Now this was all rather exciting. I was flying across the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life and heading for…. well the middle of nowhere. Fifteen small paradise islands in the South Pacific make up the Cook Islands, home for approximately 20,000 people mostly of Maori ethnicity. This is where the Maori people left Polynesia in their canoes to colonise New Zealand, a couple of thousand miles away.

I flew directly to Rarotonga, the most developed island in the Cook’s, from Auckland, seeing from the air how tiny this island is and so so remote. Rarotonga was originally formed from volcanic activity and is pretty hilly and uninhabited on the lush interior. Most people live around the beautiful coastline, surrounded by reefs and lagoons. The peaky mountains really make for a stunning backdrop.

I was going to have a most wonderful time…