Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011 83 degrees 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
The Cook Islands are an independent country associated with New Zealand. The Cook Islanders enjoy having a good time and this lust for happiness very quickly rubs off on visitors. They have beaches of dazzling white sand. The Cook Islands have a population of 17,900 and more than half reside on Rarotonga.
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| Tender going into port in Rarotonga, Cook Islands |
Nearly everyone in the Cook Islands puts on his or her finest white straw hat and goes to church on Sunday morning. Many visitors join them, for even though most sermons are in Maori, the magnificent harmony of Polynesian voices in full song will not soon be forgotten.
The Cook Islands Christion Church association built many churches, but their imposing Avarua structure is the best known. This whitewashed coral block structure was constructed in 1855.
The several interesting antique buildings around the island referred to as “palaces” are family homes of ariki (district chiefs). Among them, Taputapuatea Palace was home to Makea Takua, ariki of the Avarus district when Britain took possession of the islands in 1888.
Rugged Te Rua Manga, known as “the Needle”, juts dramatically skyward as though it was a stone rocket counting down to take off. It is an idyllic island paradise - all the alluring elements described in Tales of the South Pacific are found on the round Garden of Eden.
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