On the way to New Zealand, a Cook Islands sojourn is an unexpected delight

A woman’s voice, in the island’s distinct Maori-tinted English accent, calls from beyond the hedgerow. Amid what looks to be a garden party, she’s waving and smiling at me as I’m peddling back to my Airbnb. How can I say no? She explains she’s hosting the first course of a progressive dinner, wherein guests move (or progress) from house to house for successive courses. This particular dinner has been organized by local tourism authorities. (Her husband is a former member of the Cook Islands parliament.) So I join perhaps two dozen others in the first course featuring coconut yogurt mixed with one’s choice of locally grown Lady Finger bananas, star fruit (carambola), dragon fruit (pitaya), pawpaw, papayas and mangoes.