Post Things that You Wish you have Brought to the Island

I will be there a month and was wondering what things I should bring that are 1, not available or 2, very expensive! Post items that you wish that you have taken with you. Thanks Thomas

1. Batteries for your electronics... AA and AAA. They are expensive in ALL of the islands.
   2. Insect repellant and lots of sunscreen. Effective products are sometimes hard to find and are ALWAYS VERY expensive.
   3. A good Swiss Army knife or reasonable facimile. (if you are backpacking)
   4. A good length of clothesline and clothes pins/pegs.
   5. A torch/flashlight or headlight.
   6. And one item I forgot the first time, but never failed to bring thenceforth... A sense of humour!!

patience. Cause the islands run on island time, and not tourist is going to change that.

An umbrella. I bought a rain slicker (one of those cheap throwaway kinds of things) but the rain was so heavy that having the slicker on made it difficult to go shopping on a rainy, rainy day. I couldn't figure out how to get the slicker off without getting myself drenched plus there was the problem of what to do with it when I was in the store (they have umbrella stands). I could not throw it away as I would need it again. Bring both.

An extra pair of flip flops. Got blisters from my sandals from getting sand on my feet as I was walking the first day (I walk for miles and miles). My sneakers got drenched so all I had was my flip flops. Wore them out and a replacement pair was $8 NZ.

Extra SPF 15 lip balm. Don't know what the situation is on the Cooks but I lost mine on a French Polynesian atoll where replacements were not to be had. In Tahiti airport they were selling for something like $8 US.

Little packets of Heinz ketchup (I heard that they sell the bottles in the stores but if you are eating burgers or fries you'll want them).

goodness- we had ketchup everyplace. just goes to show.

A big jar of Skippy peanut butter, creamy or chunky, you decide. I second the idea of patience as a must to bring along. Everything else is in my book.

Papa Mike
Papa Mike's Cook Islands Handbook

beginning to think that Palau and Pohnpei are not so remote after all. Peanut butter was often on the table in restaurants. Flip-flops? cheap and plentiful. umbrellas common.

It is the difference in Palau's affiliation with the United States, versus Cook Islands affiliation with New Zealand. A peanut butter affectionado can explain the difference. The Kiwi's may have mastered winemaking, but they still need a little work on their peanut butter.

Papa Mike

Well, actually all of the above items are now readily available on Rarotonga, even my beloved Heinz ketchup (but not the little packets). You can get a cheap fold-up umbrella at Vonnia's in town, insect repellent, sunscreen etc at about twenty places around the island, even the little village shops usually have a version of those. There are two pharmacies in town, one near the airport, one at Muri Beach.

Vonnia's is good for cheap flip flops (NZ$8), etc.

However, bring a good little pocket flashlight, which they would call a "torch", as you may not get over to the hardware store your first couple of days and you may need it at a backpacker place, or for walking on the beach at night.

The Swiss army knife will also come in handy. Hard to find on RAR, and a bit more expensive.

[You cannot get White Owl Miniature cigars there, so if that is your hobby, bring them!]

Also---if you are a real coffee lover, bring a small plastic cone filter holder, some paper filters (but these are usually available at Foodland or CITC), and a pound of good French roast, etc. But if you are not into coffee that much there is good coffee from NZ, Robert Harris for example.

The problem is that you may need some items the first day, before you can get into town etc. So, I'd bring a small bottle of insect repellent with at least 50% DEET, and a small bottle of SPF 15 or higher. The length of clothesline---well even string will usually work---is also a good idea. Again, you can buy it there, but you may not be in town for a day or two.

Oh, a baseball cap is handy in the sun, and sunglasses are a lot cheaper where you live than in the Cooks.

You should buy a US$5 pair of reef shoes (water shoes) and a cheap snorkeling mask if you plan to go snorkeling. Don't bring fins, you won;t really need them, most of the lagoon is pretty shallow.

If you don't bring these two items, and find you need to buy them, the Dive Shop in town has a medium-priced selection, and Vonnia's may have a cheap version as might CITC Main store.

As said above, the main thing to bring is patience!!! Assume things will not happen when or as planned, so when they do you'll be pleasantly surprised.

