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SELWYN TIMES Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi<br />
Tuesday <strong>May</strong> 9 <strong>2017</strong> 27<br />
Travel<br />
More to Rarotonga than the beaches<br />
• By Mike Yardley<br />
PLANNING an escape to<br />
Rarotonga?<br />
Tear yourself away from the<br />
beach to dig a little deeper at the<br />
roots of the island. Venture along<br />
the back road and enter a timeless<br />
world of free-range harmony in<br />
abundance.<br />
On my various forays along the<br />
back road, I feasted on freshlyplucked<br />
pawpaw, mango, guava,<br />
bananas and star-fruit, bursting<br />
from the roadside trees.<br />
Scenically insatiable, I marvelled<br />
at the colourfully-painted<br />
hinterland homes and the dense<br />
plantations, bracketed by Rarotonga’s<br />
serrated peaks which<br />
exude a Jurassic Park aura.<br />
There are many ways to get<br />
a flavour for Rarotonga’s vast<br />
green heart, including taking a<br />
ride with the recently launched<br />
Tik-e Tours. These tropical<br />
three-wheeler luxury tuk-tuk<br />
limousines are fully electric, so<br />
unlike the racket they make on<br />
the streets of Bangkok, these<br />
beauties will glide you around<br />
Rarotonga’s ravishing interior in<br />
virtual silence.<br />
My driver/guide was a worldly<br />
elder called Mata, a natural and<br />
charismatic raconteur. Throughout<br />
my tour, every passer-by<br />
warmly waved out to Mata, or<br />
stopped to chat. One chap we<br />
talked to was busy cultivating<br />
noni fruit by hand.<br />
Lauded by locals for centuries<br />
for its numerous health benefits,<br />
noni juice has taken the world by<br />
storm and is the Cook Islands’<br />
No 1 agricultural export product.<br />
My two-hour tour traversed a<br />
slew of insights, including stops at<br />
TROPICAL: Ikurangi’s foliage is typical of the Rarotongan hinterland. Right – Shower in the open air at the Ikurangi Eco-Retreat.<br />
ancient marae sites, a rendezvous<br />
with Government House, the<br />
magnificently carved new war<br />
memorial in honour of the 500<br />
local soldiers who fought in<br />
World War 1, Tinomana Palace<br />
and the sacred Great Migration<br />
site of Avana Passage.<br />
Operating for just over a year,<br />
the people behind Tik-e Tours<br />
are Cook Islander Tania Farman<br />
and her husband, Karl, who<br />
have swapped corporate life in<br />
Auckland for the Rarotongan<br />
lifestyle, while injecting an<br />
innovative and eco-friendly<br />
tourism product into the mix.<br />
www.tik-etours.com<br />
For more heartland hi-jinks<br />
I jumped behind the wheel of a<br />
Rarotonga Buggy Tour. These<br />
grunty off-road vehicles are a<br />
cross between a kart and a beach<br />
buggy, highly manoeuvrable and<br />
hardy.<br />
They’re even kitted out with roll<br />
cages if it all goes badly wrong.<br />
These wildly popular buggy<br />
tours have been making quite a<br />
splash for two years. Our conga<br />
line of yellow buggies looked<br />
like a slithering giant snake. The<br />
biggest mud pits awaited us at the<br />
site of ill-fated and abandoned<br />
Sheraton Hotel development,<br />
where the grounds have been<br />
reworked as an off-road buggy<br />
track, which is where I got utterly<br />
splattered in mud, as we ripped<br />
up and down the mounds of the<br />
track.<br />
Our touring route also romped<br />
into the hinterland and the<br />
Turangi Valley, thickly carpeted<br />
with tropical rainforest. Seriously<br />
good fun if you like to get down<br />
and dirty. www.rarobuggytours.<br />
com<br />
Swathed in jungle-like tropical<br />
foliage, the environmentallyfriendly<br />
embrace of Ikurangi Eco-<br />
Retreat is a winning new roost in<br />
Rarotonga.<br />
Established by Luana and Matt<br />
Scowcroft last year, this thoughtfully<br />
created offering treads a very<br />
light footprint. You’ll notice the<br />
sustainability elements wherever<br />
you turn.<br />
The toilets are self-composting,<br />
the beautiful toiletries by Ashley<br />
& Co are studiously organic, the<br />
natural and biodegradable cleaning<br />
products, a sustainable waste<br />
management system, all materials<br />
are sustainably sourced and<br />
there’s free use of bicycles to go<br />
exploring.<br />
Being uber-boutique, the experience<br />
is absolutely distinctive,<br />
personalised and ultra-attentive.<br />
Luana says: “We think of it as a<br />
unique combination of the allure<br />
of a safari with the romance of the<br />
South Seas, where luxury meets<br />
sustainability.”<br />
I loved sleeping in my luxury<br />
safari tent, stunningly furnished,<br />
and perched on a deck to allow<br />
airflow.<br />
A tropical breakfast was<br />
delivered to my deck each<br />
morning and I adored the<br />
locally-roasted, fair trade plunger<br />
coffee.<br />
I awoke each morning to the<br />
“Tail of the Sky,” Mt Ikurangi,<br />
gilded in the glow of the rising<br />
Rarotongan sun, and I revelled<br />
in the novelty of showering in<br />
the open-air bathroom, flanked<br />
by swaying palms and bountiful<br />
banana trees.<br />
FAST FACTS<br />
•Set amid the bountiful<br />
hinterland beauty, but just<br />
minutes from the beach,<br />
Ikurangi Eco-Resort is a<br />
masterclass in sustainable<br />
hospitality in paradise. Five<br />
per cent of Ikurangi Eco<br />
Retreat profits go to local<br />
conservation initiatives.<br />
www.ikurangi.com<br />
I do love how Rarotonga<br />
is replete with colourful<br />
roadside stalls brimming<br />
with freshly picked produce<br />
and alluring treats, like<br />
organic fruit ice cream.<br />
They directly help villagers<br />
supplement their incomes.<br />
It’s a great way to give back.<br />
www.feelraro.co.nz
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