Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a small tourist paradise. Almost all the local population, one way or another, is working in the field of services for tourists. In addition, there are magnificent beaches with white sand, corners of pristine nature, original culture and many other things that can interest tourists.

The Cook Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean, south of New Zealand, of which they have been a part for a long time. To date, this is a self-governing state entity, whose sovereignty, however, is not recognized by all countries. Local residents have New Zealand citizenship, but they live by their constitution.

The structure of this association includes 15 islands of different sizes, their total area is 237 km sq., And the population - about 60 thousand people. The most important island of Cook - Rarotonga, the capital of the island and the whole state - Avarua. The archipelago includes islands of volcanic and coral origin, and they are divided into two groups: northern and southern.

The first visits to these lands took place in 1595 and in 1606, but records of the Cook Islands appeared only in 1773, when they first visited seafarer James Cook. He visited the southern part of the archipelago, and in his notes gave him the name of the island of Harvey. However, it did not take root, and later, in the XIX century, Kruzenshtern, a Russian traveler, called these lands the Cook Islands.

In 1814, another visit to the archipelago by Europeans took place, which ended in a bloodbath, and a few years later the first missionaries arrived. Local people quickly became attached to the new faith and still preach Christianity. Already in 1888 the Cook Islands became the protectorate of England, and in 1901 they were transferred to the management of New Zealand. The archipelago became a self-governing state in 1965.

Church music is very popular on the Cook Islands. And unlike the generally accepted traditions, local church hymns are performed using the 6th chord. Traditional religious songs are of great importance in the life of the islanders. There are hymns, timed to each important event in the life of a person: wedding, funeral, the birth of children and so on. In addition, in addition to the hymns, distributed throughout the entire archipelago, on each of the islands there is a set of their songs.

Studying Cook Islands is best starting from Rarotonga, it is here that most of the sights of colonial times are located, including the first church, the first missionary settlement and so on. There are also guided tours to the pristine jungle and sea fishing. Find a lot of interesting for yourself here and divers. The fact is that earlier the island was in the center of a large coral atoll, which now has gone under water.

It should be noted that Rarotonga is one of the young islands of the archipelago, which can be judged by mountain education on this and other islands. On Rarotonga there is a powerful volcanic ensemble, with tall young mountains, while on the other the mountains are more like high hills with gentle slopes.

All this, along with sandy beaches and a hot tropical climate, attracts tourists to the Cook Islands. Tours are in demand all year round, as seasonal climate changes in this area are insignificant, they give off a cool dry period from April to November, when the temperature is about 24-26 degrees; And a hot wet period, from December to March. At this time, the average temperature is about 25-30 degrees.

A visa to Ostrava Cook is issued at the entrance, which is undoubtedly very convenient. In order to receive it, you need only a passport, a return ticket and a tourist voucher. Do not interfere with familiarize yourself with customs regulations. So, the importation of the currency into the territory of the state is not limited, but it is impossible to export more than 5000 NZ dollars . You can not import food, weapons and drugs. You can not take samples of animals or plants that are under protection. For this reason, all products made of wood, feathers, leather, corals and so on are subject to inspection and mandatory certification.