And as you'll be there for a month and may make sdome local friends, do not believe that any "loans" you might be asked for will ever be paid back. Lots of longer-term tourists have gotten sucked into this little type of scam.

Have fun!

Thanks so much! Got the reef shows, I will pick out a clothes line that is easy to pack and a small sewing kit encase I lose a button or two. I am addicted to Splenda Sweetener so I will bring some packets of that too. I love coffee, might have to bring some Starbucks.

You can buy either Equal or Sweet and Low in Foodland and/or CITC Foodstore. Starbucks is a good idea, the local Atiu coffee is pretty bland. But they don't sell plastic cone holders, so you'll need to bring a small one of those and some #2 paper filters. OR---you can buy what they call a coffee plunger for about NZ$20 at Vonnia's or CITC [sometimes the island is out of these, however], that's what they use in NZ etc to brew/filter ground coffee. I think it's also called a French press. It's too bulky to bring back with you, so just donate it to someone, or some place you stayed at that you liked, when you leave.

Suncream is expensive everywhere in the Pacific.

Snorkle/flippers are usually available but often pricey and often (especially where free) poor quality and/or ill-fitting.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>The Kiwi's may have mastered winemaking, but they still need a little work on their peanut butter.<hr></blockquote>

Good lord, yes!!! I think I have mentioned this before... In Samoa, Tonga and think the Cooks too, you can buy "peanut butter" that is made by a company called either "Sanitorium" or "Sanitarium".

I was really frightened to buy and try especially with a moniker like that, but I did....

It really is not up to snuff for us P.B. snobs from America and Canada where it is a staple item of life.

Last year I brought some from home... It was amazing how the odour brought around salivating Yanks and Canucks from the other tables.

I charged them all $5US a taste.

To the OP: PLEASE don't introduce more American pop culture to the islands... That's all we need are Starbucks on every corner! LOL.

A pound of BC Bud is what what any S Pac Island needs the most.

LOL @ #3....... who would take little packets of ketchup with them overseas!?

Especially at least in Samoa they always put ketchup on your fries anyway, if you want it or not ... (and I hate ketchup!)

Spider - I really was in the Cooks wishing I had bought the little packets of ketchup. They have this nasty stuff that they use in place of ketchup. But perhaps the ketchup issue is an American thing.

wksamoa - Do you get real ketchup (Heinz!) or the nasty stuff (found in the Cooks and French Polynesia)? Perhaps you hate ketchup if you haven't tasted the real thing. Good to know though, if I'm ever in Samoa, to order fries with ketchup on the side.

Yes, if one loves Heinz ketchup, there is no substitute, esp. the runny Watties tomato catsup from NZ!

About a dozen yrs ago in the Cooks, I relied heavily on the Apostolic Church workers from San Jose CA. Two guys would work for a couple of months at their hamburger place (that was their fund-raising stuff) , then switch with two other guys from San Jose, etc.. I got to know them, they would bring down the sports section of SF papers!. The best thing about the "Just Burgers" place was that they had little packets of Heinz ketchup, and the guys would let me take a few extra home whenever I ate there! They occasionally ran out, so we always looked to forward to our saviours bringing in those little blessings from the US!

Silvanocat, Raro

First of all Watties is a Heinz' branch - so what? Blame them.

But in fact what is normally used in the Watties' region aka South Pacific as "ketchup" on fries and such is not really Watties Ketchup, which might be even the same or similar to Heinz, but it is the Watties Tomato Sauce, quite nasty and runny indeed. Nobody local would be able to see or taste any difference between them though... Both are red, both are made from tomatoes - so who cares? But the real ketchup in the plastic bottle costs twice as much as the tomato sauce in the refill can. So at least in Samoa you will always get tomato sauce when you order/expect ketchup.

But I agree that ketchup and brands seem to be an American issue only. Like with Coke and Pepsi - the rest of the world would not know or care about the difference (if there is any). I saw a guy once here in Samoa who got a can of Pepsi Cola instead of the Coke he had ordered and he made a big fuzz about it. Absolutely no local had the slightest idea what he was talking about ... He really went nuts but everyone else had a good laugh. Tourists can be very entertaining, lol.

