Things to do in Rarotonga that the whole family will enjoy. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
What happens when three generations holiday together in the Cook Islands? Tim Roxborogh rounds up the grandparents to find out.
I have so many tattooed-to-the-brain, quintessentially “Cook Islands moments”, but if you’re going to push me on one to sum up why I love this country so much, it’s hard to go past Aunty Mona offering up her retired husband, Kevin, to take me on a bushwalk. “He’s got nothing better to do.”
I could just as easily tell yarns of Aitutaki with its perfect beaches and waters of such fluorescence that everyone will think you’ve doctored your photos. Or it could be how my daughter, Riley, was completely mesmerised by the charisma and music of all the local tours we took. And then there’s paddling out to an island in Muri Lagoon and looking back to the jagged, jungle peaks of Rarotonga and forcing myself to pause, breathe and take in the fact that if this isn’t heaven on Earth, it’s pretty close.
But I keep returning to Aunty Mona. For a start, she is officially “Aunty Mona” on her Pacific Resort Rarotonga name tag where she’s obviously something of an institution. This was our second time in the Cook Islands and part of what had lured us back was the way Aunty Mona and the rest of the staff treated us like long-lost family. They’d even set placemats at the restaurant for then-2-year-old Riley’s favourite soft toy, Prudence The Piggy. Prudence wears ballet shoes and a tutu, so she’s a very respectable dinner guest. Still, this was next-level customer service.
That first Cook Islands holiday had been in 2022, just as the sun was slowly rising again on international tourism. My wife Aimee’s parents, Kathy and Alan, were so convinced by all our stories and photos that a plot was hatched to return the following year with them in tow. Invitations were then extended to Aimee’s sister, Tiria, and her family and then next thing you know, we were back in paradise, except now numbering nine people spread across three generations.
Or perhaps I should say 10 people, given our return to the Cook Islands (three nights Aitutaki, seven nights Rarotonga) wasn’t just an extended family getaway, but was doubling as a babymoon with Aimee almost six months pregnant with our son, Austin. Three generations, three couples, three villas and a whole variety of expectations regarding what constitutes a great holiday. And I’m pleased to say, everyone got what they wanted. Near the top of my list? A need to explore.
It’s not that the idea of swapping lying by the pool with lying by the beach doesn’t appeal, it’s just that I get twitchy on holiday if haven’t done something to earn it first.
And so it was that I mentioned to Aunty Mona at breakfast the morning of our last full day in Rarotonga that was I keen on doing another bushwalk. Together with my brother-in-law, Lawrence, we’d already done the spectacular cross-island trek to the 413m-tall Te Rua Manga, commonly known as The Needle. Our guide was Bruce from Maunga Tours, and whether it was helping us scramble up tree-root jungle staircases or fleshing out what defines the Cook Islands beyond the beach, he was brilliant. As was the whole half-day tour, which culminated with a cooling swim in a rainforest waterfall after I’d lost about 7kg in perspiration.
We’d definitely earned our relaxation back at the resort that afternoon, just as we’d done the day we got all three generations of the family to do the famous Captain Tama’s Lagoon Cruise. Part snorkelling expedition, part cultural performance, part comedy show, part banquet lunch on a tiny, deserted island, it’s little wonder this is arguably the most talked-about activity you can do in Rarotonga. From my father-in-law’s pioneering attempts at snorkelling without submerging his mask, or Riley dancing to the music and cracking up at the jokes she didn’t get during the lunchtime performance, this was one of those joyous holiday days you cherish in every way.
The same can be said for how we felt at the end of the six-hour Vaka Cruise we took around Aitutaki’s lagoon. With Aitutaki just a 45-minute flight from Rarotonga, it is worth every dollar and every bit of extra effort to get there. This is a tour that’s billed as “a cruise on the world’s most beautiful lagoon”, and yet somehow even that pronouncement seems modest once you’re there. Again treated to delicious food interspersed with song and laughter, there were stops at three islands where each time we’d declare them as stunning as any tropical island on Earth. We posed for babymoon photos, imagined what it would be like being on one of those Survivor-type shows that are often filmed here, and let Riley fall asleep in my arms on the boat at the end of a very big, very euphoric day. So yes, post-activity relaxation, too, was earned that day.
Aitutaki has long been favoured by honeymooners, but places like the Tamanu Beach Resort where we stayed are now welcoming families too. And while Aitutaki takes the crown for terrific snorkelling straight off the beach, Rarotonga has more in the way of rollicking jungle adventures.
I guess I felt like one more rollicking jungle adventure. That mountainous, densely forested interior of Rarotonga pulls at me every time I’m at the beach looking inland, driving the island’s 32km coastal loop road, or in a plane coming in to land. It’s just so cinematic, but it can be hard to know where to start in terms of exploration. Enter Aunty Mona and her husband Kevin.
“I’ll ring him now!” insisted Aunty Mona and, despite my polite attempts at reticence, that was that. A phone call was made and hubby was on his way.
Aunty Mona is a Cook Islands resident for whom “aunty” is both a term of endearment as well as a mark of respect. Her husband, Kevin, is a New Zealander who has lived in Rarotonga for decades and together they make for one extremely fit, vivacious couple. Kevin is a wiry chap who goes everywhere barefoot, including picking me up from the Pacific Resort on the back of his motorbike and driving me to one of his and Aunty Mona’s favourite bushwalks. Tourists would probably never know this spot, but as we entered the jungle and began our ascent, those views through the leaves out to the lapping waves of the Pacific Ocean in the distance reinforced just how much more there is to this corner of the world than so many of us realise.
I kept thanking Kevin for taking a random stranger on a hike that in all honesty I never would’ve found by myself, but Kevin, like his wife, simply struck me as someone who embodies the Cook Islands ethos of life being all about people and being good to others. It was no big deal for him, but certainly a big deal for me. Now all he needs is a name tag.
For more Cook Islands holiday ideas, go to cookislands.travel
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