Cook Islands House Rental - Part 1
Apr 27 '02 (Updated May 03 '04)
The Bottom Line Looking for a tropical vacation but on a limited budget? Renting a house in the Cook Islands may be just what you're looking for.
Well, we took the leap. For the first time ever, we booked an entire vacation (airfare, accommodations and vehicle rental) completely on the web. We never met with a travel agent face-to-face and we never spoke to one on the phone, instead I let my fingers do the talking. Furthermore, this was no minor trip - it was the longest vacation we've ever taken, one that took us first to sunny L.A. (for a brief visit to Disneyland during a short one-day stay), and then on to the languid lagoons of the beautiful South Pacific. I'll admit to a considerable amount of anxiety about booking everything over the web (even though I am a computer-industry professional), simply because there is a certain comfort in being able to speak face to face with a real-live person when making decisions that are costing you thousands of dollars.
As many of you probably already know, I am a totally in love with the idyllic islands of the balmy South Pacific - and have been since I first ventured down to Bora Bora in March of 2000. So, it is probably no surprise that I began planning a return to that part of the world almost since the moment my wife and I arrived back here in Seattle. We began by thinking we would return to French Polynesia, but I've always had a secret (actually not so secret to anyone who knows me) desire to leapfrog my way across the region, visiting each and every island chain. As a result, our plans soon morphed into a visit to the Cook Islands. This was a natural progression as these islands are essentially "right next door" to Bora Bora, Moorea, and the other wonderful islands we'd fallen so completely in love with. Our thinking was "if we hit the Cooks this year, in another 2 years or so, we could come back and see Samoa, then Tonga, then Fiji, gradually drifting westward with each trip until we found ourselves poised at the doorstep to Australia". Originally, we had planned to stay a week on Rarotonga and a week on Aitutaki (the 2 most visited islands in the Cooks). We figured we would find a nice resort on Raro and plop ourselves down at the Pearl Beach Resort on Aitutaki. We'd stayed at the Pearl Beach establishment on Bora Bora and had really loved it. Three things however, caused us to modify that plan:
1) The desire to maximize the length of our trip. Airfare to the Cooks is pretty pricey, but (due in large part to a favorable exchange rate for American dollars) accommodation is fairly cheap, so we concluded that it made sense to stay longer. This was an easy conclusion to draw since we'd found on the last trip that we really didn't want to leave the area in first place.
2) The desire to try to get at least a small taste of what living on a tropical island is like. We have been giving serious thought to retiring to the island of Kauai (if that proves financially feasible), but my wife has some concerns about suffering from "island fever" and getting bored during a prolonged stay. We reasoned that this might be a way to at least get an idea of what actually living on a small tropical island is like. This meant that for a least part of the time we would want to stay in a house instead of a resort, doing most of our own cooking and housekeeping.
3) Like a lot of other folks, the market downturn of the last 2 years has necessitated that we downsize our trip a little. This meant either that we went for a shorter time than planned, or we spent less money/day while we were there. Since the first of these 2 options was in direct contradiction to point # 1 (seen above), that meant that spending less per day seemed to be the logical conclusion.
We therefor began toying with the idea of renting a house. When we'd visited Kauai in 2000, we'd noticed the numerous houses and condos for rent by the week at prices far less expensive than a hotel or resort. This way, we reasoned, we'd get more "bang for our buck" as well as perhaps at least a little bit of a feel for actually living there. Growing more and more excited at the prospect, I began my search for likely accommodations. Over the next few months, I spent literally hundreds of hours popping from website to website, as I scoured the internet for information. I begin with searches on Google.com, Dogpile.com and numerous other search engines for phrases like "COOK ISLAND RENTAL" or "RAROTONGA HOUSE", eventually I gathered quite a little collection of links and downloaded travel reports and pictures.
Eventually, we'd narrowed it down to 2 different houses on Rarotonga and a brand-new resort just built on Aitutaki. These were:
A) The "Main-Islander on the Beach": (What sounded like) a small 1 bedroom home situated on the coral-rich lagoon of Rarotonga's south shore
B) The "Island Villa": A small 1 bedroom home sitting on lovely Muri Beach (widely regarded as Raro's best swimming beach)
C) The Are Tamanu resort on Aitutaki's west shore. Though this resort lacked the expansive lagoon views offered by the Pearl Beach, the cost was considerably less.
