Being in an English speaking island again was such a treat, having a laugh and joke with the locals, shop assistants and others, which we had found difficult to do in French islands. We learnt more about the place as we were able to have discussions rather than dealing in basic communication which is all our rudimentary French had allowed. The people here speak English so well we sometimes felt as if we were in the Home Counties.

Whilst in Rarotonga we decided to do the “cross island walk” which turned out to be rather more challenging than we had expected. The walk started in attractive farmland with crops of Taro growing in flooded fields like rice. There were also various trees including this curious one hung with large bean pods but no leaves ….

The walk became increasingly strenuous and involved some scrambling, often as here over the roots of the rainforest trees.

 

 

This tree root path went on and on and on ....................

 

 

 

Our goal was the Needle, a pinnacle of white rock in the centre of the island where we stopped to admire the view and have our lunch with this slightly aggressive cockerel who had a taste for cous cous salad and a determination to share ours.

The view was good but the weather was becoming increasingly wet. We descended a very slippery, scrambling path through the forest crossing several rivulets and a rather tricky little rock wall beside the river.

At the end of the walk we stood and chatted to some Swiss tourists as we dodged downpour in the shelter of the ruins of a Sheraton hotel. 20 years ago this was 90% built before running out of funds and being abandoned to the forest to the anger of many local people. We then set off to find a bus but within a few minutes a car stopped and the driver welcomed us into his 4 by 4 despite our muddy feet and took us right back to our boat.

This confirmed for us that the most delightful thing about Rarotonga is the people. They seem very content on their beautiful island and no doubt they benefit from their religious beliefs. There are churches everywhere, including many of the more evangelical type such as Jehovah's Witnesses and 7th Day Adventists who incidentally have the best singing in the island.