Rarotonga April 2018

During the April holidays Will and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary with a one week holiday in Rarotonga. We had booked a bungalow at Sunhaven, and it was absolutely perfect. I would highly recommend staying at a child-free resort during school holiday time! There was only one other couple staying at Sunhaven while we were there, so it felt like we had the run of the place. No competition at all for things like the hammocks, kayaks, pool loungers etc. 

Our bungalow was right on the beach, and every morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on the deck.

We were staying on the west (sunset) coast, and it was a lovely quiet spot with beach and palm trees all you could see in both directions. 

We managed to pass our days swimming in the pool, kayaking, and snorkelling in the ocean. Usually during my holidays it is all about going on adventures and exploring new places, but it was very nice just having the chance to relax and unwind. I think I read about 4 books during our week away!

Will did a bit of work during the week, but the fact that he was doing most of it in a hammock on a beautiful beach on a pacific island meant that he didn't mind too much...

About a two minute walk from our resort was the Pacific Fish and Chip Shop which is pretty legendary on the island. With good reason too... We had a couple (OK, it might have been three!) meals from there, and it was amazing every time. The fish was huge big chunks of super fresh tuna that was just awesome. Every single night this place was humming.

Another night we walked 10 minutes along the beach to another resort that had a restaurant and beach bar. The food was actually pretty average, but the place had a great vibe with a very good woman singer providing live entertainment. She did brilliant covers of some Fat Freddy's Drop numbers.

Rarotonga is only 32 km in circumference, and essentially has one main road circumnavigating the island. To get around we would either walk, or take the local bus which was great fun. There is a clockwise bus and an anti-clockwise bus! There are designated bus-stops, but if you hail it anywhere from the road it will stop for you. On market day we took the bus into the main 'town' Avarua for a look around. 'Sleepy' is probably the most apt description!

One morning at low tide Will waded out to the breakwater. The whole of Rarotonga is surrounded by a reef, making for very safe snorkelling and swimming. It is so clear that you can stand on the beach and do some fish spotting.

The tropical fruit was awesome, and super cheap to buy at roadside stalls. We gorged ourselves on papaya and mango every day.

We decided to hire a car for one day, and made the most of it to explore the island. One of the first stops was at a waterfall where Will took the opportunity to cool off.

We then spent time at the 'Fruits of Rarotonga' snorkelling spot which is meant to be one of the best places for it on the island. We saw loads of fish, plus I also saw a stonefish lurking on the seafloor near some coral which was pretty freaky. Stonefish are one of the most venomous fish in existence, and can kill you if you accidentally step on one. Most people who enter the water in Raro wear either reef shoes or fins.

Later that evening we headed to the Muri night market which opens four times a week. This was a great place for dinner with loads of stalls offering a wide choice of local delights.

My favourite was a stall selling slices of the most AMAZING cakes. The banana cream pie was out of this world...

On our last day we decided to walk off all the cake with a hike up Raemaru mountain.

Mostly this is just a nice straight-forward walk up a hill on a pretty well-maintained track. However, the last little bit involves hauling yourself up a series of fixed ropes and ladders. The sign saying 'experienced rock climbers only' is a bit over the top though, it wasn't that bad!

The 'gnarly' section to get to the top...

As you can see from the pics, the sky looked pretty ominous... Luckily the rain held off until we were back down off the summit. However, there is nothing quite like a tropical downpour! We got absolutely drenched for the last part of our walk, with the hugest raindrops ever. While we got wet though, it was still very warm so we didn't get cold. It was actually quite nice and refreshing after the exertion of our walk.

So, that was our wonderful week in Rarotonga. It is definitely a place I'll go back to in the future. It is my type of place in that it is very chilled and low-key, plus it helps that they use the NZ dollar as their currency, so that also makes it very easy. It was the perfect place to celebrate 10 years of marriage.