Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Cook Islands

Have FTers been to the Cook Islands lately?

I have. I LOVE the Cook Islands.
Let me know what sort of information you need.

If I am the type to last maybe two or three days laying around the beach, but need some hiking, golfing, etc., would I most likely get bored spending 6 to 7 days there??

Hi Dudrop

Yes, my partner and I went to the Cook Islands in January this year, and loved it. I'm too busy at the moment to write much in the way of recommendations, so I'm just reproducing here the content of an e-mail I sent to a friend about the Cook Islands, in the hopes that it might prove useful.

I should warn you though that it is a pretty quiet, uncommercial, laid-back sort of place - if you're imagining huge swanky resorts and glitzy tourist attractions you're going to the wrong place. (I'm sure you're not, but just in case!) My 'must-do' tip would be to go to Aitutaki atoll, even if you just do the daytrip. Yes it is expensive, and yes it is SO worth it. On Rarotonga itself, although most things are really very cheap for a tropical island, the accommodation is a bit overpriced for what you get. The nicest areas beach / swimming wise are Muri lagoon area and the south coast. Avarua is a very cute little town. Hire a moped to get around for about $20 a day - you need to go to the police station to get a Cook Islands driving licence - this is very simple, and it's quite a cool souvenier for $10 or so. There are some excellent restaurants dotted around the island, shopping is basically non-existent, and WHATEVER YOU DO, do NOT be tempted to stay at Club Raro, even if it is cheap. Yuk, what a dive. We stayed at the Beachcomber at Muri - very nice and quiet, excellent location, but quite expensive for what is basically just an upmarket motel. The best resorts seemed to be the Pacific Resort at Muri (smaller resort, more appealing restaurants and attractions in the area) and the Rarotongan Beach Resort & Spa (much larger, lots of families, nice setting but not much else around).

Re activities - the cross-island hike is meant to be excellent if you're feeling energetic; circumnavigating the island on a scooter, stopping off whenever you see a nice beach etc; exploring the inner road that runs around much of the island (it's like a whole other world); lots of eating and drinking; a boogie in Avarua on a Friday / Saturday night just for a laugh at what passes for 'nightlife'; lots of swimming / snorkelling / sunbathing. Beware that in June it has cooled off a bit and the sea will be cooling down too - it will still be lovely but if you're a complete wimp like me and like your tropical water to be like a tepid bath, you may be disappointed. I found the water in Aitutaki's lagoon noticeably warmer.

Some websites for you:

The fabulous (and fabulously expensive - but worth havig a drool over) Pacific Resort Aitutaki in the Cook Islands is: http://www.pacificresort.com/aitutaki/
Frommers Guide - good for general information and particularly good on restaurants etc: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/cookislands/
Guide to Cook Island resorts etc: http://www.pacific-resorts.com/cook-islands/Index.html
More general Cook Islands info: http://www.jetsave.co.ck
Aitutaki travelogue part 1: http://www.epinions.com/content_65720061572
Aitutaki travelogue part 2: http://www.epinions.com/content_2670633092
Aitutaki photos - once you look at these you'll see why I think you should go!: http://community.webshots.com/album/36566378VVgOpq
Rarotonga travelogue: http://www.epinions.com/content_63062118020
Rarotonga photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/36601416JFsHDc
Cook islands accommodation part 1: http://www.epinions.com/content_2624430212
Cook islands accommodation part 2: http://www.epinions.com/content_2624495748
Some photos of accommodation: http://community.webshots.com/album/37835528PFgzCz

I'm in the process of writing a trip report (yes, it's been months) so I'll try to pull my finger out and get it done. Feel free to remind me of this promise...! Also e-mail me if you have any specific questions you'd like answered.

Hope this lot is of some help!

[edited to fix links]

[This message has been edited by mad_atta (edited 05-04-2003).]

Quite a funny story about Aitutaki - I can't imagine regular jet service to the island, as it is tiny and has very limited accommodation options. Mind you, I suppose that's 'progress'.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Cook Islands hits snag with Aitutaki upgrade

The Cook Islands government is debating whether to spend another $2.25 million to enable B737 aircraft to land at Aitutaki atoll.

The government is keen to lift the international tourism profile of the popular atoll, which in the 1950s was part of the Coral Route across the Pacific. In those days flying boats used Aitutaki's lagoon as a landing strip.

The country is currently paying a New Zealand firm $2.7 million to undertake an upgrade to the local crushed coral airstrip, which was constructed by American forces during World War II and can only handle small aircraft.

But airport officials apparently failed to explain that the work being done would only allow a maximum of three emergency landings a year by B737s.

An embarrassed government is now being asked to pay a further $2.25 million to fully upgrade the airstrip, located 300km from the capital Rarotonga.

5 May 2003</font>

Source: http://www.travelbiz.com.au/articles/B9/0C0164B9.asp

Thank You All for the reports on the Cook Islands. This just reinforces my desire to spend some time there. I appreicate the
info on lodging and will welcome any addional information.
Again Thank You,
Curtis (dudrop)

Some photos from our trip there last year:

http://ozcanuck.smugmug.com/

Stayed in a fantastic bungalow on the beach, about $200 NZD/night, with a full kitchen. Let me know if you want the info.

