OUR WEEK IN THE COOK ISLANDS – 6-11 AUGUST 2025

When today is yesterday but yesterday is tomorrow.

I’ve never been good with understanding time changes. At the beginning (and also at the end) of daylight saving I’m constantly asking, “do I add an hour?” or “is it actually 3pm or 1pm”. Even when we are travelling, I need to regularly double check time differences on my phone.

And the idea of ACTUAL time travel… well, that is something I’ve thought about a lot!

It often crosses my mind when we are visiting places of historical significance; or when I yearn to revisit a past situation (like being with my Mum); and I especially love to think about time travel after watching relevant movies.

‘Back to the Future’ is one of my all-time favourites from my teenage years; ‘Outlander’ a more recent must-watch; and I don’t know if you remember the ‘Goodnight, Sweetheart’ British TV series, but it was often on TV when our kids were little, and at the time I was obsessed with watching it and thinking about how cool it would be to be able to move backwards and forwards in time!

Last Wednesday Dave and I stayed at an airport hotel (my very first Airbnb customers were staying at the apartment), then walked across the road to check in just on daybreak. It was a gorgeous morning to fly, which I was happy about given the day before the International Airport had unusually been closed for a couple of hours due to a bad fog.

We initially flew to Auckland, then after a few hours, boarded an Air New Zealand flight to the largest island in the Cook Islands, Rarotonga. Our flight from Sydney departed at 9am on Tuesday, our flight from Auckland departed just after 7pm, also on Tuesday, and then we arrived at Rarotonga International Airport at 2am… also on Tuesday. So, we arrived seven hours before we left, due to crossing the international date line!

Apparently, it’s a common problem that people arrive in the Cook Islands before their accommodation is ready. They mistakenly book their accommodation for the night after they have left their previous location, rather than the night before. Thankfully I had calculated correctly and had booked Arcadia Retreat from the Tuesday night onwards, otherwise we may have had to wait another 12 hours till the 2pm check in time!

Regardless of the date difference, there is also a four hour difference from Sydney and after a 3am bed time it was inevitable that we slept in. Our host had left us eggs and a fresh papaya for breakfast which we enjoyed before we headed back to the airport to pick up a hire car. Grocery shopping was first on our list, then a drive around the island. There is one road circumnavigating the island. It is 32kms long and takes around 45 minutes for the complete loop. So you’re never more than about 20 or so minutes from anywhere!

It was the first of at least 10 times we took the road right around the island. There is so much to see and even though it’s small, the weather and the topography change quite a bit as you drive around. The coral reef just off shore creates a lovely lagoon, and the water was clear and the most gorgeous aqua blue.

During our first few days the weather was mostly overcast and there was a reasonable amount of rain, but that didn’t stop us enjoying ourselves. On our second night we joined a progressive dinner tour which took us (and 16 others) to the homes of three Cook Islands families to share their tasty local food, and their stories. Three courses were served at three different homes which was a fantastic way for us to get to know their culture and foods better, and it was also lovely to meet some other visitors to the island over the course of the night. If you are ever in these parts, I highly recommend this option.

Probably the highlight for both of us was the two four-wheel drive experiences. The first, on Thursday, was a tour in 4WD land cruisers which took us up in to the forest area in the middle of the island and to other places of interest. Dave sat in the front with the driver (and guide) and I was on the back with nine other tourists.

The next day we joined two others for a four-wheel motorbike tour. Again we went up into the hills for sight seeing, which was heaps of fun and made extra exciting because there was lots of slippery mud after the rain. I posted the video on my Insta story if you want to see it. The tour finished with a stop for a smoothie or milkshake… I loved my tropical smoothie and Dave’s strawberry milkshake was up there with the best apparently!

A tropical holiday wouldn’t be complete without some pampering. Both massages I had were fabulous. The second was a Vichy-shower treatment where you lie on a padded table, with the shower jets above you while you get a massage. This is the first time I have ever had one and it was so relaxing!

The island has a semi-submersible boat that takes visitors out to look at a ship wreck; coral gardens; and the many fish that inhabit the reef area outside the capital city. The wet and windy weather had stopped it from operating early in our stay, but it was clear and fine on Sunday when we hopped on the bright yellow boat, swapping from upstairs to downstairs to see the views from differing perspectives. The very large ‘Giant Trevally’ (GTs) were super friendly and followed the boat most of the way hoping for a feed of scraps that the driver regularly threw overboard. The largest was close to a metre long and jumped fully out of the water to catch the food.

To round out our week we booked a whale watching tour for our final day. Our flight didn’t leave until 11pm, so we had plenty of time for last day activities.

One of the local fish charter businesses also uses their boats to look at whales during the season (August till October). A lovely young local man took us out in search of the magnificent Humpback whales that stop over here to raise their newborn calves. After an hour and a half of searching we had nearly given up when we spotted the jet of water spray in the distance! Two amazing whales were frolicking together but when they dived again we had to head back to shore – our two hours was up!

Apart from lots of relaxing and having fun, I’m sure that it is no surprise to my readers that we also enjoyed lots of good eating. The food in the Cook Islands is surprisingly good. Many of the ingredients are imported from New Zealand, but local seafood, some vegetables and eggs are grown locally. In fact chickens roam wildly here and there are literally thousands of them (makes for an early morning wake up!).

I ate Seafood Chowder three times, each one so beautifully creamy, delicious and fresh. I also enjoyed Ika Mata three times too, which is the specialty dish of the islands made from uncooked cubes of local fish (often tuna), marinated in coconut, lemon, cucumber and tomato. Super fresh and delicious, with my favourite version being our very last meal on the island at the Tamarind House Restaurant which also had the most amazing view over the water and sunset. A super special place for our last meal!

We are now in Auckland, flying home to Australia tonight. We will take home with us some lovely memories of the Cook Islands and hope to get back there soon. In summary it was a perfect Pacific Island destination for us… not too hot, extremely friendly locals, reasonably priced, good food, and the best pineapple $2 ice blocks I’ve ever had. I may need to go back in time (or is it forwards?) to have them again 😉