Cook Islands Travel Forum

We are planning a trip to Aitutaki in the Cook Islands next year. We have heard about the Tangikaara Beach House on Aitutaki and visited their website. Does anyone have any information about the beach house? It looks awesome on-line. We are also planning to take our 2 kids (11 years old). Any dos or don'ts? Anything we should definitely not miss or avoid? Any other options other than Air New Zealand to get from the west coast of USA to Rarotonga?

Appreciate any input you can provide.

Thanks

K

It looks nice. There seems to be a bit of coral infront so expect a few cuts on the kids.
Air New Zealand is your best bet

Wow,Dave, what is that car??

I sent you an e-mail Lee. Very cool car.

Got it, thanks. Yes VERY cool!

Last July, my daughter (15) and I stayed one week at the Tangikaara Beach House.
It was wonderful! Here are my notes:

We rented this bungalow directly from the owners who live in New Zealand.
The bungalow is basic but clean (even in the hidden corners) and spacious.
The town water supply is backed up by its own water tank, the hot water never failed and the water pression is good. There was a separate tap for filtered drinking water, but we did not take the risk and boiled the water before drinking it (we did not buy bottled water).
At first it took us some courage to use the bioloo (= composting toilet, http://www.bioloo.co.nz/) but an excellent ventilation system helped a lot to overcome our reluctance.
The kitchen is well equiped: water boiler, a gas stove (4 burners), large fridge and freezer, pots and pans and nice, colourful, good quality glass and tableware (large collection of all types of glasses: water, long drink, wine glasses, etc.)
There was extra linen (sheets, pillow cases, towels, etc.) in the cupboard and an iron. There was no washing machine but there was a large washing tub.
There are no screens but the bed has a mosquito net. We burned coils and put the ceiling fan on to chase the mosquitos, which worked well.
There is no AC, but the house is very well ventilated.
There is also a gas barbecue.
There was a TV set (with DVD player) and a radio/cassette player, but the reception was very bad. So we never used them ( H E A V E N ! ! ! ).
No ants or bug problem (expect for the mosquitos of course).
Good lighting, both inside and outside.

If the bungalow itself is basic, the setting is simply 5 star+. It is located on the western side of the island, its closest neighbour being Etu Moana on one side (south) and Paradise Cove on the other side (north), but there is plenty of land between each. The bungalow sits right on the beach and has palmtrees all around. The grounds are very well cleared and well kept: the grass is kept short and the sand is raked. The view from the deck is just unbelievable. Large glass doors (side-to-side in the facade) that open up completely offer the same magnificient view from any place inside the house (except the bathroom). As the bungalow sits on high poles, you can enjoy this view from the bed in full privacy.
Just to the right of the house (towards Paradise Cove), the lagoon is ideal for swimming: the coral is cleared, the bottom is sandy and has been dug out so it is deep enough. On the other side (towards Etu Moana), it is perfect for snorkling.

The caretakers of the house (the uncle of the lady we are renting the house from and his wife) are very kind and helpful. When we arrived they offered to drive us to the store in town for our grocery shopping and arranged renting bycicles for us. The lady also drove us to Samade one day and came back at the appointed hour to take us back home.

Oh, I almost forgot: in the back of the house, between the house and road, there is another house. But there is plenty of space in between. One of the cousins of the caretakers lives there. She is a very sweet lady who works at Etu Moana. She is very discrete. We only saw her twice: once mowing the lawn ("ours" as well) and ones doing the laundry; we did not see anybody else there. In the evening and at night, there were never any lights on in the house. Except for the open door, one would have thought the house to be empty.

We loved this place so much because, in addition of the splendid view, it really gave us the "island"-feeling. We stayed here one week.

Do's:
Take heaps of mozzie repellent and use it generously!
An absolute must: reef shoes! Always wear them when going into to the water: to protect your feet from coral scratches (which can infect very badly) and and stone fish.
Enjoy the stars and Milky Way at night: amazing.
Do lagoon cruise (we did the Kia Orana cruise and loved it).
Take good snorkling gear: it's worth it. The sealife is just splendid. You step out of the house, into the water and you're in a wonderworld!

When we stayed at the Tangikaara Beach House, we only ate out once (at the Islands Nights at Puffy's, in walking distance from the house). We had all our dinners at the house: we found the house too cosy to go out for dinner!

We had card and board games with us for the evenings (and rainy days).

There is plenty of sleeping room: besides the double (master) bed, there is a couch that opens up as a double bed. But there is also sleeping room up behind the master bed (see picture 8 of picture gallery on their website). This should be fun for the children (but heat and mozzies might be a problem up there).