Since we couldn't agree on which house to choose on Raro, we ended up deciding to stay in the Cooks for 3 weeks instead of 2, thereby having a week at each location. Since we were saving quite a bit of money by downsizing our accommodations a little (particularly by passing on the 4-star Pearl Beach and staying at the 3-star Are Tamanu), this longer vacation was very doable financially. We calculated that we could book the entire vacation including ALL airfare (even the Seattle - LAX flight) for just under $5000 USD. Add another $2000 USD for food and spending money and we had a full 3 weeks in a tropical paradise for around $7000 USD. Not too bad (and this was NOT skimping too much on the accomodations) - we booked what we figured would be pretty decent places.
We booked our trip through Jetsave Travel on Raro. This had both good and bad points. The bad was that it meant that pre-trip contact and negotiations with the agency would have to be 100% through e-mail (since I don't even want to think what a series of phone calls to Raro would cost) - resulting in fairly long turn-around times for even simple questions (they didn't usually get back to us until the next day). The good thing was that if we had a problem when we arrived in the Cooks, they would be local (which should in theory make it easier to resolve the issue). I had read a few negative things about Jetsave posted on the Lonely Planet website, but I'd also read a few travel reports from folks who gave them high marks. We also went through them to book our inter-island airfare (round trip from Raro to Aitutaki), airport transfers, and even our LAX to Raro round-trip airfare (via Air New Zealand). Since the Air New Zealand flight left from Los Angeles and we live in Seattle, I needed to arrange that airfare as. Once again, I did that on the web. Using Expedia.com I booked a flight on Alaska Airlines that would take us to L.A. the night before our Raro flight left. I also used Expedia to book 1 night's accommodations at the Travel Lodge near the airport, as well as a rental car from Enterprise. Our plan was to spend the day in Disneyland with our daughter, son-in-law and grandkids (they live about 20 minutes from Anaheim), then return to LAX for our 9:30 PM flight to the Cooks.
As I have already mentioned, this was my first time booking a vacation over the web and I was a little nervous. Everything seemed to go OK leading up to the trip however. Payment to Jetsave was accomplished via credit card (number being sent via a fax machine at Kinkos to Jetsaves' receiving fax machine on Raro), and payment to Expedia was done online via credit card on their secure website at the time when the reservations were made. Jetsave wanted $200/pp deposit on the airfare and around 25% down on accommodations at the time the reservation was made, with the remainder due 60 days prior to departure. This made me a little nervous, as the period on the credit card where you can report a problem was 60 days as well. This meant that if a problem arose at the last moment (like if our airline tickets to Raro didn't show up, for example) I'd have to move quickly to put the bill into dispute with the credit card company. As it turned out, it didn't really matter. The charges from Jetsave didn't hit my card for another 2 to 3 weeks after I'd authorized them, leaving me lots of time to raise a red flag with the credit card company (at least if the problem occurred before we left home). I also arranged travel insurance through Jetsave. In hindsight, this was not a good idea, since if Jetsave were to go broke and for some reason not have passed the insurance premium on to the insurance company (a failing travel company might very well do that), we would have had NO travel insurance to fall back on. So my advice on this topic is to never arrange your travel insurance through the travel agency you are booking with. In any event, despite a few uneasy jitters on my part, everything leading up to the trip went just fine. The flight time for the run down to LAX was adjusted by 15 minutes or so about 6 weeks before we left, and Expedia let me know that with both an E-mail and a letter. Other than that, everything was smooth. Jetsave sent us a package with the info about our stay at the first house in the mail about 1 month ahead of time (the remainder of our package to be given to us in person when we arrived on Raro). Our Air New Zealand tickets arrived via overnight air 10 days prior to departure and we were all set. Now all we had to do was wait a week or so.
