Travel To The Cook Islands

FIND HOTELS IN THE COOK ISLANDS

GENERAL INFO

The Cook Islands are a constitutional monarchy which comprises of fifteen islands, twelve of which are inhabited, which between them cover a land area of 240 square kilometers over a sea area of 2.2 million square kilometers.

The island group is divided into groups of northern and southern islands, with the islands in the north comprising of six low lying coral atolls and the islands in the south comprising of nine volcanic, very lush and fertile, hilly outcrops.

The islands have an overall population of around seventeen thousand people, with the vast majority of them living on the island of Rarotonga, where the island group's capital city, Avarua, is situated.

The Cook Islands are most famous for their black pearls and the death defying divers who retrieve them from the ocean.

The Cook Islands' economy is supported by tourism, foreign aid, by being a business tax haven and from a judiciary system which provides international asset protection laws.

The islands’ southern chain of islands are the quintessential Pacific island paradise, fringed with raised fossil reefs, white sandy beaches, coconut palms, turquoise lagoons and a variety of flowering plants.

Although the islands have a relatively low visitor number the islands offer a multitude of activities and various types of accommodation.

The predominant religion of the Cook Islands is Christianity.

Because of religious laws little if anything is open on Sundays.

The official languages of the Cook Islands are Rarotongan, also known as Cook Islands Maori, and English.

The currency of the Cook Islands is the Cook Islands Dollar and the New Zealand Dollar.

The Cook Islands are situated on time zone UTC -10.

LOCAL TRAVEL

The Cook Islands are served by the Rarotonga International Airport which receives flights from seven other Cook Islands - Aitutaki, Atiu, Manihiki, Mangaia, Mauke, Mitiaro and Penrhyn Island - daily flights from Auckland in New Zealand and weekly flights from Sydney in Australia, Papeete in Tahiti and Los Angeles in California.

The Cook Islands are also served by five cruise liner terminals are varying sizes situated on the islands of Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Atiu, Penrhyn and Pukapuka.

Bus services are cheap and reliable on the islands and all is needed is to flag them down as you see them approaching. Taxi services are also efficient, although it is advisable to check rates before departure.

Car and motorbike hire is plentiful within the Cook Islands as are bus and coach tours.

In order to hire cars or motorbikes a Cook Islands driving license must be purchased from the main police station in Avarua at a cost of twenty New Zealand Dollars.

All car drivers must be over the age of twenty one and scooter drivers over the age of sixteen and their current driving licenses must be produced.

For hiring scooters, if you have forgotten to provide your own license or you do not have one, a road skills test must be taken, at a cost of just five New Zealand Dollars.

The speed limit on the Cook Islands is fifty miles an hour for cars and forty miles an hour for scooters. Helmets do not have to be worn on machines which travel at forty miles an hour or less, but are required on larger more powerful machines. Beware of hot exhaust pipes if riding in shorts.

Bicycle hire is also popular and there are no permits needed or ability tests to be taken in order to ride them.

All vehicles drive on the left hand side of the road and drivers must be aware of stray dogs and local children, both of which can be seen wandering along the main highway with no regard to the dangers of the road.

AVARUA

The Cook Islands’ capital city is Avarua, which is just a small town really but it does have a lot to offer the visitor. The town is the home of the Cook Islands government and all it’s governmental buidlings, the Punanea Nui Market, Avarwa Harbour, the National Museum of the Cook Islands, the National Library of the Cook Islands, the Philatelic Bureau and several sporting venues, bars and restaurants.

Natural attractions in and around Avarua include the Muri Lagoon and the stunning Papua Waterfall.

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

Despite the Cook Islands’ small size they have a multitude of activities and things to see and do, including prime dive sites, big game fishing opportunities, snorkeling, scuba diving, windsurfing, kayaking, island bus tours and inter-island boat trips, walking, climbing, the nine hole Rarotonga Golf Club and Aitutaki Golf Club, several bars and restaurants and a host of cultural venues.

In recent years the islands have also become popular as wedding venues, but only if you are both over the age of twenty.

Most people who visit the Cook Islands tend to only visit the islands of Rarotonga and Aitutaki, but it's other islands, even the three uninhabited islands of Manuae, Takutea and Suwarrow, all have several places of interest, with Manuae offering a marine conservation area, Takutea offering a wild life sanctuary and Suwarrow offering the site of the Cook Islands only national park.

The islands are also renowned for their varied choice of accommodation, providing everything from five star resort hotels to backpackers hostels, holiday homes and self catering apartments. Also available is the traditional Cook Island house known as a kikau, which is a small grass hut with a pandanus thatched roof.

RAROTONGA

Raratonga has everything one would expect from a Pacific Island, from white sandy beaches fringed with coconut palms to tropical rain forests flanked by rugged mountains, turquoise lagoons, coral reefs, ancient arai sites and a cosmopolitan capital bursting at the seams with both traditional and contemporary things to see and do.

Rarotonga is also home to the eighteen hole Rarotonga Golf Club situated at Pokoinu Tapere near Avarua.

