What a place!

My partner and I spent 2 wonderful weeks in Rarotonga with another couple. We booked all our accommodation and flights online saving a bundle on travel agent fees!

We went in the first two weeks of October and the weather was warm. A lot of the days were overcast, but we didn't need jumpers once. There were a few rain showers, but they only last a minute or so before the sun comes out.

We hired the 2 bedroom villa at the lovely Makayla Palms. It was a fantastic place to stay, one back from the beach at Titikaveka which for most of the time we had the beach to ourselves. At the most there may have been about five other people on the beach! It's on the other side of the island from the main town and just around from the popular Muri Lagoon.

The hosts, Rachel and John are wonderful - dropping off home baking and fresh fruit, offering the use of their Jeep and taking us home when bumping into them on a night out. There are bug screens on all doors and windows which was great for someone like myself who isn't that much of a fan of bugs!
 

Food

We ate out about half the time we were in Rarotonga, the other half we cooked our own meals in the fully equiped kitchen at Makayla Palms. There are a couple of supermarkets in Rarotonga, Foodlands and CITC. We found CITC the cheaper of the two. Though the supermarkets are a bit expensive as most of the stuff is airfreighted from NZ.

Places we ate were:

The Little Polynesian - A 10 min walk from Makayla Palms is The Little Polynesian Resort. The dessert at The Little Poly was the best I had on the island! And their cocktails were the best on the island as well.

Sails - At Muri Lagoon - We went for lunch, I had the fish cakes, these were rather good. The Vege Chips at Sails were yummy.

Paw Paw Patch - A 5 min walk from Makayla Palms (before The Little Poly). I had the steak which was cooked to perfection. We went on a Tuesday night where they have Kura singing live. She is amazing and it sets a wonderful atmosphere.

Saltwater Cafe - A 10 min drive from Makayla Palms - This place gets my vote for the best host. Kerry (an Aussie, but we won't hold that against him!) was wonderful. I had a Mexican dish which was simple, yet delicious. We didn't have them, but apparently his prawns are to die for! We went back the next day for lunch, we were so impressed.

Cafe Salsa - In the main township - We went here a few times for lunch when we were in town. The pizzas are yummy. The Greek salad was the best I had on the island.

Tamarind House - Close to the main township of Avura. In the guestbook at Makayla Palms everyone raved about the Tamarind House. We weren't that impressed! It was average while the prices were at the top end of all the places in Rarotonga.

Trader Jacks - In the main township - very average. The fishcakes as an entree were processed something! We went with 2 other couples and wanted to pay separately so they charged us a surcharge to split the bill!

The Rarotongan Resort - We went for the Island night on a Saturday night. Very yummy cocktails. It was a traditional meal buffet, which was very nice. The dancers were also very good.


Getting Around

There are two buses that go around the island, but we never caught these. My partner and I hired a scooter each to start with. I had never ridden a scooter before but they are very easy to operate. We hired them from Polynesian Bike Hire (Hertz) at Muri. We then went into town to sit our Rarotongan Licence.

You need a Rarotongan Licence to be able to drive in Rarotonga. There is a catch though, you need a licence to hire a bike, but you need your bike to sit the licence! We promised the lady that as soon as the police station opened we would go get our licence and not drive them until then...

The licence costs $10 and $6 to sit the test. The test consists of a group of you driving around the block with the cop following you.

My partner and I however decided to swap our bikes for a car after a few days. Although we loved the bikes during the day, at night it was different! The bugs are attracted to the light on your bike and you end up driving through clouds of bugs! After this happened I refused to drive my bike at night.

The next night we caught a taxi to dinner. The driver didn't turn up at first and we lost our booking at the restaurant we wanted to go to, then when he did turn up he didn't turn on the meter and charged us $15 to go 10 mins down the road!

After those experiences we swapped our bikes for a car. The hire place was great, they gave us a refund for the remainder of the time we had paid for the bikes and changed us to a small car. This was much easier at night to go out to dinner in and also to do the shopping as we didn't have to worry about it not all fitting on our scooters.

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