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Fiji or Cook islands? |
 Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 7:18 pm |
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| Im planning a RTW trip and cant decide which to include..Fiji or Cook islands??? Which would you suggest is a better place to stop...or both? also which is cheaper?
Thanks  |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 37 Posts |
| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:21 pm |
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| hey,
im wondering the EXACT same thing!!! i havent looked into them in proper detail yet but ive seen images of some of the cook islands that look stunning... i dont know if we could afford/ have time to do both, so does anyone have advice on this?? anyone done both and regretted it or thought it was a waste?? i cant seem to undertstand how much time should be spend on them either and how much itll cost?? ive seen someone mention 2 weeks on either of them at like £300 a week including pass, accomodation and food,..is this accurate at all? im assuming you dont need a visa in advance either?? any advice welcome please!!!! |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 164 Posts |
| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:46 pm |
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| I cant help much with info about the places as im jsut researching them too but i did come across a safe travel warning about fiji from the government so you might want to look at that aspect.
http://www.safetravel.govt.nz/destinations/fiji.shtml xx |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 1358 Posts |
| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:11 pm |
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| hey thanks for that,
sounds slightly worrying though i wonder whats going on over there? i guess its not a huge issue for me as ill be going in just over a years time so hopefully itll be sorted by then! |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 164 Posts |
| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:20 pm |
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| I'm planning on stopping off in the Cook Islands for my RTW trip, so I've done quite a bit of research into it.
A great website I've come across is: http://www.cook.islands-travel.com/backpacking.html It also provides alot of information on Fiji too. You don't need Visa's for either country, although you do get granted a 4 month visa in Fiji as you enter the country. Hope this helps. |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 19 Posts |
| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:32 pm |
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| ahh thanks for this ill read that later on!
it does say that fiji is better for diving than cook islands, so if we cant afford both then maybe fiji is better for us (as diving is mainly what our trip is about!) photos of some of the cook islands though just look utterly stunning....!! how much are you budgeting for being there and how long you thinking to stay there? |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 164 Posts |
| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:23 pm |
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photos of some of the cook islands though just look utterly stunning....!! Tell me about it! Our plans were originally to go to Maui (Hawaian Island) but STA couldnt get a flight connecting USA and NZ for us there. We're only planning to stay there for a couple of weeks as we plan to do alot of the activities etc. in Australia/NZ and use the Cook Islands as more of a stop gap "holiday". I've put aside £500 for the two weeks (based on our £1000 a month budget) but I don't expect to spend it if we stay in hostels and chill out most days without many activities. Guess you've got to take into account the tourist factor of both locations, but there are plenty of backpacking hostels, supermarkets for cheap food etc. |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 19 Posts |
| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:29 pm |
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| yeh i think going there inbetween the states and NZ for a 2week 'summer holiday' style break is what most people plan to do... i know i certainly will after trekking for weeks round oz, nz and tas!
i just cant make my mind up as photos online look beautiful, but the yasawa islands of fiji look just as nice too....! my boyfriend is really keen on hawaii too but i have been told with flights it can be a pain or expensive....the advice we were given was to just buy a cheap return from LA back there (as well be heading to LA from NZ etc) but at this stage those three are up in the air until we 100% know we can afford the rest of it! where else are you heading to? |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 164 Posts |
| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:24 pm |
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| We're heading from the East cost to the West coast of America, across to the Cook Islands, then New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Japan and then back to Australia for Christmas/New Years.
Plan on leaving May 2010, come back to the UK Jan 2011! It's going to be crazy, just annoying that life's almost put on hold whilst I have to save money... What about you? And how long you going for? |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 19 Posts |
| Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:05 am |
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| COOK ISLANDS COOK ISLANDS COOK ISLANDS!
I did both and preferred the cook islands, a proper tropical paradise, and it wasn't as touristy as fiji! But they were different so im glad i did both! Fiji was not as 'remote' as i was expecting! Its totally set up for the backpacker! Although the Cook Islands was soooooooooo friendly! If you go stay at rarotonga backpackers, hillside! |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 2281 Posts |
| Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:55 pm |
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| Nickers:
thats awesome, were doing the same trip as you but in reverse and not including china/ japan (so clearly the route everyone does!) but thats purely as the diving spots are in those places and we currently dont think we could affrd to do a bigger trip...but heres hoping by mya next year well have an extra bonus 1k or something and can maybe visitng canada or something, who knows!!! at the mo im roughly working on: bangkok 9 weeks on koh tao for diving or potentially somewhere else... thailand (heading south from koh tao) malaysia singapore maybe 3ish months altogether here... then onto oz 8 weeks tasmania for 2 weeks NZ for hopefully 8 weeks if budget still allows!= by this point...!! THEN Fiji 2 weeks Cook islands 2 weeks Hawaii (but big IF over this if flights etc make too expensive) West to east north america 4/6 weeks? so potentially away for around 10 months im guessing...same as you sort of! thats vaguely what im on at the mo by seeing what others are doing on here...  timeframes im sorta guessing right now based on durations of those guided bus tours etc that you can do....
how much are you trying to save for your entire trip if you dont mind me asking? your right it is proper rubbish everything (mainly work) seems irrelevant once you decide that your definately doing it...BUT, at the same time, if we dont stick at it we wont be able to afford to go so,its gotta be done! |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 164 Posts |
| Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:25 am |
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COOK ISLANDS COOK ISLANDS COOK ISLANDS!
I did both and preferred the cook islands, a proper tropical paradise, and it wasn't as touristy as fiji! But they were different so im glad i did both! Fiji was not as 'remote' as i was expecting! Its totally set up for the backpacker! Although the Cook Islands was soooooooooo friendly! If you go stay at rarotonga backpackers, hillside! How did you get between the two countries?? I didn't think there were flights between the two?? xx |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 11 Posts |
| Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:11 pm |
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| Yeah, i just flew straight from Cook Islands to Fiji! This was two years ago tho, but im sure it's still done! | |
| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 2281 Posts |
| Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:46 pm |
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| You can go to Fiji and back to Auckland to take a connecting flight to Cook Islands. From there LA.
I got the escapde ticket and cost me £180 extra in miles to include Cook Islands. It was worth it though, as both paradise are different  + I don't know when/if I go back to that part of the world again...
Alok |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 97 Posts |
| Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:16 pm |
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| Well you know what they say Nikki, great minds think alike eh?
Guessing you're a big fan of diving then? Do you do it much as a hobby at the moment or are you planning on just doing it on your travels? We've sort of put a guideline on £1000 a month, so about £8k in total. Guess it depends on what we do, how much we go out etc I'm not entirely sure how much it'll cost. If needs be we plan to work a little in Australia when we get there to hopefully top up the funds and prepare for the main part of Asia. I know America's going to be more expensive than the rest of our trip, but there's plenty of money saving idea's about the place for travel and accomodation. At the mo' our timescales are kind of up in the air too, it's hard to tell how much time we'd need to each place! America (East to West) - 8 weeks Cook Islands - 2 weeks New Zealand - 6 weeks Australia - 10 weeks Thailand - 2 weeks China - 4 weeks Japan - 2 weeks Total of 34 weeks, so just over 8 months but I guess some places could be cut a bit shorter or we might plan to stay a little longer in others. It's still fairly early days yet and we're still trying to get a picture of what sort of activities/sights we want to see in each country. I know for a fact we'll be trying to do alot of the adventure sports in NZ though, hence the longish stay there. How many people are you going with? Also, any tips on the best place to actually go diving? I'm guessing the great barrier reef's a safe bet right? I'd love to try it! |
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| Back to top | Location: Unknown | 19 Posts |
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