Always keen to get an independent take on my destination I rent a car for a day. It is brought on time to my resort but the person delivering it says he has left the paperwork for me to sign back at the office. He just takes a photo of my driver’s license and leaves the car with the instructions to leave it at the end of the day with the key in it and they will pick it up. I complied of course. It’s a commentary on islander life that 2 days later the car was still there. In the first instance no one stole it, in the second there was no tearing demand for them to re-hire it
Our first destination was the sleepy main town Arutanga, grassy spread out with a sprinkling of basic shops. At the far end of town is the oldest church in Cook Islands, the Cook Island Christian Church built in 1828. The islands accepted Christianity in 1821 when preacher John Williams of Tahiti landed here on the way to Sydney seeking medical treatment for his wife. He secured an agreement from the chief and left two Tahitian preachers Papeiha and Vahapata to convert the islands.
The conversion to Christianity was not without struggle. The neighbouring town of Vaipae went to war Arutanga to oppose the change of religion. 2 years after the arrival of Williams. They lost the ensuing battle. Now outside the whitewashed church in Vaipae stands the rock where the warrior men slit their arms after the loss allowing their blood to bleed onto the rock and reluctantly accepted Christianity.
Further away the villagers of Tautu built a church named Silo in 1888 to relieve the villagers of Tautu from having to walk 3km each way across the island to celebrate mass on a Sunday. All that is left today is a memorial as a cyclone in 1914 destroyed it.
We had lunch in the beautifully appointed Pacific resort, the other luxury resort here. On the grounds there is the remnants of a Marae. These were the villages’ meeting places and sites where important decisions were made. The ground was designated as tapu (taboo) and remains so to this day.
After lunch we drove to Piraki lookout with a view across to the west.
This was followed by the steep climb up to Maunga Pu at 124 the highest point on the island affording magnificent 360 degree views.
