The Cooks comprise 15 islands which are broken into two groups, the Southern and the Northern Cooks. The Northern Cooks are about 10 degrees of latitude north of the southern cooks. This is a huge distance, the Society Islands are closer to Rarotonga than some of the Cooks.
The population of the entire country is estimated by various sources as being from 13,000 to 21,000 people. Rarotonga is thought to have a population of about 9000.
Rarotonga is a small volcanic plug in the middle of huge ocean. This is a great way of beginning to the think about the insignificance of humanity but I will continue on the Cooks. Its interior is covered in what looks like jungle and forest with jagged volcanic cores cut into the clouds that hover about the island.
The impression you get is that Rarotonga has a very small population. The streets have few people and the main road is kept clean and is in serviceable order. The stray dogs, the nightly dog fights and the dirt that is often associated with developing countries are all absent in Rarotonga. I have yet to go down with hideous skin diseases and so presume the water quality is also reasonably good although I haven’t tried drinking tap water – of which I get varying reports.
I apologise for the photographs. It is quite impossible to take a picture without including either a palm tree or a banana tree. I try to avoid clichés but in a place like this, in terms of photographic clichés they are a necessary evil.
Copyright © Peter Campbell 2013, www.intrepid-adventure.com
