| |
Southern Group is known for
|
|
|
Arts, Culture and History
|
| |
Activities in Southern Group
|
|
| |
Places to stay in
Southern Group
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nine of the 15 islands that make up the Cook Islands are referred to as the Southern Group. This group of Islands include Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Atiu, Mangaia, Mauke, Mitiaro, Palmerston and the uninhabited Manuae and Takutea.
More about Rarotonga
More about Aitutaki
|
|
|
The island of Birds and Legends
|
|
Atiu used to be called Enua Manu - the land of birds. It is the third biggest island after Mangaia and Rarotonga. Small valleys venture into a raised plateau covering most of the island, with all five villages uniquely near the centre. It is a fascinating destination, riddled with caves, maketea, raised coral atoll, cliffs, and white sand beaches.This is the island to come to if you like walking and exploring, on your own and with a small range of guided tours. Forget air conditioned buses - the back of a pick up truck is about as fancy as it gets. You can walk for hours and see just birds, chickens, a wandering pig or two and, if you're lucky, a passing motorbike and a friendly wave. Taking an organised tour exposes you to delights like the trail taken when Captain Cook and his crew in 1777 came ashore while charting the Pacific. The then chief took a liking to a shipboard dog, and when refused it, kidnapped some of the crew and held them hostage until he was given the hound. At least that's the way the story goes.A note of caution - despite the island's small size it is easy to get lost in dense bush and the coral makatea can be dangerously sharp and is dotted with natural cavities - so step carefully. Accommodation is mainly of the bungalow variety, with Atiu Villas the most visually appealing being built in coconut and other local timbers. Atiu Villas are also about the only place to get a restaurant-style meal - and then only if enough people have booked in for a meal. Sounds strange? Sure, but not much sense opening when there are only two visitors on the island. As often happens, hosts Roger and Kura Malcolm come well seasoned with a salty view of realities on an island paradise and small town politics. For a hair curling theory of global climate change, listen out for Roger - a New Zealand trained scientist - explaining gaps in coral growth over the last few million years or so.His theory is part of an introductory tour right after landing at the airport, a rather cunning way of decompressing hyper-stressed tourists escaping the bright lights of Rarotonga. There are at least four other options for accommodation, and they all list insect screens for a reason. There are plenty of mosquitos. This is not a reflection on Atiu. Just take repellent and remind yourself that, thank goodness, not every corner of the planet is as trim and tidy as a city park.
|
|
|
|
|
Island of Coral and Caves
|
|
Mangaia has one of the most extraordinary looking coastlines in the whole group. At one part, stalagmite-look-alikes thrust upwards from the inland side of the coastal road, grey and sentinel. Left over from an earlier period of growth, the coral spires speak of Mangaia being the oldest island in the Cooks. At 18 million years, some say in the Pacific. Mangaia is the coolest and southern-most island in the country, a raised atoll. Coral walls stretch high as 60 metres through the main township, Oneroa. As elsewhere, this coral makatea can be razor sharp and impenetrable in most places. From behind such defences, the people of Mangaia developed a fierce independence. A secondary system of defence lay in a huge complex of caves, with real stalagmites and stalactites. Many caves connect, some stretch from deep in the interior to openings reefside. Waves on the reef can be heard well over one hundred metres or so inland and underground. As presumably, could orders by any approaching invaders. No mystery about the ancestral Polynesian homeland of Avaiki for Mangaia people – known as Hawaiki in New Zealand. Their legends claim they are that homeland. To this day, Mangaia stands aloof from the rest of the country. Traditional leaders – not courts – set aside land distribution according to need and proven ability. “Anything the papa’a (European) can do, the Maori can do, but to succeed, he must work, work, work.”Carved into a ground plaque, that quotation from Sir Peter Te Rangi Hiroa Buck still speaks to new generations of young Cook Islands Maori attending Mangaia’s only college.
|
|
|