turquoise sea and languid palm trees. Twenty to thirty steps takes us to the warm clear sea.
The Cook Islands are just over half way between Auckland and Hawaii. Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendana was the first European to reach the islands in 1595. James Cook visited the islands in 1773 and 1777. He named the island of Manuae Hervey Island. It was Russian cartographers who referred to these islands as Cook Islands in the 1820s and the name has stuck. It is a group of 15 Polynesian Islands, a self governing country but with New Zealand overview in defence and governance. The main island is the biggest, Rarotonga it is a classic Pacific tropical island with beautiful white sand beaches, lagoons and a jungle clad mountainous spine.
I have booked a lagoon cruise on our first day. We start at 11 am and it is a lively crew joking and singing taking us to a snorkeling site and then to a lagoon island for BBQ lunch and entertainment. The snorkelling was a disappointment with uninspiring coral and minimal numbers of fish. The island visit was pretty and good fun.
