5 cyclones 21 years ago

Looking back to 2005, the Cook Islands experienced 5 cyclones within 5 weeks.

Wati weather

Tropical Cyclone Wati. This was a predicted path, but Wati did its own thing and followed a much more easterly path.path

We've had the first cyclone of the season; although it was pre-season really as the official season begins on 1 November. The name was Tropical Cyclone Wati and it was relatively weak, a category 2 which later downgraded to a category 1 and then reverted to being a tropical depression. It passed directly over Aitutaki causing damage to the harbour. On Rarotonga it brought wind and rain and the rain was most welcome as we've had something of a drought recently. The wind was sufficiently powerful that Air New Zealand cancelled the Sunday flight. The rescheduled plane arrived on Monday afternoon and holidaymakers could be seen rushing to the beaches to enjoy the beautiful weather and calm lagoons. Let us hope that any future cyclones are as mild as Wati proved to be.

It's 2026!

Hoo! Long time no write. But I'm still here -and so is Rarotonga. Here's a picture of Black Rock beach to prove it.

And her is Black Rock itself.

So, what's been happening in the last 4 years? Covid restrictions came to an end - the air border closed in August 2020. Hard times for all involved in the tourist trade although for others it was as though we'd gone back in time 20 years and the island was low-key and relaxed. We only had one plane a week - NZ veggies came in on Thursdays and were quickly snapped up. Restrictions were gradually eased from January to September 2022. There was a general election in August 2022. CIP won 12 seats but quickly snapped up a couple of Independents to secure a 14-seat majority. The Demos crashed with a mere 5 seats. Fast forward to August 2026 for our recent general election when the CIP won 13 of the 24 parliamentary seats, securing a majority and a fifth consecutive term for Prime Minister Mark Brown. Independents scored 7 seats but most of them have now joined the CIP, no doubt hoping for lucrative assistant ministerships. The Demos crashed and burned. Total wipe-out. Zero seats. Papa Tom must be spinning in his grave. Our seabed and its polymetalic nodules continue to attract attention although things are still in the exploration stage. However Penrhyn is going to get a flashy new harbour, and they have needed an upgrade for many years. But suspicion abounds because an American 'researcher' is attached to the team looking into things and right now nobody trusts the US. (Well. I don't. Maybe others do.) Here are a couple of pics of Penrhyn Harbour.

It's tough living on remote outer islands but we now have a new inter-island ship, courtesy of China, called Tuitui Moana, so things are really looking up for Penrhyn.

Here's a video of Penrhyn from the time of Covid - 2020. Enjoy.

Update Monday:

Blue sky, white clouds, sun shining, seawall road open, boats back in harbour, tourists out and about, debris cleared from roads and harbour surrounds.

 

We’ve had a rough few days on Rarotonga with heavy rain, high winds and huge waves pounding the coastal areas as a tropical depression passed by. 

The harbour has been evacuated for the past week, with fishing boats and inter-island ships sheltering to the southwest of Rarotonga. 

 The weather caused surface flooding of low lying areas particularly around Avatiu and Avarua and the Nikao seawall road was closed for several days. 

The rough seas and high winds left debris everywhere but, near Trader Jack’s and the Empire bridge, the Landholdings construction wall kept branches, palm fronds and trunks from spilling onto the road. 

Many shops closed early on Friday and opened late on Saturday. 

Air New Zealand’s Friday flight tried several times to land but eventually returned to Auckland and both Saturday flights were cancelled. 

At Black Rock the waves have carried coral rocks and gravel into the channel - there will be no more jumping into the pool there for a while. 

The weather forecast is for more rain and thunder for the next few days and then we should have some dry sunny days so things will have a chance to dry out. 

More details here: 

 https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/460063/cook-islands-main-island-battered-by-storm

  https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/01/22/rarotonga-flights-cancelled-as-storm-batters-islands/

https://www.cookislandsnews.com/internal/national/weather/rarotonga-hammered-with-heavy-rain-and-sea-swells/

 

Spay Day on Rarotonga was a great success

 

Strictly speaking, World Spay Day falls on the fourth Tuesday in February which would have been 23 February this year.

