Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Our messy unity will be our strength.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

“But what about the lurkers?”

… gradually, and then suddenly.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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On The Road – way2blue – Rarotonga, Cook Islands [1 of 2]

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way2blue

So.  Cook Islands.  I’d been wanting to visit another island nation in the South Pacific that retained traditional culture, not completely dependent on tourism.  The Cook Islands had been recommended by a friend who’d visited 10 years ago.  The 15 islands of the Cook archipelago stretch across ~1400 kms of the South Pacific.  They were first settled around 1000 AD by Polynesians thought to have migrated from Tahiti, ~1100 km to the ENE.  Rarotonga is the largest & most populated of archipelago, and the island we visited first.

On The Road - way2blue - Rarotonga, Cook Islands [1 of 2] 9
Titikaveka Tapere

After much Google sleuthing I booked a bungalow at a small resort which focuses on sustainability (e.g., eliminating single-use plastic), supporting Maori art, and giving back to the community (profits are folded back into island education, healthcare…  )  This view is from our bungalow porch.  The black slab in the foreground is beautifully carved and polished basalt.

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Maire Nui Gardens

The island is circled by a single coastal road that we could walk to a couple beachfront restaurants and a lovely garden which also had a small cafe.  The garden has been reclaimed from swampy pasture.

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Maire Nui Gardens

The garden’s  paths wander through lush plantings and lily ponds.

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Titikaveka Church

The church just across the street was my favorite as the outer coral stone walls had not been whitewashed.  Hard to see, but people are buried in substantial concrete ‘sarcophagus’ (sarcophagi).  Both in churchyards and in the front yards of homes.  On Aitutaki, I saw more rustic burials with large coral blocks forming a mound.

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Titikaveka Church

 I attended a Sunday morning service the day we were leaving.  The singing by the choir was amazing, both a cappella and accompanied by organ.  Note the fans on the poles and the two flat screens on the front wall, which scrolled the text of the service.  In Maori of course.  Coincidentally, the week we visited Rarotonga—being cyclone season—was a vacation week to pray for cyclones to not hit Rarotonga.

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Rutaki Tapere

We planned to hike to Wigmore’s Waterfall, the trailhead for the cross-island hike, but kept missing the turnoff and instead ended up on a farm road that wound along a stream valley.  Walked past a few cows and a bull (thankfully) tethered to stakes.  And glimpses of Te Rua Manga (The Needle) in the distance.

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Rutaki Tapere

Most land on Rarotonga is privately owned and passed down through generations.  This road though wasn’t marked private—rather had signs posted for a footrace.  So I hope we weren’t intruding. Here, some lovely flowers along the side of the road asking for a photo.

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Titikaveka Tapere

Our resort overlooked a low-tide beach that we walked east one morning till we were blocked by basalt boulders.

On The Road - way2blue - Rarotonga, Cook Islands [1 of 2] 1
Titikaveka Tapere

Then turned around and walked west till we were blocked by trees.  Those chips of basalt are sharp on bare feet…

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Tamarind House

Our lodging was on the south side of the island.  Around to the north is a former colonial British Consul building, now a restaurant.  With an awesome setting for watching sunsets.  And watching people stand behind the picture frame for a photo.

Reader Interactions

17Comments

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Good move, going now while they are still mostly above the water.

    Nice pics of a beautiful place. Thanx much, way2blue.

  5. 5.

    Trivia Man

    looks like cruise ships and condos haven’t got there yet, that looks remote enough to avoid being overrun. Very exotic and hidden part of the world, thanks

  6. 6.

    Butch

    I was there about five years ago; I have to admit I much preferred another island the Cooks, called Aitutaki.  Partly because we happened to be there during a period of really lousy weather, but also because Aitutaki seemed more remote and peaceful.

  7. 7.

    Lynn Dee

    So private wealth rather than tourism sustains the place? Where are the various property owners from? Different places? Are food and other supplies flown in? It is gorgeous for sure but hard not to be curious about what supports it!

  9. 9.

    cope

    Lovely pictures and story and I think the idea of visiting places that don’t cater to the teeming masses is always a good one.

    Thanks again, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s pictures.

  10. 10.

    terraformer

    A little over 20 years ago, we flew to New Zealand to visit my sister and her husband who lives there. Back then, the 767 was used by Air NZ – and it couldn’t make the flight without a stopover to refuel – and that stopover was Raratonga. I remember it as an airstrip and a small building that served us drinks and snacks while we refueled. We didn’t have time to see anything else, but it was a quite a beautiful island, so thanks for this pictures of what we could have seen had we had the time!

  11. 11.

    way2blue

    @Trivia Man:

    Right.  No cruise ships.  Plus an active effort by locals to block large resort developments.  In fact, the road to the waterfall that we finally found, went past a half-finished, defunct hotel complex.  Hope it stays that way…

  12. 12.

    way2blue

    @Butch: We went to Aitutaki after Rarotonga (working on that OTR series now).  And yes, it has 1/10th the population, very little traffic, (NO dogs!), and even less tourist infrastructure.

  13. 13.

    way2blue

    @Lynn Dee:

    Based on the farmers’ market we visited, it seemed most people who are not connected to tourism are subsistence farmers, fishermen or shopkeepers.   Their one small port can handle containers, which I presume, is how fuel arrives.  (I think the island functions as a ‘tax haven’…   )

    The beaches are lined with homes & small resorts, no palatial compounds.  The owners of the place we stayed are from New Zealand—the husband is a surgeon who’s Maori great great grandmother immigrated from Rarotonga to New Zealand in the 1840s.  He chose to move back & contribute to the community.  I can’t speak to who owns the other tourist lodgings.

  14. 14.

    way2blue

    @terraformer: Before the Rarotonga airport officially opened (by Queen Elizabeth in 1973), seaplanes would land on the inner lagoon of Aitutaki.  Her comments were strikingly apt:

    Your ancestors made the hazardous journey here from other Pacific islands in frail canoes. It is a far cry from that to the coming of great aircraft flying thousands of miles in a day. We shall always remember and admire the courage and fortitude of those sailors of long ago…  This international airport will bring changes to the Cook Islands some good, some bad. You will have better communications with the outside world and many people from other countries will come here and this will bring you closer together…  But it will also bring influences on a predictable way of life which needs to be treated with caution.

  15. 15.

    Butch

    @way2blue: We remember how almost every household on Aitutaki had a kitty for mouse control.  Diving was great there; we spent a lot of time buzzing around on mopeds and walking the beach.

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