Accommodation on Mauke is limited...the Island Council has decided there should be rooms for no more than 40 visitors. Tiare Cottages, in a beautiful garden setting just back from the Ocean, are the most popular place to stay with a choice of three types of room.
Cottages are basic, but immaculately clean. Note though..only "O Kiva" - the ocean front cottage (top right) - has running hot water.
Cooking facilities are provided, but hosts, Kura and Tautara Purea provide huge meals for a few dollars extra....including fish ordered daily from the fisherman and delivered freshly caught. There are no restaurants or cafes on the island. Kura and Tau are also incredibly interesting people to chat to and learn from about island life.
Tau and Kura's daughter and son in law, Teata and Ta(ngata) Ateriano, now run the cottages, and I'd strongly recommend Ta's sightseeing trip round the island. It's worth every penny of NZ$25 for the pillion ride on the moped alone!!! And it includes a fresh coconut drink - with Ta climbing up a tree to select the coconut, then preparing it for you with his machete.
Find out more about what you'll see on the tour
Find out more about what you'll see on the tour
The cottages are named after the Cook Islands gardenia. And when it's time to leave Mauke, your hosts (and a few local children) will bid farewell with garlands of the sweet smelling flowers for your neck and head. An unforgettable gift from an unforgettable island.
Don't forget to check your name's on the departure (black)board before heading to the airport! And thank the locals who turn up early to clear pigs and cockerels from the runway.
Mauke has its own web site created by Angie Croft, an Englishwoman who teaches English at the local CICES school. Click on the logo to pay the site a visit and see more pictures like the ones below
Accommodation
