Time in Rarotonga right now

The island has evolved in 45 years.

The New Zealand married pair came back to Rarotonga this time for the first time in almost 45 years and was astonished at how much the Cook Islands had evolved. There is an interesting insight into the somewhat minimalist but accessible way of living on Rarotonga in the 70'. Rarotonga first came to see Judith Cotton, then Judith Currie, with her girlfriend Barbara Beech in 1974.

The journey to Rarotonga was thrilling and new for New Zealanders in 1974, when Rarotonga International Airport was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. "Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands, is the newest Pacific vacation place. Only last December, the aircrafts were launched, with DC-8 flights from Auckland, New Zealand, and a state-of-the-art variant of the famous Coral Route, which offers flights through Rarotonga from Fiji and Tahiti on a week-to week basis," the Air New Zealand brochure says.

Today, it is certainly no longer what it was in 1974. The 1974 Air New Zealand brochure said there were around eight Rarotonga owned properties and inns. The 2017 Cook Islands phone and yellow pages show more than 120 accommodations on the islands - and this does not apply to all of them.

At that time, Cotton and Beech lived in the then newest and biggest of the island's hotels, Trailways, today's Club Raro. It' was very exciting,' Cotton said. Both Cotton and her husbands were surprised at the number of accommodations available to Rarotonga's visitors and were surprised at the wide range of recreational and leisure facilities on the island.

Rarotonga seemed "friendlier" as early as 1974, which is not too unexpected given the fact that the country now has over 140,000 people visiting the islands every year. They don't really interfere with natives unless you buy something now," Cotton said. She found on the bright side that many of Rarotonga's features have significantly enhanced.

Although many natives would probably have disagreed, she said that the streets around Rarotonga were in better conditions than they were in 1974, as was the Laguna. One full lunch in one of the few places on the isle in 1974 would have returned you for $2.75, and it would have added 18 eurocent to a stone lager of beers.

"Of course " is the term Cotton used to describe her feelings for Rarotonga in 1974. But while 18 cents of beer are a thing of the past, Rarotonga largely remained the 1974 heaven. There' are simply many more visitors - and no stables in view.