Fast Facts

American Express -- There is no American Express representative in the Cook Islands.

Babysitters -- Contact your hotel reception desk.

Baggage Storage -- Most hotels and motels will keep your bags for free.

Bookstores -- Bounty Bookshop (tel. 26-660), next to the main post office in Avarua, and the Cook Islands Trading Corporation (C.I.T.C.) (tel. 22-000), on the waterfront, both sell paperback novels, maps of Rarotonga and Aitutaki, and books about the Cook Islands and the South Pacific in general.

Business Hours -- Most shops on Rarotonga are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm and Saturday from 8am to noon. Some small grocery stores in the villages are open in the evenings and for limited hours on Sunday. Most government offices are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm.

Camera/Film -- A reasonable selection of color-print film is available at many shops in Avarua. One-hour processing of color-print film is available at Cook Islands Trading Corporation (C.I.T.C.) (tel. 22-000), on the waterfront. Color slides are sent to New Zealand for processing.

Clothing -- Dress in the Cook Islands is informal. Shorts of respectable length (that is, not of the short-short variety) can be worn during the day by both men and women, but beach attire should stay at the beach. Nudity is illegal, as is topless sunbathing, though some European women do it anyway. The colorful wraparound pareu is popular with local women. Evenings from May to September can be cool, so trousers, skirts, light jackets, sweaters, or wraps are in order after dark. The only neckties to be seen are at church on Sunday.

Drug Laws -- Dangerous drugs and narcotics are illegal; possession can land you in a very unpleasant jail for a very long time.

Drugstores -- C.I.T.C. Pharmacy (tel. 29-292), in the C.I.T.C. shopping center west of the traffic circle, and Cook Islands Pharmacy (tel. 27-577), east of the traffic circle, dispense prescription medications and carry toiletries. Cook Islands Pharmacy has a small outlet at Muri Beach (tel. 27-587), which will send your prescription into town. The clinics on the outer islands have a limited supply of prescription medications.

Electricity -- Electricity is 230 volts, 50 cycles, so converters are necessary in order to operate U.S. appliances. The plugs, like those of New Zealand and Australia, have two angled prongs, so an adapter will also be needed. If your appliances or the table lamps in your room don't work, check to see whether the switch on the wall outlet is turned on.

E-mail -- Most accommodations have Internet access for their guests. In Avarua, Telecom Cook Islands (tel. 29-680; www.telecom.co.ck) has access in its main office and in its TelePost outlet in the C.I.T.C. shopping center (tel. 29-940). The main office is open 24 hours a day. TelePost is open Monday to Friday 8am to 4:30pm, Saturday 8:30am to noon. Access at both costs NZ$6 (US$4) for 30 minutes. At Muri Beach, Dougie's Internet Cafe (tel. 27-242) charges NZ$10 (US$6.50) per hour. It's open daily from 9am to 8pm, Sunday from noon to 6pm.

If you brought your Wi-Fi-capable laptop, you can get online at hot spots in Telekom's two offices and at Avatiu Harbour, the airport, The Rarotongan Beach Resort & Spa, the Edgewater Resort, and the Pacific Resort. More hot spots are being added all the time; look for the black-and-white bull's-eye signs. You must buy a prepaid wireless access card, available from Telekom and many shops. The cards start at NZ$15 (US$10) for 100 megabytes of downloaded data (they're priced by the amount of data moved, not access time), which I found more than sufficient to check my e-mail and do my Internet banking over 10 days.

Or you can sign up for a snail's pace "Temporary Oyster" dial-up account at Telecom's main office. There's a one-time NZ$25 (US$16) connection fee, plus NZ$7 (US$4.50) per hour spent online, which can be billed to your major credit card. You also must post a NZ$500 (US$325) bond against a credit card. In addition, your hotel will tack on the cost of the local phone calls and, quite likely, a surcharge. Sign up in the customer service office, which is open Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm.

Embassies/Consulates -- The New Zealand government has a representative, whose office is at the traffic circle in Avarua, but no other foreign government maintains an embassy or consulate here. In case of a problem, seek advice from the travel facilitation and consular officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (tel. 20-507). The U.S. embassy in Wellington, New Zealand, has jurisdiction.

Emergencies/Police -- The emergency number for the police is tel. 999; for an ambulance or the hospital, tel. 998; for fire, tel. 996. The nonemergency police number is tel. 22-499.

Eyeglasses -- Cook Islands Optics (tel. 26-605), in the Mana Court shopping center, west of the traffic circle.

Firearms -- Don't even think about it -- they're illegal.

Gambling -- There are no gambling casinos in the Cook Islands, but you can bet on the Australian and New Zealand lotteries at the C.I.T.C. shopping center.

Hairdressers/Barbers -- BELT Hair Beauty Nails, opposite the airport terminal (tel. 24-122).

Healthcare -- The hospital, behind the golf course (tel. 22-664, or 998 in case of emergency), has a 24-hour emergency room. Ask your hotel to recommend a doctor in private practice.

Hitchhiking -- It's not illegal, but hitchhiking is frowned upon by the government.

Insects -- There are no poisonous insects in the Cook Islands. Mosquitoes are plentiful, especially during the summer months and in the inland areas. Insect repellent and mosquito coils can be bought at the pharmacies and most village shops.

