Travel to Australia And South Pacific

Lonely Planet Rarotonga & the Cook Islands (Lonely Planet Raratonga and the Cook Islands)

Format: Paperback
Author: Oliver Berry
ReleaseDate: June, 2006
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

Very useful but of less than average construction.
In the lead up to our trip i purchased this guide and studied it carefully. My fiance and i were fortunate enough to holiday in the Cooks for 2 weeks in January 07. All the sections were well written and comprehensive. The history and environment section made for interesting background reading and helped to get an idea of life back in the old days as well as the current situation.
The section dealing with Rarotonga and its capital Avarua, as a whole was useful and the information (sights, accomodation, where to eat/drink and shop, other amenities) for the most part (95%) accurate - even prices more or less. We did a daytrip to Aitutaki and that section was also quite good. There were also sections on all the other Southern & Northern group islands but i cannot comment as we did not go to any of these. Still made interesting reading though. The maps were also accurate and well detailed.
One thing i would disagree with is attemting to do the main cross island hike on your own. It is possible but there are no signposts, and the trail itself is quite difficult to find and follow in places, not to mention quite treacherous and hard going in the wet season. We went with Pa a local guide and it was a wise decision as many people have been injured or worse attempting this hike.
Other than this, my main gripe is with actual construction of this book. The plastic coating on the cover started to peel soon after purchase and the pages are starting to come loose from the spine. All this without any heavy duty wear and tear. I think Lonely Planet need to increase their quality control and improve the construction of their guides so that they do stand up to more rigorous use, after all that's what they are for.

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