Rarotonga in the Cook Islands may be small, but it packs in plenty of surprises – as a half day bike tour around the island shows.
Cycling around Rarotonga
The circular road around Rarotonga in the Cook Islands is largely flat, making it easy going to cycle around, and Storytellers’ Eco Tours takes advantage of this, with its half day cycling tour branching off into spots that might not be explored otherwise.
This involves branching off the main road into the interior, where the Cook Islanders tend to have their homes.
The interior of Rarotonga
Once on the interior dirt tracks, it becomes clear how fertile Rarotonga is. Vegetables and fruit are everywhere – from pineapple plants to taro plantations – and most people have plenty of them growing in their gardens.
This brings on a different way of thinking about rich and poor. Many Cook Islanders will work more than one job to earn money, but chances are they’re never going to go hungry.
We pedal up to one wild, sprawling garden, and there’s a pig tied up outside. Whether that’s as a pet or future lunch, we decide not to ask. Mangos, pawpaws, bananas and mandarins are amongst the bonanza growing, while chickens strut through. A lax approach is taken to chicken ownership on Rarotonga. Basically, if it walks on to your land, it’s yours.
How to open a coconut
Clambering above everything else are the coconut palms, and tour leader Uncle Jimmy plucks a ripe coconut from the floor beneath it in a bid to show us how to open them. This is something that every Cook Islander seems to have drilled into them as a child, but for an uninitiated visitor it’s incredibly hard work. A sharpened stick is wedged into the ground, and the coconut slammed down on it. We then have to twist the coconut on the stick in a bid to remove the husk. Once all the husk is discarded, the nut requires a good thwack with a stick. And usually a slurp to ensure all the water doesn’t spill out all over the place.
A taste of noni
Some fruit is less appealing than others, however. The noni is one of the Cook Islands’ few exports – its juice is faddishly popular in beauty treatments. The taste of it, however, is pretty gruesome – ripe cheese is the closest approximation, and that’s frankly not what I’m looking for in a refreshing fruit salad.
Tour details
The Storytellers cycling tour around Rarotonga involves around three hours of cycling and includes lunch. Bookings should be made in advance, and can be done online.
More Rarotonga travel
Other Rarotonga travel articles on Planet Whitley include:
- Hanging out at Trader Jack’s during the Vaka Eiva festival.
- Tackling Rarotonga’s cross-island hike.
- The last of Rarotonga’s canoe carvers.
- Learning the story of the Pacific Islanders at Te Ara.
- Muri, Rarotonga: The perfect holiday town?
- A quick travel guide to Rarotonga.
For more Cook Islands tours and experiences, pick from the selection here.