My Cook Islands trip report is finally taking shape: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003805.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mad_atta:

WHATEVER YOU DO, do NOT be tempted to stay at Club Raro, even if it is cheap. Yuk, what a dive.
</font>

I second that. We were unfortunately lured by cheap prices and a rather fancy website http://www.clubraro.co.ck/ to stay there for a week last year and it was pretty much a dump.
If you're into
1. roosters/chickens coming into your room & generally making a ruckus all the time & everywhere
2. unfunctioning toilets
3. pushy staff trying to sell their dinner buffet
4. papaya
you'll love it though http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/biggrin.gif

The tropical breakfast included in the price includes lots of fresh papaya which was exotic the first morning but after a week, you get pretty sick of it.

Otherwise we loved Rarotonga and I can also recommend the Aitutaki trip, it's glorious there.

We had many enjoyable meals on Raro, although the Spaghetti House by one of the big resorts was pretty bad.

For exercise, hire a bicycle, it's very flat if you circle around the island and tehre's a multitude of very beautiful deserted places.
We were there in June and the weather was very pleasant and the water is just divine for snorkelling.
Enjoy your trip there!

My wife and I started a three month Pacific Rim in the beginning of the year with three weeks in the Cook Islands, and we absolutely loved it there. However, they certainly may not be for everyone. Tourism is kind of a new industry there, which is good in many ways, but it also means that the tourist infrastructure is pretty weak. Also, the islands are not “flash” by any stretch of the imagination, and in fact, the beaches are actually not very good (except in some places of the Aitutaki lagoon where there were beautiful white sand islands!). They are a great place to chill out, get to know a little known piece of the world and meet some incredibly nice people, though. Please be sure to meet as many of the local Maori people as you can!

Rarotonga: This is this main island, with about 30 square miles of land and a population of about 10,000 people. We spent 2 and a half weeks here, but 5 - 7 days is probably good for most people. We very strongly recommend that you stay on the south side of the island, somewhere on Muri Lagoon. We very much liked the Avana Marina Condos (US$150/night), which is the first property within the lagoon. They are slightly worn and half of the units lack air conditioning (sometimes fine, sometimes awful!), but are quiet, have a nice pool and a very good location, relative to the lagoon and town. They are on the water, but have a lousy beach. We didn’t find a single accommodation that seemed perfect, but Sokala Villas seemed like a very nice (but pricey) condo, the Pacific Resort was the best hotel (but pricey and busy) and Vera’s seemed like the best hostel. All of the hotels besides the Pacific seemed very worn and/or over-priced and crowded.

The main thing to do in Raro is to chill out and meet some locals, but here are some activities we loved:
--Definitely rent a scooter for your main form of transportation! You’ll enjoy earning your Cook Islands’ driver’s license.
--Scoot or bike around the entire island
--Take Pa’s Cross Island Trek. Bring a bathing suit to cool off in the waterfall afterwards.
--Checkout the weekend market in town.
--Diving is average, but good fun and cheap. We liked Graham at Pacific Divers.
--Head over to the Fruits of Rarotonga for the best beach and snorkeling on Raro.
--Kayak across the lagoon to Sails for lunch or bring a picnic to a deserted island.
--Go to the cafe at the botanical gardens for breakfast or lunch. We never went but met the owner and her daughters when we were in Aitutaki.
--Church is very big here. The CICC church across from Avana Marina does a very nice meet and greet program for visitors on Sundays. The Maori choir is what everyone goes to hear.

The food on Raro is surprisingly good. Our absolute favorites were The Cafe (breakfast and lunch), That’s Pasta (for a great Italian dinner with Stefano and Roberta) and Ambala (Saturday dinner only, but not to be missed! Need reservation.) Trader Jack’s is your typical, but fun touristy Island bar and the Saltwater Cafe is good, too. We skipped Island Night at the hotels and didn’t regret it. One word of warning: the bus schedule is very screwy. Have someone explain it to you a couple times, and understand that dinner on the other side of the island is probably a 3-hour undertaking. Taxis are prohibitively expensive.

Aitutaki: This might be the most beautiful island in the world. Get there fast, because it is changing fast! Currently, it has 1,000 residents, and only 90 tourists per day can arrive via Air Raro, but that will soon change as they are paving the runway to take in bigger planes. We stayed at the unbelievably gorgeous Pacific Resort (much better than the one on Raro) where all 40 or so guests stay in beautiful private bungalows on the dazzling white sand beach. There can be a strong current in the water so beware...and it was surprisingly shallow in places (with lots of rocks, so definitely wear shoes!) Only downside is the Pacific Resort is very expensive ($500 rack rate!), but we’ve heard that travel agents get much better deals. However, even at $500 per night, it is worth it! Do not stay at the Pearl Beach, the only other resort on the island. We went for five days, and would recommend 4 – 7. Only warning is that there is NOTHING to do if the weather turns bad.

Other than being mellow, the only real activity here is the lagoon cruise. It’s touristy (for Aitutkai), but very fun. We think Bishops is probably the best. A motorcycle was definitely fun and helpful, but not absolutely necessary. The snorkeling is lousy, other than on the lagoon cruise.

Also, for such a small island, there are a lot of good restaurants, too. Cafe Tapuna is the best and “fanciest” though shoes are not required. Puffy’s is fun for burgers, and be sure to check out the place by the airport (forget the name, though everyone there will know it) that is open for Sunday lunch and music. So fun! Also, we again skipped the big hotel Island Nights and instead went to one at the Coconut Crusher Bar, which had about 6 tourists and 50 locals. One of the best nights of our trip! The Blue Nun also seems to have a good Island Night, but we didn’t make it there.