AITUTAKI

Aitutaki is almost an atoll due to it’s centrally located lagoon. This large island is also renowned for it’s pristine beaches, it’s massive banyan trees and it’s ancient Maori culture.

Aitutaki is also home to the nine hole, Aitutaki Golf Club.

ATIU

The small island of Atiu has become a refuge and safe haven for birds owing to it’s isolated beaches, dramatic limestone cliffs, subterranean caves, tropical rain forest interior and isolated Lake Tiroto. Subsequently the island has become a bird watchers paradise.

The island is also renowned for growing a unique type of gourmet coffee.

MITIARO

The tiny island of Mitiaro is home to the Cook Islands’ only freshwater lake where locals fish for bream and eels. The island is surrounded by a belt of fossilised coral making the beaches rather inaccessible, but the islands main feature is it’s vast limestone cliffs which harbour some stunning subterranean freshwater pools which have become popular for swimming.

MANIHIKI

The island of Manihiki is also known as Pearl Island owing to it’s many black pearl farms situated there. Visitors to the island can visit every part of the oyster / pearl cultivation process and then visit the craft shops where the pearls are carved or turned into stunning pieces of unique jewellry.

The island is also home to several prime dive sites and is renowned for it’s reef snorkelling and big game fishing.

SUWARROW

Suwarrow is one of three uninhabited islands of the Cook Islands, all of which have been designated protected areas. Suwarrow was designated as the Cook Islands only national park in 1978, owing to the abundance of marine and bird life the island supports. Visiting the island can only be done by way of organised parties from Rarotonga.

WEATHER / NATURAL PHENOMENA

The Cook Islands experience a tropical marine climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. Temperatures of between 18c to 29c are tempered by cooling trade winds and there are no extremes of humidity.The Islands’ wet season is between January and May.

The Cook islands also experience cyclones between the months of November and March.

During the islands’ hottest months from November to April afternoon Summer showers can be experienced, where quite a lot of rain can fall, especially in the mountainous regions.

The Cook Islands’ Winter is from May to October where the evenings can become quite chilly.

Despite half the Cook Islands being volcanic islands there are no longer any active volcanoes within the chain. Earthquakes are also infrequent, although the islands have experienced tsunamis in the past when the Pacific has experienced underwater earthquakes in the local vacinity.

CRIME

Crime is relatively low within the Cook islands, although petty theft and some sexual assault is not unheard of.

The biggest danger in the Cook Islands is on the roads where motorbikes and scooters pose the largest problems.

Drink driving, possession of narcotics and child pornography are all illegal on the Cook Islands.

Homosexuality is illegal between men in the Cook Islands, although it is permitted between women.Therefore gay men are asked not to show affection when in public.

HEALTH

A full vaccination program against Dengue Fever is advised before travel to the Cook Islands.

Ciguetera poisoning from reef fish is a problem on the Cook Islands so try to order only deep water sea fish in restaurants.

The Cook Islands run a National Health service for their own population but foreign nationals must pay for all medical treatment.There are eight hospitals and five health centres located within the Cook Islands. The country's main hospital is located in the capital and provides basic medical and surgical care. More serious cases are airlifted by medical evacuation companies to New Zealand, therefore travel / medical insurance is advised.

Avarua Hospital, Hospital Hill Road, Avarua. Tel - 29 312.

Dental clinics are also plentiful in the Cook Islands. For local dentist telephone numbers please ring -

29 312 / 29 605 / 29 169.

FOREIGN CONSULATES

The Cook Islands have four foreign consulates all of which are situated in Avarua.

The German Consulate - (682) 245 67 / 245 77.

The New Zealand High Commission - (682) 222 01.

The French Consulate – (682) 220 09 / 240 09.

The United Kingdom Consulate – (682) 220 00 / 266 62.

Other foreign nationals who require consular help whilst visiting the Cook Islands should contact their relevant consulate or embassy located in either New Zealand, Australia or Fiji.

VISA INFO

Visas are not required on the Cook Islands for stays of thirty one days or less (ninety days for New Zealand nationals) but proof of accommodation and onward travel out of the islands must be shown and passports must be valid for at least six months from the date of entry before entry is permitted.

Upon arrival into the country proof of accommodation must be shown as there is absolutely no camping allowed anywhere on the Cook Islands.

A departure tax of fifty five New Zealand Dollars is levied on everyone leaving the Cook Islands. This does not apply to inter island travel however.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

January 1 - New Year's Day.

January 2 - New Year's Day.

Good Friday.

Easter Monday.

April 25 - Anzac Day.

First Monday in June - The Queen's Birthday (Elisabeth II).

August 4 - Constitution Day.

October 26 - Gospel Day.

December 25 - Christmas Day.

December 26 - Boxing Day.

INFORMATIONAL LINKS

For the Cook Islands' official tourism website, visit - www.cookislands.travel

For the Cook Islands' government website, visit - www.cook-islands.gov.ck

For the Cook Islands' national airline website, visit - www.airraro.com

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