In September last year, we received an invitation to our nephew Tony’s wedding in Rarotonga. We duly made our bookings for four nights effectively, three and a half days. I subsequently found myself in trouble with my wife for not having booked for long enough.
Travelling to Rarotonga, you cross the International Date Line. We left New Zealand at 8.45am on the Wednesday, 9 June 2010and arrived in Rarotonga at 2.30pm on the Tuesday, 8 June 2010. Rarotonga is 22 hours behind us on the previous day.
We were met at the Rarotonga International Airport by my wife, Heather’s sister, Raelyn who had a rental car and we were whisked off to our accommodation at the Rarotongan Resort.
We were aware that everyone traveled in Rarotonga by motor scooter and had intended to hire a scooter or two. We noticed when we checked into the Rarotongan that there was a car and scooter hire place just up the road from our accommodation. No time to check it out that evening as it was off to meet everyone else who was up for the wedding for a bar-be-que at a hired villa near the hospital.
Next morning we had breakfast at the resort. A lovely buffet breakfast which was included in our accommodation costs. We then wandered down to the hire place. Unfortunately, there were no motor scooters available. We could have had electric bikes, but didn’t really fancy the same. We enquired and were provided with details of other motorcycle hire places. We phoned Island Motorcycle Hire which was about 5kms away at Arorangi. We were asked if we could drive clutched motorcycles and were told that they had two 125 motorcycles for hire and even better, they would come and pick us up.
We were picked up and found that the motorcyles were ubiquitous GN125’s in a more than slightly used condition. We duly completed all the paper work, paid $2.00 each for temporary licences which lasted 24 hours. We were told if we came back the following day and paid another $2.00 each, our temporary licences would extend another day. This was to save us going to the Police station and paying $20.00 for a Rarotongan licence. Everyone requires a Rarotongan licence, even to drive a car requires a Rarotongan licence. If you have a New Zealand licence and a New Zealand motorcycle licence as well as a car licence, you don’t have to sit a test, otherwise they are supposed to watch you ride up and down the road, use the indicators and turn the motorcycle around.
Helmets are not compulsory in Rarotonga, however, we didn’t feel safe riding without helmets and for an extra $2.00 each, we hired open faced helmets. Fully equipped, we set off.
Rarotonga is 30kms around. There is one coastal ring road and on parts of the island, there is an inner ring road as well. There is a coastal plain of about 1-2kms where most of the people live and where most crops are grown. The interior is mountainous. The island is volcanic. The entire island is 67.2sq kms.
Our first stop was at a petrol station. Unleaded 91 was $2.30 a litre. As we were leaving the petrol station, it started to rain. As we headed around towards the harbour we saw a pearl shop and looking for somewhere to get out of the rain, stopped in. It rained for some considerable time and finally, we set off again through the town and then stopped by Trader Jacks, a restaurant/bar establishment of some fame in Rarotonga. We then walked around the shops, had a poke around and then carried on in a clockwise direction around the island.
Coming around to the Muri area, we began to look for where Peter and Rae’s establishment was. They had hired a holiday home up a hill somewhere. The first drive we went up we struck a blank, the second drive, we struck it lucky and
there they were. We were invited to stay for a bar-be-que, however, it was necessary for me to go back to the Rarotongan for a block of cheese which we had brought up from New Zealand for them. Dairy products are a ferocious price in Rarotonga. I drew the short straw of riding the 11kms back round the rest of the road to the resort and then returning back with the cheese.
The next day was the wedding. In the morning we went back round into town for a look at the museum. I have always liked to look at museums, however, the Cook Island museum was a huge disappointment. There were a few artifacts, canoes and pictures, but one would have thought to have seen considerably more. Then it was back to the resort to change and on our way to the wedding. Standard issue dress being shorts, shirt sleeves and sandels. From Peter and Rae’s, Heather caught a ride by car, I decided to ride the motorcycle.
The wedding took place on the beach behind the villas where the bride and groom had been staying along with the bride’s parents. The reception that evening was at Tamarind House. The food was superb and the entertainment for the evening was a local fire dance troupe.
As I had ridden and Heather had caught a ride, she ended up getting a shuttle back to our accommodation and we were left with one motorcycle. The arrangement was that the next day we were going to go with Peter and Rae and the rest of their party and walk the cross island track. We doubled up on the GN and rode to the start of the track, then Peter brought our other GN around for us and the rest of their troop came by car.
It was an extremely steep hike to the centre, a spot known as ‘The Needle’. The others were completing the rest of the track but we returned to our motorcycles after the climb to the top. By then it was time to return the cycles to the hire shop at Arorangi.
The hire shop dropped us back to our accommodation where we spent the rest of the day and evening and waking at the ungodly hour of 2.30am to catch our shuttle bus to be at the airport for 3.30am to catch our flight back to Auckland.
GN125s in Rarotonga are ideal. The speed limit is 50kms with a helmet, 40kms without. The road is a double width tarseal. It is also well patched. We have in the past, owned a GN250 but have never ridden 125s. Frankly, we were surprised how well these little motorcycles pulled. The treatment these machines receive in Rarotonga isn’t good. There was motorcycle parking at the resort, but, it wasn’t covered. The little bikes had some rust. The maintenance wasn’t wonderful either. One of the bikes we hired the first day was missing a mirror and the back tyre would probably not have been legal in New Zealand. Neither motorcycle had working speedos. We returned the second day to extend our licences and had hoped that there may be a mirror available. There wasn’t but the bike was swapped for a newer one, this time with a working speedo.
A number of the other hire machines were Yamaha 125, automatics. We understood these performed very well and were more suitable for pillioning. There were also a number of no name Chinese brands for hire as well.
Rarotonga is an enjoyable place to visit. The currency is New Zealand dollars. Accommodation can be a little expensive. Food prices are generally on a par with New Zealand if you are happy to eat seafood. Meat dishes are dearer. Dairy products are a considerable price. Bar prices at the resort were akin to New Zealand bearing in mind there is no GST payable in Rarotonga.
The biggest surprise we had was on leaving Rarotonga was to be slugged $55.00 each departure tax.
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Originally Posted by p.dath
Rugby - A Hooligans Game played by Gentlemen. 
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