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The Cooks

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Raratonga & Aitutaki
12 years ago, October 10th 2011 No: 1 Msg: #144873  
Hi!!! Am looking at flying to the Cooks from Melbourne and admit that i know very little on
them nor have i researched but upon seeing arial photo of Aitutaki & other beach photos
had the feeling me and my trusty snorkle gear should be there!!!!
So does one grab a flight in my case from Melbourne to Raratonga and from there what are options
to get to Aitutaki.
Also is it exe or can backpackers find moderate accomodation??????
Hope some one can help Reply to this

12 years ago, October 11th 2011 No: 2 Msg: #144882  
Hey--the bazman--

I've been to Raratonga but it was eons ago (1990) so I'm not sure how accurate any of my information will be. It is a lovely island and yes take your dive gear. There were nice hotels, low end hotels and a couple of hostels. The town moved at a snails pace and that was wonderful.

At the time there was only one really nice paved road but it took you around the entire island. We rented bikes and had a great time riding. Lots of local music. There was a dance club in town.

I'm sure someone will provide you some recent info.... loved to read your blogs from there and get updated on things.

Reply to this

12 years ago, October 19th 2011 No: 3 Msg: #145546  
B Posts: 897
Hi Barry - Has also been a long long time since I was in the Cooks but I was researching them a few weeks ago. Check out skyscanner and see what your options are. I found it would have been cheaper grabbing an Air NZ special or a Pacific Blue special (as much as i am not a fan of them there were some pretty good Pacific blue flight and accom details which could be split between Raro and Aitutaki). Most of the packages I looked at worked out to around $1200 for 6/7 nights if they are still on sale. Unfortunately I live in Perth so that makes it a lot more expensive for me. I did check skyscanner for local smaller airlines that fly from Auckland and there are some cheaper accomodation places around once you get to Aitutaki - check divers resorts - I googled beach bungalows and found 7 night Accomodation only packages running at $1200NZ which is pretty expensive once you add on flights to the island.

The lowest end dive resort I could find still ran at $75NZ a night.

I just checked the holiday package deals and will PM you the details current at the moment. Reply to this

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