ARRIVAL:
When the big day came, everything went fine. We had no problems with our flight to L.A., nor our overnight accommodations there, nor our Air New Zealand flight from LAX to Raro. The flight left L.A. around 9:00 PM on Saturday night and we arrived in the Cook Islands just before dawn Sunday morning. Customs was a breeze and before long we were taking to the Raro Tours representatives (we'd been instructed by Jetsave that this was the outfit that would take us to our rental house). Here was our one and only glitch - There are no house numbers on Rarotonga, and the Raro Tours folks didn't have a clue as to where the "Main Islander on the Beach" house was. Fortunately, Jetsave had a 24-hr number (which we had been given), so the Raro Tours folks called it and got a rough idea where the place was located. Before long, our bags were loaded into a small trailer towed behind the Raro Tours bus, and we were on our way. It was just about light by the time set out and we were reveling in the warmth. Rainy though it was (a slight drizzle), the island still looked terrific - lush, green, and very tropical. We felt we were in heaven. We were the last folks to be delivered and had one last bit of confusion. The driver stopped the bus next to a small bungalow just being built (now complete and known as Tarani's Beach Bungalow) - that was obviously not the right place. The driver indicated that the equally small place next to it was our rental. This didn't look quite right to me, as it was just plain too small. I have to admit that I didn't have a clue what the front of the house looked like, and had seen only 1 rather blurry picture of the back (taken from some distance away). I had however been e-mailed a photo of the back side of the "Islander on the Beach" rental house (as opposed to our "Main Islander on the Beach" house). This place supposedly lay right next door to ours, so I went around to the back of the smaller place to see if it looked at all familiar. It did in fact resemble the "Islander on the Beach" photo I'd seen, but a resident (a renter from Calgary) told me it was "Tia's Place" (a name I'd vaguely remembered from our web explorations). Hmm, now I was really puzzled. It really looked like the place I'd seen, but it was not called the same. Fortunately, the bus driver had walked over to a third house and found that the owner (Geoff Bergin) was awaiting our arrival and the place was indeed our rental. It turns out that "Tia's Place" and the "Islander on the Beach" are indeed the very same place. It turns out that Tia is Geoff's wife.
THE MAIN-ISLANDER ON THE BEACH (The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful):
I have to admit this house far surpassed our expectations. For one thing I'd expected a little house, but it turned out the place was maybe 1800 square feet. In addition to the master bedroom (more on this to come later), it had a small second bedroom, a laundry room (complete with washer - though no dryer), a decent-sized kitchen, 2 different sitting areas (one equipped with a TV - which we never watched), and a bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower. It was also equipped with a carport in front and a covered patio area in the back. The house was "different" and definitely reflected the looseness of building codes that must be the case in the islands. One end of the place appeared older and had an almost ramshackle appearance. This was where the bathroom, laundry room and spare bedroom lay. Joints didn't seem to come together quite right, and the poured concrete floor didn't even approach being level. The 2nd bedroom was really more suitable as a place to store your belongings and felt very claustrophobic. By the time you moved east to the first living area (about the middle of the house), the structure appeared much better built. Here a door led into another (closed off) section that I think Geoff sometimes used as an office or storage area. Anyway, this part of the place was just fine. The kitchen was big enough and came equipped with microwave, stove-oven, fair-sized refrigerator, and coffee maker. It was decent, but nothing spectacular. A window over the kitchen sink (which had very low water pressure) looked out into the carport.
The gem of the house though was the master bedroom. It lay just opposite the front door (which opened from the covered carport) and extended out from the back of the house. When we stepped through the carport door and saw past the sitting area into the bedroom beyond, we knew we had done well. The photos we'd seen on the Jetsave website looked nice, but in person, it just blew us away. Measuring 21x14 feet in size it featured a fairly comfortable queen-sized bed, but more importantly, a pair of enormous side-by-side 9-foot-long, floor-to-ceiling windows. These portals offered an absolutely to-die-for view of the lagoon (just 50 feet or so away), framed by a pair of picture-perfect palm trees. In addition, the room boasted a large sliding-glass door along a second wall that opened on to the covered patio. The net result, was a bedroom with what amounted to a wall of glass along 2 full sides of the room. Lying in bed, you had a totally unobstructed view of an absolutely stunning beach and a lagoon the like of which most folks only see in the movies. The room was light, airy, and all-round terrific. During the day, with the drapes pulled back, and the sliding glass door opened, you felt like you were living outdoors. This was the part of the house where we lived - the bedroom, patio, bathroom and kitchen. We never used the indoor sitting areas and only used the spare bedroom to store our clothes and suitcases. Day and night, we pretty much lived on the patio - eating there, reading there (the patio is lit at night), and even snoozing there in the afternoon (the house came with a pretty decent set of patio furniture). At night, we had a bedroom with views out of a dream. Tasteful yard lights lit the foliage outside and a powerful floodlight mounted on one of the coconut palms allowed you to illuminate the beach and watch the tiny sand crabs as they scurried for cover from the light. Off in the distance, the constant roar of the surf as is it died against the reef, lulled us to sleep each night.
