Recently we were lucky enough to travel to Rarotonga for a friends wedding and a holiday.
What an awesome place for a holiday and a beachfront wedding. Mrs JC and I travelled with another couple of scooterists and had a great old time exploring the island, snorkelling, fishing, swimming and just doing all the things you do when you are on holiday on a pacific island. The wedding, which had a very relaxed atmosphere and featured fire dancing, local music and cocktails on the beach was just fantastic. Two fishing charters were both highlights of the trip with four yellow fin tuna being caught on a small boat and a wahoo caught by the groom on a larger charter boat.
Our accommodation was first rate and if you are thinking of going there we would recommend the Crystal Blue Lagoon Villas. The pool, the Villa and the amenities are all first rate and our host Robyn looked after us very well. We stayed in Muri Beach and were well placed for the night food markets, cafes and shops. With bars just along the beach and plenty of recreational activities available it was quite hard to leave the place.
Transport around the island is generally by one of two buses – a clockwise one or an anti clockwise one or you can rent a car or twist and go type scooters. We opted for some Yamaha Cygnus 125 scooters from a place just up the road. With electric start, good brakes and plenty of storage under the seat these were excellent for riding around the island. A lot of the locals and other people on holiday there didn’t wear helmets or shoes and were quite happy just riding around in shorts and bare feet but we didn’t do that. Some of the roads there aren’t in the greatest condition and falling off would have been very messy. Yes its hot and some riders were happy with low speed careful riding but there were a few that were racing around and getting very sun burnt.
There weren’t any classic scooters that we saw on the roads but in the cafe at the botanical gardens we found a couple of Vespa scooters, a VBB from Bali and a P series. Incidentally the cafe there made an excellent curry. There were also some modified Bajaj tuk tuks at one of the local markets.
There’s not much to complain about in Rarotonga and the people we met there were very nice. Being able to ride scooters while on holiday was just an added bonus to an awesome trip.
If you haven’t been there, take lots of sunscreen.