Rarotonga – Blessed by God
20.02.2024
28 °C
After a three-hour flight from Papeete, Tahiti, we arrived in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands – yet another tropical Paradise…
The fifteen Cook Islands are scattered over nearly two million square kilometres of the South Pacific. Rarotonga, with a population of thirteen thousand, is the largest island and seat of the government. It is only slightly bigger than our Canadian island and it’s truly amazing that ancient navigators were able find it after weeks, or even months, at sea. Although sighted by Fletcher Christian of HMS Bounty in 1789, no Europeans came ashore until a British missionary landed in 1823 and quickly ‘saved’ all the indigenous’ souls for Jesus…
Christianity, (in all its forms), has dominated island life since that time and absolutely nothing is open on Sundays apart from the churches. So, we went to church…
The service was almost entirely in the local Maori language and, for us, was somewhat overshadowed by the women’s beautifully woven and adorned hats…
However, the highlight was the amazing singing that echoed angelically through the whitewashed stone building… 
While we thoroughly enjoyed the singing, we slipped out during a presentation by the youth group who explained in detail how God created the universe exactly six thousand years ago, and then warned in gruesome terms the ways in which evil-doers and non-believers like us would be tortured for eternity when the world ends in the very near future. With seemingly little time to spare we rented a car and headed out to explore the island…
It appears that there is a church on every corner in Rarotonga, And every church has a graveyard. However, many houses have family graveyards in their front gardens: seemingly a good way of ensuring that the kids don’t sell off the family estate to deep-pocketed tourists. Who would want to buy a holiday home with a dozen corpses under the hibiscus bushes?...
Rarotonga is the last remote Pacific island that we will visit on this trip, and it is every bit as beautiful as the French Polynesian islands a thousand miles to its east. The tropical flowers are fabulous…
…And the local fruits are just ripe for the picking. These are starfruits…
But these dragon fruits are some of our favourites…
We will bring you more tropical delights from Rarotonga - if only the forecasted rain holds off for a few more days!
Posted by Hawkson 05:17 Archived in Cook Islands
The hats are fun. Nice contrast to the plain Sunday whites. Both these exotic fruits have been found on the table in restaurant Bliss. The colours of the sky, sea, and flowers all the same lovely palette.
What a journey you’ve had. All that beauty and history out there on those tiny dots in the vast ocean. Extraordinary.
by Tom