Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Lifestyle Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Tonga
harry_mudd 01:55 UTC 24 Feb 2008 | How do the Cook Islands compare with Tonga for Lifestyle, cost of living, stuff to do etc. |
harry_mudd 22:11 UTC 25 Feb 2008 | come on, time is of the essence. | 1
nukuhiva2 00:27 UTC 27 Feb 2008 | Harry, I can only speak from a tourist's perspective. The Cook Islanders were friendlier and seemed more sophisticated than the Tongans, more used to tourists who are considered clients and guests. At least that is the impression I had. Some Tongans were expremely helpful, others were not sure what to make of tourists. Rarotonga was cleaner, no pigs rooting everywhere. It is also much smaller than Tongatapu. You are around the island in an hour or less. Many Tongans seemed morose. I would be, too, if I had to make a living on Tongatapu. It was cheaper though than the Cook Islands, at least for tourists. In Rarotonga, I never had the impression of being in a Third World country. NukuAlofa has even more churches than Rarotonga where there is one dominant denomination. Rarotonga has much better drummers, dancers and singers than Tonga. I tought that the best feature of Tongatapu were the colorful cemetaries and the traditional clothes. :-) Edited by: NukuHiva2 | 2
harry_mudd 01:53 UTC 27 Feb 2008 | Thanks. It may be a moot point now. I had the second phone interview this morning and then got invited down to Sydney. I just couldn't make it. Sydney is along way away. I lived and worked in Tonga, at the dateline, and I just wanted to compare the two. Still,I may have a job in the Cooks yet. | 3
jwa 21:06 UTC 27 Feb 2008 | I live on Rarotonga and the cost of living has gone through the roof! Local eggs are NZ$5.50/doz., bread is $3.50/loaf. Everything is double New Zealand prices. Tourists don't seem to mind the prices when they only pay them for one or two weeks, but try year 'round. Power on the islands is generated by oil so you can immagine our electric bills and petrol for the car. I hope your new job pays well......but, everything poster #2 says is correct and you pay a price to live in paradise. Good luck whatever you do. | 4
harry_mudd 23:18 UTC 27 Feb 2008 | Thanks. appreciate it. | 5
nukuhiva2 00:15 UTC 28 Feb 2008 | JWa, that is a lot of money, especially with chickens running around everywhere. There should be plenty of eggs. I wonder why the islands (Niue as well) do not use more solar and wind power. Initial cost of investment too high? | 6
hardnosethehighway 05:52 UTC 28 Feb 2008 | One Tongan of my acquaintance-who lived on many many islands during her husband's 25+ year career with the Tuna Commission-told me that the Cooks were her favourite place-because people were so sociable. | 7