Luggage Storage?

Hi,

My hubby and I are going back to the Cook Islands for the 3rd time - we just can't stay away!. This time we are coming back from Aitutaki on our last day at approx 7.00pm and will have about 5 hours till our departure to home just after midnight. Does anyone know of any luggage storage available at the airport? Much as we love Raratongan Airport we'd rather go into Avarua or to one of the resorts/restaurants for dinner without lugging our suitcases with us or alternatively be stuck at the airport for that long.... Any other ideas welcome!

There are lockers at the airport. They are to your left when you arrive, around the corner of the main building, in another structure, maybe 50m from where you arrive.

The bus only goes clockwise at night. It leaves town at 7pm, so it won't get to the airport until about 7:45pm, heading into town. But it's a nice 3km walk if it is not raining.

If you want to head anywhere else, you can call a taxi. Better yet, call one while you are on Rarotonga--or even from Aitutaki---and have it meet your flight at 7pm, and then you can head somewhere right away.

You could always just wheel your bags across the road to the fairly new Aquarius Motel, there is a decent cafe/restaurant there.

The airport lockers are just across from the security office. Just speak to one of the officers and they will set you up with a key and "log" you in. Very friendly and, while the lockers don't look like much, we left our stuff in there for a week and it was just fine.

Have fun!

Mark

Hi
Just returned - there is a great hotel/bar across the road from the airport near the Domestic Departures terminal (which is where the luggage storage is located) called the Coral Club. It has a lovely restaurant with a pool overlooking the beach/water and a great place to kill some time whilst waiting if you don't want to head all the way into town - another place nearby is the Nu Bar that serves great $10 steak meals.

Hi,
I left my luggage at Raro Airlines. Cheap. Just make it back by 8PM. They close then. I found out the hard way.

Thanks All,

I was hoping they had storage at the airport! and the Coral Club and Aquarius Hotel sound attractive. Now just the count down to April to enjoy. Does Pa still do the cross Island Trek? We've been in "training" to do it this year!

Cheers!

The Aquarius Motel and the Coral Club are the same place. The Coral Club is the name of the cafe/restaurant.

Pa still does the cross-island hike. It's usually on Mon/Wed/Fri. Phone him a day or two in advance. Always leave a phone number where he can reach you, as if it's rainy he will call you at about 7:30am to let you know whether it's been cancelled.

I'm not aware of any storage near the domestic departure area, which is the same as the international departure check-in (well, 5m away). The lockers are on the far side of the terminal, past the arrivals area.

You can probably check the stuff in if it is not carry on- and since you are on your way home, if it takes an extra trip it won't matter. You can usually check things in up to 12 hours in advance, which saves vast amounts of time in places like Guam, where the lines snake around for at least an hour just before your plane. Although I always try to carry all my stuff on on the way out, coming back is not as important to me. (And before people start- all my stuff is usually one small wheely and an oversized handbag.)

Sorry Waldos, it ain't Guam here! :)

Airport check-in here never opens until two hours or so before the flight will depart. Until then it's a ghost airport.

But surely there are people there when planes land?

Raro,
I returned from a daytrip with Air Raro with people waiting to fly out that evening that wanted to store there luggage so that they could kill time in town - they were all referred by Air Raro to a Luggage Storage area just to your right when departing the domestic/international departures "shed".

10--
Well, that's good news, had not heard of that before. It might be just for Air Raro passengers, and it might be the one that closes at 8pm that #4 mentioned. Anyway, it's worth checking out. If it closes at 8pm, and their flight is at midnight, the lockers on the far side of the airport will do fine.

9-Waldos---Yes, there are people at the airport when the plane lands. But the plane lands, and then takes off just an hour or so later for the A 320 flights, or an hour and 15 minutes later for the 767's. For the 10:20pm to LAX (767), for example, it arrives at 9:05pm, and takes off 10:20pm. Check-in doesn't open until 8pm.

For the turn-around flights from AKL/RAR/AKL, these are usually the smaller planes. If it arrives at 2:10pm it will usually depart at 3:15pm. Airport check-in won't open until 1pm.

The above are on Air NZ. On Pacific Blue it is usually an hour turn-around, so it will only open an hour before the flight arrives, thus 2 hrs. before departure.

9---just to add to the above--
Unlike at larger airports, most of the people at the counter at night are not full-time Air NZ employees, they have other jobs during the day and only come in to work for those flights. About ten minutes after the plane leaves, they head home.

If anyone is still reading this topic, I was wondering how expensive/safe it was to store a bag at the airport? I'm going to be in the Cooks for just short of a week and, having been traveling for 4 months, could do with a "load off". I don't want to carry my New Zealand sweater/gumboots around! Thanks.