However here on Rarotonga we had been lashed by wind and heavy rain for about a week before the event, organised by Te Are Manu and CISPCA, so it was postponed until Wednesday 3 March.
It turned out to be a wise decision. The warm, sunny weather probably encouraged more people to take advantage of the event.

World Spay Day is an annual campaign that aims to encourage people to save animal lives and prevent unwanted litters by spaying and neutering companion animals and feral cats.

 

Marquees  were set up behind KiteSup in Muri with areas for operations, waiting and recovery.
There was plenty of room for cars as pet owners dropped off their animals and CISPCA provided transport for owners who weren’t able to get there themselves.
Spay Day started at 8am. By 8.30am we already had three dogs and a cat ready to go and they just kept coming.

 In the months since our borders closed (in March 2020) Dr Ellen McBryde has been the only vet on the island. She has had to work incredibly hard and Te Are Manu is so grateful for all she has done, as are all the pet owners and their cats and dogs (and goats). But things are looking up. Just recently vet Dr Bridget Roulston and vet nurse Parish Short have arrived from New Zealand and local Sara Nooroa has started learning the ins and outs of being a vet technician.

Of course clinic manager Debbie Topp and assistant manager Pip Henderson did an awesome job of organisation and kept things moving along smoothly.

Many other people helped make the day a huge success.
Volunteers manning various stalls, raffle donations, a fantastic lunch prepared by Island Platters, fish from Trader Don Beer and salad provided by Steve Witta at Aroa Vegeland. And of course all the caring people who brought their pets along. 

Our vets completed thirty-eight desexes in the day: 14 male dogs; 11 female dogs; 7 male cats; 6 female cats.

By the way, the operations were free although donations were gratefully accepted.

Check out the Cook Islands News story about Spay Day here:
https://www.cookislandsnews.com/national/local/spay-day-event-hailed-a-success/

Manihiki - the island of black pearls

Manihiki was once known as Humphrey Island and is also called, informally,  the island of black pearls.

The northern group coral atoll has over forty motu (islets) surrounding a deep lagoon about nine kilometres wide. The two main motu are Tukao, where the airport is situated, and Tauhunu where we stayed for two nights.

To get from the airport to Tauhunu we climbed aboard an aluminium dinghy - the main method of transport in the northern atolls.

Some of the group stopped at the two over-water bungalows of Manihiki Lagoon Villas. Phil and I carried on to Numahanga Homestead, further into Tauhunu village.

Numahanga Homestead

The homestead was built by Tekake William, the father of black pearl farming in Manihiki. It’s certainly built to house a lot of people. 

There’s a huge kitchen/dining/living/sleeping room. As well as a double bed, two large sofas could also be used for sleeping and on the wide covered verandas that surround the house are several more beds.

The bathroom and shower are accessible from the veranda.

Fabulous food

The fridge was well stocked but we never needed to cook because our host Gabriel (a relative of the late Tekake) and his wife Joyana brought along our meals - breakfasts and dinners.

And what meals they were.

BBQ tuna and other fish, sashimi, salads, rice, taro, coconut crab, uto pancakes with fresh nu to drink.

For breakfast we were treated to pawpaw with lime juice, eggs, sometimes fried, sometimes scrambled, bacon, pancakes with maple syrup, and toast.

Far too much for just the two of us so I hope the leftovers were recycled!

Manihiki pearl farming

One of the highlights of our time on Manihiki was a visit to a kaoa - a pearl farm centred on a coral outcrop in the lagoon.

The Cook Islands pearl industry developed quickly in the 1980s. Prices and global demand were high and the buyers were buying everything the 200 or so Manihiki farmers produced - about $18m annually in 2000.

But as more and more oysters were crammed into a small lagoon with limited food and oxygen, a bacterial disease broke out and devastated the industry.

Many farmers gave up altogether and the number of oysters in the lagoon plummeted, back to a level which nature could support.

