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Round The World 2000Cook Islands |
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Rarotonga
| Avarua |
| Avarua is the capital town of Rarotonga, the main island in the Cooks.
It's a laid back sort of place for a main town, with a fair selection of shops to
browse among, especially if, like me, you are interested in checking out the black pearls
that the Cook Islands are famous for. The white painted CICC Church shown below was
built in 1853 from coral. |
CICC Church, Avarua |
Takuvaine Stream, Avarua |
| Once David had obtained his Cook Islands Driving License and we'd hired a
car, we hit the road - there's only one main road and it runs right around the coast, so
it's not easy to get lost. It takes less than an hour to complete a lap, so it's a
good idea to vary the direction you head off in! Here is a anti-clockwise tour of
some of the places we visited on Rarotonga. |
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Black Rock |
View from the Hospital |
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| Ancient belief says that the souls of the dead leave from Black Rock for the journey
to Avaiki - the legendary homeland. It's also a good spot for swimming and
snorkelling. |
Rarotonga Hospital is built on the hillside and has great views out over
the island to the sea. |
| Arorangi |
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We stayed at the Edgewater Resort in Arorangi. While we had lunch there one day we
watched a tree climbing demonstration. Our balcony faced on to the beach giving
great views of the sunset. |
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| Takitumu |
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| One afternoon we went Quad-biking with Raro 4x4
Adventures. After a hesitant start Kathy spent the rest of the time hurtling
off into the distance and thereafter was known as Full Throttle. The
scenery up in the mountains was gorgeous, when we sent slow enough to look! |
| Titikaveka |
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The Maire Nui Gardens are a peaceful and colourful place to spend some
time. We enjoyed wandering around the gardens and took numerous photos, There's a great
variety of plants, trees and flowers.
We stayed and had a good lunch on the deck area overlooking the gardens. |
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| Muri Beach |
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Across the road from the little cafe-shop Fruits of Rarotonga is
Muri Beach. Here is some of the best snorkelling we found. Without too much effort
we saw fantastic starfish (above right) and various trigger fish (such as that below
right), parrot fish, sea cucumber, angel fish, butterfly fish and cuttlefish among many
others.
The owner of the cafe is happy to keep an eye on your gear while you are out swimming. |
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| Avana |
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There's talk of developing Avana marina into a bigger, plusher marina. It
would seem a shame to spoil such a simple, quiet spot. |
| Interior |
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The old road runs about 500m inland from the main coast road.
You can't get much further inland by road, but the views up to the mountains are
fantastic.
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