There was no air-conditioning in the house, but it was equipped with a couple of freestanding fans and plenty of windows for ventilation. However, because the prevailing winds blow from the south-east side of the house (the rear-left corner), the master-bedroom sometimes got quite warm during mid-day unless the side windows were left fully open. This situation results in something of a security issue as there are no bars or screens on any of the windows throughout the house (and a few of these windows open plenty wide). For you see, there was one problem with this place, one which you need to be aware of if you are thinking of renting it. I already knew about it before we arrived and that knowledge saved our vacation - and if you choose to stay there, you need to know this too. A thief keeps an eye on this place… and if you're not careful, he'll rip you off.
It is, in my opinion, a kid - a pre-teen or a young teenager, someone who lives nearby - someone who can see if you are out walking along the beach or snorkeling in the lagoon. If you rent this house (or any other in the area east of the Palm Grove Lodges resort), it's important that you LOCK YOUR DOORS AND SECURE YOUR WINDOWS whenever you leave (including when you snorkel). I don't really think it's a problem at night, when the dogs are there to bark, but they'll go with you down the beach or in the water - leaving the house vulnerable.
Thanks to an e-mail acquaintance who stayed next door (at "Tia's Place"/"Islander on the Beach") I knew there was a potential problem here. He was victimized in the first few hours of his stay when he and his wife went swimming and left the doors and windows open - and because he let others know it, I had warning that this type of crime was more than just a remote possibility. Consequently, we took appropriate action - taking the time to hide our money and valuables in various inconspicuous places throughout the house. We were also very careful to be sure and keep the house secured when we were not there.
However, in spite of being warned, on our very last evening, we got sloppy. We went out for a walk up the beach at sunset and upon our return (just as it was really getting dark) we heard crashing sounds coming from the bushes near the east side of the house. This was followed almost immediately by a loud "BANG!" as the thief crashed headlong into a tin outbuilding on the other side of the bushes (I can only hope it hurt). Anyway, as usual we'd been accompanied by Fluffy and Kaiya, Geoff's 2 dogs that live at the house (it's your duty to feed them once/day - no problem really as their very nice dogs), and Kaiya (the younger of the 2) took off in pursuit. The thief however, escaped (I suspect he knows the dog). Fortunately (as I have already mentioned), we hid our valuables carefully, and all he got was an unopened disposable underwater camera, a small silver necklace belonging to my wife, and 2 US dollars I'd left sitting in a small wicker counter in the kitchen. Our cash, traveler's checks and passports were all safe and sound in their hidden locations. Much as I rave about this house, I have to tell you, it could use a safe and a bit better security for the windows.
So, now you've heard the "Good", and the "Bad", so I guess it's time for the "Beautiful". This is, quite simply, the water. My God, the water! It's to die for - clear, clean, calm, and of the incredible blue shades found only in the tropics. It's a vast playground beckoning to you every moment of the day. When we weren't in it, we were likely gazing out at it, mesmerized by the sheer beauty of it all. The reef here lies perhaps ¼ mile from shore and the bottom between there and the strand is a wonderland of coral towers. Near the beach, these clumps of coral are small and widely scattered, but as you move further out, they become larger and closer together. Between the clumps lie soft stretches of white coral sand. These provide easy access for wading (or just standing to rest when you are snorkeling) around between the coral heads, as well as areas for simply playing in the water. The further away from shore you get, the less sand there is and the more coral, until finally you are moving through sandy canyons with coral heads on either side of you. Best of all (at least for non-swimmers like me), the water remains fairly shallow for a long, long way out. I traveled perhaps halfway to the reef and the water was still barely chest high. It was terrific. You had to but gaze beneath the water and a whole new world opened up before you. Wow!
Because of the large number of coral heads, there were lots of fish in the area. We saw tons of wrasses of all colors, Picasso triggers, parrotfish, groupers, angelfish of numerous types, even flying fish and an octopus. We spotted probably 35 different species of fish almost directly in front of our place. Almost inevitably, we saw a new variety every time we went out. Now in all fairness, I must say that the coral off the Are Tamanu Resort on Aitutaki looked far more vibrant and much healthier, with even more fish, but there were certainly a lot of fish here as well, and we had no complaints.
But it gets better yet - most of the time we found the beach here to be virtually deserted. Even with the Palm Grove Lodges resort just a few hundred yards up the beach, we NEVER saw more than 5 other people in both directions combined. Mostly, we were the ONLY people to be seen. It was pretty much like we were in our own private world. Occasionally, 1 or 2 folks would say "Hello" as they walked past us up the beach, but those intrusions were few and far between. It was absolutely terrific. Our routine was relaxed and unhurried. In the morning we'd take a walk and do some beachcombing. Late morning we'd swim and snorkel. Noon we'd eat some lunch under the shelter of the covered patio. Mid-afternoon we'd snorkel again. Come evening, we'd walk up the beach the other direction. Our days fell into a gentle routine, and if I hadn't been keeping daily notes for this review, I'd have never known what day it was (sigh). It was an absolute delight and we did not want to ever leave.
