Many Rivers to Cross – Rarotonga

Rarotonga isn’t a river, to start with, but that apart, this is a place so well worth visiting I couldn’t leave it out of the list. It’s an island twenty miles in circumference, surrounded by a lagoon, which extends several hundred yards to a reef, which then slopes steeply to deep water. The reef fronts the shore to the north of the island, making the lagoon there unsuitable for swimming and water activity generally, but to the south east, particularly around Muri, the lagoon is at its widest and deepest. This part of the island is the most popular with tourists because of the suitability of the lagoon for swimming, snorkelling and boating – the water truly is crystalline, and warm, and really wonderful for even the most timid swimmer.

Unsurprisingly, given their beauty, the Cook Islands have been used as the setting for several films, the best known being Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence – that’s one reason it’s really worth a visit, if you’re a film buff, but the islands were well known long before the film. They were named after Captain James Cook, who became the first European to sight them in 1733. But the first discovery of these islands was made by the Polynesians who used them during their great migratory journeys across the Pacific in the seventh centuries. Then the main island, Rarotonga, was rediscovered by the Bounty mutineers in 1789 when Fletcher Christian claimed the island, shortly after the famous mutiny on April 28, 1789.

What else makes it worth a visit! Well, it’s like nowhere else in the world. For example, it has two bus routes, clockwise and anticlockwise – so although there are bus stops, basically the bus drivers simply travel around picking up anyone they see and dropping them off wherever the passengers want! It is also the only place in the world that has a three dollar bill. And my favourite fact – little tiny free-range chickens run around the whole island. They are too small to bother to cook, so they act more like pets or even mice, clearing up rubbish, and they are utterly cute and without fear.

Rarotonga photograph by g-hat, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

© blueworldgardener.co.uk