High on the cliffs above Araiti Cove is Kea’s grave. The story is told on Mauke and it is worth hearing before you go.

The story

Kea watched from the cliff as her husband Paikea fished beyond the reef. A storm carried him out to sea. He survived, and came ashore on Mangaia — but Kea, not knowing, kept her watch at the cove until she died there.

Visiting

The cove below is small and pretty. The grave above is a place of significance, not a viewpoint. Behave accordingly.

Mauke’s church, Ziona, is the island’s best-known landmark and one of the more endearing stories in the Cook Islands.

What happened

The two villages, Areora and Ngatiarua, agreed that one church would serve the island. They then disagreed thoroughly on how it should be built and decorated. The compromise was a single building divided down the middle — each village entering by its own door, decorating its own half in its own style, and worshipping together in the same room.

Why it is worth seeing

Because it is not a museum piece. It is a working church, and the arrangement has held for well over a century. The interior decoration on each side is genuinely different, and that difference is the point.

Mangaian ceremonial adzes — stone blades bound to intricately carved wooden handles with sennit — are among the most recognisable objects in Pacific art, and examples sit in major museum collections around the world.

The tradition today

Carving continues on the island, along with other craft work. It is not a tourist industry — the visitor numbers do not support one — which is precisely why what you find is the real thing.

Buying

Ask at your accommodation who is carving. Buying directly is cheaper, better and considerably more interesting than buying the same thing at three removes in Avarua.

Mangaia’s age, isolation and continuous occupation have made it a focus for archaeological work for decades. Marae, terraced gardens, defensive sites and burial caves are spread across the island.

Visiting respectfully

These are not ruins in the abandoned sense — they belong to living families and lineages. Ask before you visit, take a guide where one is offered, and treat the stonework as you would a graveyard, which in several cases is precisely what it is.

The makatea is honeycombed with caves, and many were used for burial. Rima Rau is among the better known, and some guides will take visitors into their own family’s cave.

What it involves

Scrambling, tight passages and low chambers. Entrances can be a squeeze, and anyone strongly claustrophobic should say so before starting rather than partway in.

How to behave

You are looking at somebody’s ancestors, often the guide’s own. Follow their lead precisely on where to walk, what to touch — nothing — and whether photography is welcome. Many visitors find it the most affecting hour of their Cook Islands trip, and that is exactly why it deserves care.

Sunday on the outer islands is observed more completely than on Rarotonga. Almost nothing is open, the island is quiet, and church is where everyone is.

Going

Visitors are welcome and conspicuous — on an island this size a stranger is noticed, in a friendly way. Dress modestly, arrive early, stay to the end. The singing is worth the early start on its own.

Afterwards

Being invited to share a meal is common. Accept if you can. It is the most direct way into island life that exists.

Mangaia is the southernmost of the Cook Islands and the second largest. Geologists put it at roughly 18 million years old, which makes it one of the oldest islands in the Pacific.

The makatea

A ring of fossilised coral cliff surrounds the island — in places over 60 metres high and more than a kilometre wide. It is jagged, largely impenetrable, and it defines everything about how people live here: where the roads go, where the crops grow, where the caves are.

The interior

Inside the ring is a fertile plateau and wetland, reached through cut passages in the cliff. Some of those passages were made into steps by hand generations ago.

The island today

Around 500 people, its own traditional leadership, and a strong sense of independence from Rarotonga. Very few visitors get here, and that is much of the appeal.

James Cook landed on Atiu in 1777. The reception was cordial — notably more so than on Mangaia, where he was driven off — and the site is marked.

Taunganui Harbour

Atiu’s harbour is small and blasted into the coral shelf. It is the island’s link to the outside world for anything that does not come by air, and seeing how goods actually get ashore explains a great deal about outer-island life and prices.

A tumunu is a bush beer session: a rustic hut on the edge of a plantation, tree stumps for seats, and a home-brew passed round in a shared cup.

Where it came from

The tradition traces to whalers teaching Atiuan warriors to brew ale from oranges, as a substitute for kava. It was opposed for a long time by the church and by the authorities, and was only formally legalised in 1987. That history is part of why it matters to people here.

How it works

A barman sits in the centre and serves the cup round the group in order. There is protocol — you wait your turn, you do not serve yourself, and there is usually a speech or a prayer to open. Visitors are genuinely welcome, and being asked to say a few words is a compliment rather than an ambush.

Practical

• Session times are not fixed and are not advertised. Ask where you are staying.
• Take a koha — a contribution towards the brew.
• It is strong. Pace yourself, and do not drive afterwards.

Aitutaki holds a particular place in Cook Islands history: it was here in 1821 that missionaries of the London Missionary Society first established themselves in the group, before Christianity spread to the other islands.

What to see

The church at Arutanga, dating from that period. Marae sites from before it. The two together tell the story of an enormous change compressed into a few decades.

Visiting marae

These are sacred sites. Do not climb on the stonework or remove anything, and ask before photographing.