Even chickens aim high

We decided over a sundowner at Trader Jacks, while watching local children hurl themselves joyfully into the sea, that the only way to top our previous afternoon’s gin soaked whale watching trip with a Rossano Brazzi lookalike was to complete Rarotonga’s famous cross island trek. We drove our ramshackle hire car to the advised north of the island and parked at the side of the road. Most advice you read will say that this trek is rather more than a stroll but doable if you are reasonably fit, so we bravely opted to dispense with a guide, do it ourselves and place our trust in a map and the orange way markers which would lead us deeper into this little island and up the 413 metres to the summit of Te Rua Manga or The Needle as it is commonly known.
We followed the trail that led inwards surrounded by banana trees, wandering pigs and ubiquitous rogue chickens, through slow rising farmland to the first landmark; a concrete bunker which turned out to be the island’s power plant, before the real trail began. Winding up under a canopy of leaves, I found myself scaling a steep rising tangle of tree roots, clambering over rocks and up mini ravines which at times involved hanging onto knotted ropes. If only my old PE teacher could see me now, I thought as I hauled myself up the increasingly vertical path, mopping my face with one hand and clinging on for dear life with the other without any of the terrified whimpering I had displayed during sports at school. I felt like Indiana Jones. Every now and then I would catch the potential for a tantalising view which I ignored in order to save myself for the top. After around 40 minutes of what we considered to be an impressive climb through a remote tropical jungle we emerged proudly at the summit and were rewarded with the view. A chicken perched majestically on a rock. Plonking ourselves down next to it we admired other things. The circle of the island’s shore, the distant coral reef, tiny boats out on the pacific ocean, undulating mountain greenery, a Dutch couple casually eating a picnic. “Nice view” we all nodded. It turned out they had retired, sold everything, bought a boat and decided to spend all their days sailing about the world having a nice time pleasing themselves. I thought about this as I stared at my feet which, while at that moment were covered with the dust of an ancient island path, would soon be parked back under a desk. The chicken strutted casually past. “How did that even get up here?” I asked.