The Cook Islands is a nation comprising 15 small islands sprinkled across a patch of the South Pacific, roughly halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. As remote as they are spectacular, the collection of islands is reminiscent of Hawaii before its mid-century tourism-boom, and though the largest of its islands is today ringed by boutique hotels, much of the country is untouched and feels wildly tropical.
I spent a week discovering this idyllic Polynesian archipelago back in early autumn, splitting my time across two islands: Rarotonga, the largest, and the tiny atoll of Aitutaki.