The young man delivering my morning coffee smiles conspiratorially, as if we’ve already met.

He does look familiar and then it clicks: He was the oiled young warrior, grass skirt flying, dancing and chanting tales of battles won and loves lost at the Island Night at the Pacific Resort on the small tropical island of Rarotonga.

“During ancient times, dance was woven into everyday life here in the Cook Islands. It’s our most soulful art form and our living culture,” said Papatua Papatua, one of the islands’ renowned traditional dancers.

On Rarotonga, the international gateway to the exotic Cook Islands, hearts beat to rhythms that are both age-old and hypnotically modern. It’s also an island of contradictions, where oral legends co-exist with European missionary beliefs and life is underpinned by faith, fishing and fellowship.

Scattered like precious pearls across the South Pacific, the 15 Cook Islands remain largely unspoilt. Waves froth onto the coral reef that encircles Rarotonga, the island’s basalt peak, Te Reinga o Pora, rising majestically from the camouflage of the dense jungle greens.

Polynesian legend holds that the “Cooks” were settled by some of the greatest navigators who sailed their giant double-hulled canoes from Hawaii and the Society Islands searching for land. Around 700 years ago, their descendents sailed in seven canoes from Rarotonga’s Avana Harbour to discover and settle in New Zealand. To get a bird’s eye view of Rarotonga, join Pa’s Trek, an eco-tour cross-island trek where Pa, an amateur botanist clad in a traditional sarong, points out the medicinal benefits of local wild plants including “Mile a Minute,” a miracle weed that grows 8 inches a day and wild mint that cures bacteria in the mouth. Ascending “The Needle,” the island’s highest point, the road hugs the island’s 32 kilometer shoreline far below and the turquoise lagoon morphs into the vast inky depths of the South Pacific.

The A-Riki Art and Culture Tour begins at this embarkation point with the siren sound of the conch shell and a Cook Islands Maori welcoming chant. Visiting leading painters, sculptors, pearl carvers and tattoo artists famous for full facial tattoos called Moko, the tour encompasses contemporary, primitive and traditional elements of Cook Island arts and culture. The most famous carvings of the impressively endowed pagan god of fertility, Tangaroa, are found throughout the island, sometimes clad in a grass modesty skirt. When the London Missionary Society converted the islanders to Christianity in the early 19th century, Tangaroa was banned and even today arouses some controversy amongst conservative elements.

Each Sunday, visitors are warmly welcomed to join villagers throughout Rarotonga who flock to gleaming, whitewashed coral Cook Islands Christian churches. The sound of the congregation's soulful singing pours through open doorways as men and women, clad in their Sunday best, cool themselves with delicate Rito fans. The lagoon beckons beyond stained glass windows which reflect prisms of light across a raw concrete floor. While the island has a Christian soul, it's the nights celebrated each evening on Rarotonga that encapsulate the soul of the South Pacific. To the insistent rhythms of the pate or mahogany slit drums, dancers enact a ritualistic combination of sensuality, charm and masculinity, making the Cook Islands a truly tropical idyll.

Travel Tips

Getting There: The Cook Islands are three hours east of Auckland. Air New Zealand operates connections via Auckland to the Cook Islands on its direct services from Hong Kong and from Shanghai. Return airfares start from HK$10,100 plus taxes. airnewzealand.com.cn

Where to Stay: Pacific Resort, Rarotonga is paradise found on Muri Beach or opt for the Rarotongan Beach Resort & Spa on Aroa Lagoon Marine Sanctuary.

Where to Eat: Eating at the octagonal restaurant Windjammer is like dining in the captain’s stateroom of an old sailing clipper. Specializing in local seafood and traditional vegetables cooked in modern, Pacific Rim style, the food is fresh and local. Vaima, Rarotonga’s oldest restaurant on the beach, serves-up deep sea fish including grilled swordfish.

Where to Play: Down at Avarua Harbour, Trader Jack’s is a Rarotongan institution and the place to hang out with the locals any night of the week. Opposite, the tropically colored Empire Cinema shows new releases and old classic movies. Most visitors join one of the local bar tours while The Staircase nightclub, pulsating with house rhythms, is where traditional island dancers bust some of the best dance moves you’ll ever see! For day time fun, seek out the legendary black pearls of the South Pacific, often referred to as the jewels of romance that are said to bring good fortune. Avarua’s main street is lined with pearl stores offering everything from inexpensive souvenir pearls to US$100,000 perfectly contoured strands.

For more Information about the Cook Islands, check www.cook-islands.com.