Laundry/Dry Cleaning -- Snowbird Laundry & Dry Cleaners has 1-day laundry and dry cleaning service at its main plant in Arorangi (tel. 20-952) and a small laundry opposite Avatiu Harbour (tel. 21-952). It will pick up and deliver if you or your hotel staff call in advance.

Libraries -- The Cook Islands Library and Museum, in Avarua near the Cook Islands Christian Church (tel. 26-468), is open Monday to Friday 9am to 1pm, Saturday 9:30am to 1pm, with additional hours on Tuesday from 4 to 8pm. The library has a fine collection of works on the South Pacific, including many hard-to-find books.

Liquor Laws -- The legal drinking age is 18. Bottled liquor, beer, and wine are available from several stores. Bars and nightclubs close promptly at midnight Saturday. Hotel bars can sell alcoholic beverages to their guests all day Sunday, and restaurants can resume service on Sunday at 6pm.

Maps -- The best readily available maps of the islands are in the tourist publications Jason's What's On in the Cook Islands and the Cook Islands Sun. Get copies at the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation office or at most hotels.

Newspapers/Magazines -- Two local newspapers, the Cook Islands News (www.cookislandsnews.com) and the Cook Islands Herald (www.ciherald.co.ck), contain local, regional, and world news; radio and TV schedules; shipping schedules; a weather map for the South Pacific; and notices of local events, including advertisements for "island nights" at the hotels. Copies are available at the Bounty Bookshop and the large C.I.T.C. shopping center in the center of Avarua.

Post Office -- Cook Islands Post is located at the traffic circle in Avarua. Hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm, Saturday 8am to noon. There's a branch office opposite Titikaveka College on Rarotonga's south coast, which is open Monday to Friday 8am to noon and 1 to 3:30pm. Each of the other islands has a post office. There is no mail delivery, so every address includes a post office box.

Radio/TV -- Rarotonga has one AM radio station and one FM radio station. Programming is in both English and Maori. Two TV channels broadcast news, entertainment, and innumerable rugby games.

Safety -- The streets here are safe. Burglaries and other property thefts have increased in recent years, however, so don't leave valuables in your hotel room or your belongings untended elsewhere.

Taxes -- The government imposes a value-added tax (VAT), which is included in the price of most goods and services. You should ask if the VAT is included in the rates quoted by the hotels and hostels, or whether it will be added to your bill when you leave. Unlike in Europe, the VAT here is not refunded at the end of your visit. The departure tax on international flights is NZ$30 (US$20) for adults, NZ$15 (US$10) for children, which you can pay at the airport or in advance at Westpac Bank in Avarua.

Telephone/Fax -- Direct-dialed calls can be made into the Cook Islands from most parts of the world. The country code is 682. There are no local area codes.

International telephone calls and fax messages can be made or sent from most hotels or from Telecom Cook Islands, on the street between the C.I.T.C. shopping center and the Cook's Corner shopping center in Avarua (tel. 29-680; www.telecom.co.ck or www.yellowpages.co.ck for business phone numbers). The Telecom office is open 24 hours daily.

The least expensive way to make both local and international calls is from a pay phone using a Kia Orana prepaid card. Cards are sold in NZ$5, NZ$10, NZ$20, and NZ$50 denominations (the equivalent of US$3.25, US$6.50, US$13, and US$32.50) at Telecom post offices and many shops. For international calls, dial tel. 00 followed by the country code (which is 1 for the U.S. and Canada) and the number you're trying to reach. A digital readout tells you how much money you have left during the call and warns you when to put in a fresh card. International calls cost NZ$2.14 (US$1.40) per minute to North America, NZ$3.20 (US$2.10) to the United Kingdom and Europe. Rates to Australia and New Zealand are NZ$1.04 (US68¢) during the day, NZ79¢ (US51¢) at night.

Some long-distance carriers have access numbers their customers can dial from within the Cook Islands to have international calls billed to their credit or prepaid cards, including AT&T (tel. 09111) and MCI (tel. 09121). You'll pay the regular local call charges on top of the international rates if you dial them from your hotel room.

You do not need a card to dial tel. 010 for local directory assistance, tel. 015 for an international operator, tel. 017 for international directory assistance, or tel. 1-407-333 to make an international collect call.

Telecom Cook Islands sells pre-paid SIM cards for unlocked GSM cellphones, starting at NZ$20 (US$13). Incoming calls are free, but outgoing air time counts NZ$1.99 (US$1.30) a minute against the cost of the card. See "The 21st-Century Traveler" in chapter 2.

Time -- Local time is 10 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. That's 2 hours behind California during standard time, 3 hours behind California during daylight saving time. The Cook Islands are on the east side of the international date line, which puts them in the same day as the United States and a day behind New Zealand and Australia.

Tipping -- Tipping is considered contrary to the Polynesian way of life and is frowned upon.

Water -- Generally, the water on Rarotonga is safe to drink from the tap. It is filtered but not treated and can become slightly muddy after periods of heavy rain. If in doubt, boil it in the electric "jug" in your hotel room. Many hotels have their own filtration systems, and you can buy bottled water at most grocery stores and village shops. The tap water on Aitutaki is not safe to drink.

Weights/Measures -- The Cook Islands use the metric system.