Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Do shopping in Raro and take it to Aitutaki??!!

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Cook Islands

Would it be an Idea to do a shop in Raro and take it on the plane to Aitutaki just to get one started??
Can you take veg etc on the plane as hand luggage?
At least then for the first few days we can eat veg. and it gives us time to sort out how to get more!!!!!

Rosa I sent you private message, Meitaki maata

Yes, you can take veggies on the flight to Aitutaki. But there is a weight limit for the flight, check with air Rarotonga. It might be 16kg, I'm not sure anymore.

If you are going in the next few months, there should be plenty of tomatoes on RAR, maybe cukes, stringbeans, etc. At Foodland there are veggies from NZ, but they can be expensive. You can usually always get some hydroponic lettuce on RAR, try Foodland.

You can also bring some papayas ("pawpaws" in the local lingo) and maybe some bananas. Don;t bring mangoes---if they are ripe on Rarotonga, they will be even better on Aitutaki, and the Aitutaki variety---red and yellow---are sweeter than the Rarotonga variety.

Cheese is a lot cheaper on Rarotonga---and more available as well. Same goes for deli-type meats, but of course you need to keep these cold from when you buy them until you eat them on Aitutaki.

The main concern will be the weight limit. Sometimes Air Raro won't care, if the plane is not full, but if it is full, you may have to pay extra if you have a lot of extra kilos. Check their website for more info. I think it's www.airraro.com , or maybe www.airraro.co.ck

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Thanks I'll check with airraro!!

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Two years ago on Aitutaki we bought some nice fruit and vegetables from Angelo's Organic Garden. Last year we sent him several packets of vegetable seeds (can't remember what exactly). Don't know for sure if he ever received them tho.

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