Things to Do in Makira

Kirakira Market dawn haul

By 5 a.m. the concrete market hall flickers under a single bulb. Women unwrap banana leaves to reveal still-warm palaoa pudding that smells of caramelised coconut cream. You'll hear betel-nut being hammered in rhythmic thuds while flying foxes flap overhead, their wings catching the first orange light. Buy a mug of ginger tea and watch canoes unload pyramid of scarlet tomatoes grown on the hill gardens - everything still dusted with volcanic soil that stains your fingers rust.

Ha'apai Ridge rainforest hike

From the village of Man'arai a barely signed footpath climbs into mahogany and kauri where the air tastes of crushed citrus leaves. You'll cross knee-cool streams that smell faintly of mossy pennies, then emerge onto a blade of ridge with the Pacific rolling silver far below - on clear days you can spot the ghost outline of Nendo in the distance. Cicada song is so loud it vibrates in your ribs, and every so often a hornbill swooshes past like a deck of cards thrown overhead.

Star Harbour kayak drift

Sliding a kayak into Star Harbour at dusk feels like slipping onto melted mercury. The water is flat, blood-warm and reflects violet clouds so well you lose depth perception. Paddle past mangrove roots that exhale a low-tide tang of iodine while noddy birds trade places on the overhanging branches. As darkness pools, bioluminescence kicks in and every stroke throws off green sparks that stick to your forearms like glitter.

Waimaruka shell-money workshop

In the coastal hamlet of Waimaruka, aunties thread tiny Nassa shells into traditional money strands that clack like porcelain wind chimes. You'll sit under a thatch roof smelling of smoked tuna while they roast the shells over a coconut-husk fire, then grind them smooth on beach stones. The finished strings - red as paprika - still pay for bride price and land disputes; you're welcome to buy a short bracelet. But asking the meaning of each colour earns far bigger smiles.

Haimarao blowholes picnic

A thirty-minute banana-boat south of Kirakira drops you at a coral shelf where Pacific swells hammer through lava tubes, sending geysers of salt spray hissing ten metres high. The rock is sun-hot and spattered with dried seaweed that crackles underfoot. Between booms you can hear urchins scraping inside their holes. Bring a pawpaw and eat it while the ocean wheezes like a dragon - spray drifts over and leaves your arms sticky with salt.

Kirakira Guesthouse ridge: wooden verandas catch sea breeze, shared cold-water bathrooms, roosters for alarm clocks

Star Harbour waterfront: two bungalow-style rooms on stilts over sand, generator cuts at midnight so bring a torch

Man'arai village homestay: sleep under mosquito net in leaf-thatch kitchen house, bucket shower, incredible star visibility

Diocesan mission lodge: simple twin rooms, filtered rainwater, communal dinners of whatever the fishermen brought

Waimaruka beach camp: pitch your tent under palms for a token fee, pit toilet, sunrise straight over the reef

Ha'apai eco-hut: solar LED, spring water on tap, cassava plots for a garden fence, best ridge sunset on island