I think the only time I got fries was at TJ's and I got them to put sauce on it for me, dont remember what brand it was but seemed normal, LoLz

Wk--Diet Pepsi is a lot better than Diet Coke, less of a tinny aftertaste!

What do you mean with "diet"? Samoans never heard of that!

Ok. Being that I am used to US and NZ ketchups.......the NZ ketchup has a more vinegar taste. If I have McD fries I am going to want US ketchup but if I am going to eat fish and chips it had better be Watties ketchup. With that theme....if I am eating a German sausage I am wishing I had their curried ketchup. :0) Aloha

TC---Curried ketchup????

Curried ketchup? Sounds like ketchup u get in India.

This is
- just ketchup or tomato paste
- a (mostly home made) sauce based on ketchup or tomato paste, mixed with curry powder and sometimes other spices, i.e. Worcester Sauce. If you are lazy you can buy a mix like that ready made .

It is spread on a long pan-fried pork sausage, which is cut in pieces.

The main thing is that a lot of curry powder gets spread on it before serving. It is called Currywurst.

In fact we make it at home here in Samoa too - old habits die hard.

Now I would never of guested that Ketchup and coke could stir up such a conversation!!! I'm sure the local food it the best!!!!!!!

Holly--have you ever tasted taro?? Well, tried to taste taro? It has no taste.

I fully agree. And what do you think is local food, hollybell?

What you get in Samoa as local food at the BBQ stand (there are hundreds of them) are three hard and completey tasteless cooked bananas with a bit of coconut cream and then the goodies on top. These are:
- one or two grilled Turkey Tails, even though there is not a single turkey on the island. They import that crap from the US, where it is taken off the turkey as inedible (80%fat), frozen and exported to Latin America (the boxes are labelled in Spanish) and to the South Pacific
- one grilled Chicken Frank from the US
- a piece of grilled chicken back or chicken leg, again imported from the US
On the top you get a nice serving of Wattie's Tomato Sauce from New Zealand (called ketchup - see above).

You pay 5 Tala (US$2) for that on a foam plate and, wrapped in aluminium foil and people love it. And I swear that the locals call this their local food, eat exactly like that at home too. I refused a serving of fatty Hellaby corned beef once, canned in Samoa from imported Australian beef, and I was given some looks because I did not like "Samoan food".

Nobody eats fruits, hardly anyone eats vegetables. You can buy some at the one market in Apia or Salelologa though. Staple food are cooked green bananas, breadfruit and taro - if you grow it yourself. All dry and tasteless though, so you need coconut cream which is very hard to make (you cannot buy it). When you have to buy these staple food items one can hardly afford it. US$4 for a family's serving of taro. Imported rice from Vietnam is much, much cheaper.

Local meat and fish are very expensive as well. Tinned mackerels in oil from South America are very popular instead (you pay less than one US-Dollar for a one-pound can).

So far about 'local food", at least in Samoa. Do you have other experiences from other islands?

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Now I would never of guested that Ketchup and coke could stir up such a conversation!!! <hr></blockquote>

Quite frankly I was surprised too when it got to that. But on a closer look it is a lot less off topic than it appears. Okay, there are some useful things like AAA-Batteries or torches to be mentioned first. But at least for those who stay for a bit longer, some months or even a year, those single special food items that you might not get on the island (whichever it is) become more and more important. Believe me - when you are on the island for seven months already, a glass of your favorite peanut butter, a real Diet Pepsi and, of course, that bottle of HEINZ ketchup can make your day!

The OPs request was to Post Things that You Wish you have Brought to the Island .

I bought a flashlight (torch), batteries, camera, sunscreen, insect repellent, snorkel, fins, etc. and etc. I read the guidebook, I came prepared. Ketchup was something I did not bring and wished I had.

While OP may have no interest in burgers or ketchup I suspect that mine was the kind of response that he was looking for, something that is not obvious.

Raro- how do they make taro where you are/were? We had it with coconut milk sauce, used as chips- quite good, and as taro (potato) salad which was really good. And also the leaves as taro leaf soup- a very great favorite.