In spite of the break-in, we would return there in a heartbeat. You have to remember, that theft can happen anywhere, even in paradise. You just have to be careful and use a little common sense. Again, I have to say that I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again, I'd just be careful. In our opinion, this place is one of the nicest (and largest) rental houses on his part of Raro's southern coast.
If we could, we would live there forever.
CONTINUED IN PART 2..... which you can find here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_2624495748
PS: I just remembered a couple of things I should add:
1) There is a small grocery store nearby (Wigmores) that stocks basic needs, though like most convenience stores, it's a little pricey. The CITC Grocery store just outside of Avarua (towards the airport - not to be confused with the CITC General store in the middle of town) has the best prices and selection. Buses are an easy way to get there, as they run pretty often. There is a stop 100 meters or so up the road at the Palm Grove Lodges - or just wave the bus down. You can also rent a car or scooter for very little.
2) There are 2 nearby places to eat. Viama restaurant (can't say much about it as we did not eat there - but it does have a good reputation), and the Eat-In/Take-Out stand next to Wigmores (cheap, with AWESOME Hawaiian burgers - though their fries are just okay). A burger, fries and a soft drink can be had here for under $5 USD. They also have dinner menu items at very good prices - though we didn't have any so I can't say much about them.
3) Cost for the "Main-Islander on the Beach" (though Jetsave) was $1425 NZD ($638 USD) per week. If you'd like to deal with the owners directly (you may get a better price), their names are Geoff and Tia Bergin and their e-mail address is:
stay@takeabreak.co.ck
We didn't meet Tia, but Geoff is a terrific guy and really went out of his way to make us welcome, even driving me up to the local grocery store to get a few supplies upon our arrival. If you decide to rent their place, say "Hi" from me and tell him we WILL be back.
...Oh, and give Kaiya a scratch. She's a great dog! She went swimming with us every day and it was just a hoot watching her pursue the fish.
I'm sorry to say I heard that Fluffy died a few weeks ago. I don't know if Geoff got another companion for Kaiya.
Update as of Nov 16th, 2002:
An e-mail acquaintance recently returned from the Cooks who had rented the "Main-Islander on the Beach" (partially as a result of reading this review) has informed me that he'd heard that a local boy in the general area of the house has been "spoken to" and that since then there have been no other break-ins in the area. All the more reason to stay at this place (though I'd still take the precautions I'd mentioned - they are, after all, really just common sense).
Update as of April 2nd, 2003:
The e-mail acquaintance mentioned above (Doug Hansen of Seattle) has now posted a number of informative and interesting trip reports about he and his wifes' travels, including one on their visit to the Cook Islands (and their stay at the Main-Islander on the Beach house). If you are seriously considering renting the house, you might want to read what he has to say about the place (and the island in general). You can do that here:
http://www.dmvacations.com/cook%20_islands.htm
He's also posted some terrific photos on Webshots here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/hanihana
Be sure and take a look at them. There's some great shots of some beautiful locations, including New Zealand, Fiji, and Moorea (in French Polynesia). I'm especially fond of both the Cook Islands and Hong Kong albums.
Update as of May 1st, 2004: An E-mail acquaintance who stayed more-or-less across the road from the Main-Islander-on-the-Beach reports that they were burgled during a recent visit (the thief jimmied the lock). They got a good look at the intruder and reported him to the police (who seemed to know who he was and proptly locked him up. Because they had taken the time to hide their valuables, the theft was not as severe as it could have been. However, it does reinforce the fact that you need to ALWAYS take precautions while on vacation, particularly when you are renting a house - even in a nice place like the Cooks. Resorts will usually have someone around - and that tends to discourage intruders, but in the case of a rental house, when you leave, the place is empty and easy to burgle. I've read that thieves do tend to target vacation rental houses. This true in Hawaii, the US Virgin Islands and other places as well (including unfortunately, the Cooks), so take the time to hide your stuff - even if you lock the doors and windows.
Also, I've heard that the great Eat-In/Take-Out restaurant near the house has closed. Too bad about that!
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Epinions.com ID:
LordBalfor
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Member: Ken Klein
Location: Seattle, Wa
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 110 members
About Me:
I am in love with the tropics (especially the South Pacific).
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