Heaven on earth in the Cook Islands

Wow what an amazing place - if there's a heaven on earth the Cook Islands comes pretty close! We arrived feeling pretty good after our Air New Zealand flight and were driven to the Pacific Rarotonga resort - a gorgeous boutique hotel on the beach after the friendliest greeting from the Cook Islanders.

This was an ongoing experience - honestly the people who live there are just so lovely, and it seems like all of them can sing too. Ukuleles are brought out as often as possible for a singalong. Such wonderfully happy people and I can see why - living in the paradise of a tropical island!

While we were on Rarotonga we went to the night markets where I had one of the best curries I've ever eaten. We also went on a fairly hair-raising tour of the island by jeep - right up to the top which seemed incredibly remote. For some reason I kept expecting to see dinosaurs appearing through the mist but all we saw were (a lot) of chickens and an incredibly large pig. For the remainder of the time we kept ourselves amused by snorkelling and kayaking and drinking large cocktails!

So far, so awesome but we had to leave to travel to a small island called Aitutaki after a few days. We flew over in a small but comfortable plane which gave us an incredible view of the gorgeous islands and turquoise sea. I thought nothing could top Rarotonga but Aitutaki was just breath taking. Picture the most beautiful beach in the world and you're somewhere close!

We stayed at the fabulous Tamanu beach resort - a family run hotel where they put on a great show in the evenings with traditional dancing and (of course!) singing. The food and the atmosphere there were great - they also have some adorable cats wandering around - some may try and join you for dinner (see photo!). I also must give a special mention to the Vaka cruise that we went on - a fantastic day out travelling to a lagoon and islands including the one they film the reality TV show 'Shipwrecked' on. The snorkelling was just amazing - we saw so many fish and they swam right up to us. In fact, a bit too close as one of them rudely bit me on the bottom! A wonderful friendly tour with all the warmth of the Cook Islanders and singing and ukuleles (obvs!)

We were genuinely sad when our time in Aitutaki came to an end - we made some incredible memories there and would love to go back there one day. We headed back to Rarotonga for our return journey but first stayed over for the night at the Islander hotel which was a fitting last hurrah for our journey as our arrival coincided with Happy hour! The next day we headed to the airport for our flight home feeling relaxed and re-energized and with a new found love for the ukulele!