They boil it up, then slice it. I use it like a spoon to pick up other veggies etc on my plate.
The taro leaf is great when cooked in coconut cream, it is called rukau in the Cooks. It was my favorite food! But the taro root itself had no taste to me.

An NZ guy who had lived in the Northern Cooks for yrs told me his favorite recipe for taro, when I was researching my "Cook Islands Companion" guidebook many years ago. It went something like this:

"Take a big taro root, and dice it into small cubes. Put them in a big pot with about two gallons of water. Add some salt and pepper. Then throw in about eight or ten bits of small coral, from the beach, each a couple of inches across.

Boil it all for an hour. When you are done, drain off the water, pick out the coral bits and put them in a bowl. Throw away the taro, and eat the coral bits."

Well... it was a long time ago when I was 19/20 (1989/90) and lived on Aitutaki, Savai'i and Moorea/Huahine for a year with my mother and sister (24 at the time).And yes fresh food was VERY hard to get but being all girls we made friends fast who brougth us lots of fresh fruit and fish (I LOVE raw fish) they taught us how to grate a coconut to make C..milk and open one (my job) Now I agree Taro ,Breadfruit and cooked bananas (Boiled) taste of nothing baked but fry a slice of raw hard breadfruit put some salt on it and it is delicious ,taro ..boil it first and then fry it (the purple one is the best)...We found a swamp on Aitutaki where watercress grew ..made great salads..had to buy tomatoes and cabbage to make salads.
To tell you the truth this xmas when we went to Moorea we did pack a liter of our own olive oil (I live in tuscany) and that did make a big difference.
Mooera was expensive but there was no shortage of fruit and veg. and fish. About tinned mackrel ... I'm not keen on tinned food but if you don't have fresh fish well cut up an onion ,tomatoes ,coconut milk ,salt, pepper and lime juice mix it with your tinned mackrel and it is really good.
There are alot of sticky foods ..banana / paw paw pa'kay (don't know how to spell it ) which when you first taste it you probably will find disgusting but belive it or not with coconut cream I grew to love it. Instead of a boiled banana which I never grew to like try and fresh banana with your food it is strangly enough very good.
In Raro there was a lovely old lady in 2000 who sold octopus and other goodies all wraped up in au and banana leaves . I'm not saying that it is easy to eat and find good food and of course if you don't like fish etc well then it must be hell but if you look hard and ask alot of friendly people to help you ..you should be ok...Yes the locals have adopted some very bad western ideas of making food and now think it is their own local food but then again it is human nature to alway want what is shown on tv... Fast food etc!! I think every country you go to try and eat the local food it is usually what they know how to cook best...Pizza and pasta in Italy !! Cabbage and Bacon ( and smoked salmon) Guiness and oysters in Ireland ..curry in India... Raw fish and coconut milk in the Cooks!!

Now back to the question on what to bring ..if you are going buget roll up a mosquitoe net in your case and some string (maybe a hook too) .I brought two with me for the kids this xmas in Moorea and they really came in handy as there was only one net in the hut which we rented. It doesn't take up much room.
Olive oil if that is what you like ...I'm sure you can get bad quality oil there... just like the Ketchup etc...
A first aid kit...antiseptic cream.. antibiotic etc.
Torch and battries.
Nice nick nacks (wooden not plastic) to give as thank you presents...Hairbands for kids...Colouring pencils and sharpener or chalk as opposed to markers as they run out and then get thrown away ...creating more rubbish..Remeber they are small Islands in the middle of the South Seas..not much space for rubbish!!!
Old cloths as things get recked in the humid climate..Coconut water really stains and doesn't come out so watch your white t-shirt when you drink your first coconut!!!!!
Have Fun you will LOVE the place!!
Holly

Just a quick note.. firstly excuse my spelling !! Also my mother wrote a book about our stay in the South Seas..she spent two years in all Rarotonga, Aitutaki , Atiu, Mauke, Mitiaro... Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine.. Upolu , Savai'i.. the book is called "The South Seas and a Box of Paints" by Pauline Bewick. Google her if you are intrested.
Holly Melia