Saturday 28 March: Happy tourists suggest marking trails

Dear Editor,

We just returned from a fabulous three-week vacation to your wonderful islands that included stays on Rarotonga, Atiu and Aitutaki. We will never forget the warm island hospitality, enthusiasm and gorgeous settings which made experiencing the Cooks really special for us.

A big metaki to Papa Mike and his Cook Islands Handbook for helping us plan our trip and even find out about the Cooks.

On Rarotonga we used a walking trail book co-authored by Gerald McCormack which describes numerous island walking treks after Pa Teuruaa righteously initiated us with his guided hike up and over Te Rua Manga.

We struggled finding some of the trails in this 1995 released book. We couldn’t find the first trail we attempted and were told by locals that the trail has been over-grown and is not presently accessible. We did locate with some difficulty a second trail which we enjoyed walking, but the trail ended before the final ascent as described in the book was reached.

We believe that hiking Rarotonga’s beautiful hills and forests is a unique and memorable experience that could become a much more popular tourist (and why not islander?) attraction if there were clear road markers to the trailheads, on-trail markers and regular trail maintenance.

Also if some of the written-about trails no longer exist or have changed, possibly an update of this excellent book is in order (sorry we can’t give you the exact name; we didn’t bring the book home with us).

You islanders are obviously an industrious crew. Maybe youth, church and/or neighbourhood groups could take on such projects and government tourism or other funds could be used. Anyway, we felt strongly enough about this notion to humbly drop you a line from a couple of “very glad we came all the way from America” tourists!

Jim Reynolds and Joanne Harvey

California USA

Editor: Gerald McCormack, director of the Natural Heritage Trust, responds—

Thank you to Jim and Joanne for raising this issue.

The problem they refer to is not so much the book (says the writer!) but the maintenance of the trails. Only the Cross-island trail is used by enough people to keep it ‘clear’, and a couple of days ago I talked to two hikers who got bushwhacked despite the new police-installed signage.

The other trails are rarely used and the book was written for experienced hikers who want to go onto some of the more spectacular mountain tops.

Other than the interest that Natural Heritage took in mapping the trails and putting in some ropes, and the sporadic clearing by individuals, there has been no agency or group effort to maintain the trails. I would be pleased to hear from any group that is interested in seeing these outdoor gems maintained.