We’d hitched a lift with a truck driver to the start of the track, saving our strength for the challenge of the energy sapping jungle instead. Swinging down from the truck tray at the end of the bitumen, the driver directed us to a barely discernible break in the wildly overgrown jungle: the start of the cross island walk track.

Ascending rapidly across the gnarled tree roots which served as steps, our mid point destination at over 400m above sea level, The Needle was occasionally glimpsed through the dense foliage. Startling the odd bush chicken scratching in the dirt, seemingly the only inhabitants for miles, we brushed past vines, contorted ourselves under fallen tree trunks, trekking silently onwards and ever upwards.

Apparently beyond the canopy there was a financial crisis crippling the industrial world, but who would ever know such a pall of gloom existed here in the glorious Cooks?

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Rising 4000 metres from the depths of the Pacific Ocean this hook-shaped volcanic land mass has a genuine claim to fame: it’s surrounded by what many concur is the world’s most beautiful lagoon.

This triangular body of warm water which measures a whopping 45 km in circumference protects stunning coral outcroppings, giant clams the size of suitcases and countless shoals of multi coloured fish.

Setting out in a modern cruise boat from a small jetty on the southeast corner of Aitutaki, I could soon see nothing but the milky turquoise lagoon and in the distance, tiny motus.

  An illustrated feature on Aitutaki, the second tourist destination in the Cook Islands can be written on assignment from 1000 to 2000 words, depending upon editorial requirements.   A separate sidebar can be written on the tiny 9 hole golf course on Aitutaki.

Locals come to browse and buy and chat with friends they may have telephoned that morning but haven’t seen for a week or maybe longer. Tourists also come to browse and buy and photograph a visitor friendly market.  Zigzagging from one stall to the next I came across a bounty of fresh fruits, carvings of South Seas scenes, bright beachwear, CDs and cassettes of island music, highly prized lack of pearls and plenty of island people      

Though there are more local people at the market, ironically, there are far more tourists visiting the Cook Islands than there are resident Cook Islanders.  Flanked by the Kingdom of Tonga and the Samoas to the west and Tahiti and the islands of French Polynesia to the east and about four hours by Air New Zealand jet northeast of Auckland, there are only around 14,000 people living in the island group.

An illustrated feature on Rarotonga can be written on assignment from 1000 to 2000 words, depending upon editorial requirements.  A short ‘sidebar’ or a dedicated feature can be written on the lagoon encircled island of Aitutaki.