03 Magazine: October 02, 2023

Travel | Magazine 63
ABOVE: Photo: Alexandra Adoncello
OPPOSITE: Photo: Ben Teina
Rarotonga exudes an instant likeability that only grows
stronger the longer you stay. Of course, your idea of South
Pacific holiday heaven may well be confined to lounging on
the sand and dabbling in the turquoise lagoon, in search of
Nemo. But if you want to dig a little deeper at Rarotonga’s
roots, the island offers a wealth of profoundly enriching and
authentic encounters, with nature and the culture to the fore.
It’s absolutely where the magic happens. Beyond the beach,
the broad arc of pale sands and the crisp lagoon palette of
electric blues and turquoise hues, the backroads of Rarotonga
vividly reveal the life and soul of this South Pacific jewel.
Tear yourself away from the beach to dig a little deeper at
the roots of the island. Locals loosely consider the coastlinehugging
main circle island road as the ‘tourist road’. The
backroad, Ara Metua, and its adjoining lanes, is like entering
another world, where the beating heart of Rarotongan
authenticity slaps you in the face at every turn with its living
history and village vitality.
Much of the backroad is 1000 years old, constructed from
coral stone and basalt rock, by the great chief Toi. Prior to
European contact, Rarotongans predominantly lived in the
foothills of the island, in the shadow of the towering volcanic
peaks that serrate the skyline with a Jurassic Park-style aura.
Villagers would only venture down to the coastline to fish
and collect seafood.
The interior provided much greater protection from
tropical cyclones and potential enemy attacks. Ireland’s
fabled ‘40 shades of green’ would meet their match on
Rarotonga’s backroads, crowned by mighty peaks like
Te Manga.
The rich, volcanic soils and tropical climate conspire
to produce rampantly fertile growing conditions for a
kaleidoscope of lush and verdant vegetation. The backroad
is like an open-air supermarket and pharmacy, where trees
heave with succulent fruit ripe for the picking, alongside an
encyclopaedia of traditional medicinal plants.
As I picked giant paw-paws from a roadside tree,
playful piglets cavorted in paddocks while goats munched
contentedly on the leftovers of a freshly harvested taro
plantation. The backroad ushers you into a timeless
world of free-range harmony in abundance. Rarotonga
has become a byword for mango, guava, star fruit and
candlenuts, in my book.
If you’re doing a self-drive, keep an eye out for roaming
animals. On one occasion, a massive pig barrelled out
in front of me, staring at me in panic before frantically
hoofing it across the road. I slammed on the brakes of
my rental, gripped by the fear of the insurance excess,
managing to save his bacon and my bank account.
Just past Muri village, definitely call into the sacred site
of Avana Harbour. It was here in 700BC that Polynesian
voyaging canoes made their first Rarotonga landing,
arriving from Tahiti and Samoa. Avana Passage was also
the departure point for the great migration to Aotearoa,
in approximately 1350AD.
The names of the seven lead canoes are proudly
emblazoned on the hoardings at Avana, although some
locals told me their oral history suggests 200 canoes
actually took part in the Great Migration. Today, Avana and
Avatiu Harbours are regularly home to marumaru atua, a
traditional double-hulled voyaging canoe. It’s an evocative
sight, binding the ocean-faring past with the present.
For holiday hijinks, I jumped behind the wheel of a
Rarotonga Buggy Tour buggy. These grunty off-road
vehicles are a cross between a go-kart and a beach buggy,
highly manoeuvrable and hard – or hard on the butt. You’ll
feel every bump.
They’re kitted out with roll cages if it all goes badly
wrong. These wildly popular buggy tours have been
making quite a splash, with the seriously muddy puddles
proving to be the big magnet. Our conga line of yellow
buggies looked like a slithering giant snake, as we rattled
along the main road, backroad and off-road.
The biggest mud pits awaited us at the site of an ill-fated
and abandoned Sheraton Hotel development. Our touring
route also romped into the hinterland and the Turangi
Valley, thickly carpeted with tropical rainforest.