There are now around 25 pearl farmers who sell most of their pearls locally although since our borders closed because of covid-19 there are no tourists to buy them.

In the late 1990s the population was about 600 but following cyclone Martin in 1997 and the collapse of the pearl industry it has dropped to about 200.

A day on a kaoa

This farm was once the home of Tekake William. The house and outbuildings are substantial although they have fallen into disrepair. Pearl farmers no longer live on the kaoa but just visit them when there is work to be done.

The oysters

Oysters are attached to strings, called chaplets, dangling in the lagoon. Once an oyster has been seeded it takes about two years for a pearl to develop.

The boys dived to collect a basket of oyster shells and then hacked off the marine growth on the shells, a messy job.

This rubbish can’t be dumped back into the lagoon, it must be taken to land on one of the many uninhabited motu.

First the shells are prised slightly apart and a technician peers inside to see if there’s a pearl nestling in a sac. If so there follows a delicate probing and cutting to release the pearl. If not, the oyster will be eaten!

Our group had the chance to probe and they found several keshis (mal-formed pearls) and a couple of beauties.

More fabulous food

After all the hard work it was time for lunch.

The BBQ is a wishing-well-shaped structure with a pit for stones to be heated with driftwood and old, dead trees. BTW the stones are imported from Rarotonga because the local coral boulders just split when heated.

Tuna slices, clams, crayfish, coconut crab and other fish didn’t take long to cook on the BBQ plate. The crew also ferried over rice, bananas, taro and a special Manihikian version of poke. Cold pawpaw juice to wash it all down.

Looking for crabs

After lunch there was time for swimming or snorkelling then we headed back to the mainland stopping off at an uninhabited motu to hunt for coconut crabs - but NOT to catch and cook them, just to look at them in their natural environment.

We enjoyed a very pleasant nature walk although jandals aren’t the best footwear for scrambling over fallen palm trees, kikau fronds, coconuts and scrubby bushes.

A fully grown coconut crab is a very impressive creature. The ones we saw were brown and blue. They can climb coconut palms but usually live in holes at the base of the trees, although one we were shown lives in a shallow cave in a rock wall. 

They can live to about 50 years - much older than the boys who found them for us. The locals know where to find them but only catch them when needed.

We left the crabs to return to their holes and sailed back to Tauhunu.

Tukao

Tukao village is smaller than Tauhunu but still has a school and a government administration centre.

Outside the centre is a memorial to the nineteen people lost when cyclone Martin struck on 1 November 1997. Ten bodies were never recovered.

After Martin the New Zealand government built several cyclone shelters but they are now mostly dilapidated. They clearly haven’t been used for many years, not really surprising since the population has decreased from over 600 to 200 in the past 20 years. 

We walked from the village to the airport along a path by the side of the runway.

The Citation was waiting for us so we said farewell and thank-you to the people who’d looked after us and were soon on our way to Penrhyn, the final atoll on our discovery tour.

Pukapuka – the Cook's most isolated island

Pukapuka was once known as Danger Island; John Byron, commodore of a British naval ship named it when he sighted it in 1765 but couldn't land because of rough seas, high surf and reefs.

The other name, the Island of Beautiful Girls, is a different matter. 'Other Cook Islanders' are supposedly the people who call it that but it only appears in blog posts, the earliest from 2004, and none written by a Cook Islander. It could be the tropical island version of an urban myth.
John Roberts of the Kia Orana Cook Islands website says he found the comment in Elliot Smith's book, 'The Cook Islands Companion' which was first published in 1991.
By the way, John's website is packed with information about all aspects of life in all of the Cook Islands. It's a wonderful resource for anyone interested in this part of the world.

Arrival

Our plane had no problems landing after the two hour flight from Rarotonga. We had a good view of the beautiful two-tone blue lagoon and three palm-covered islands with thin strips of yellow sand.

The airstrip is on Motu Ko where the mayor Levi Walewaoa and our island tour guide Edson greeted us
and we had a welcome drink of refreshing sweet nu, the first of many on this trip.

The main settlement is on the largest motu, Wale.

Coconut crabs

The three northern group atolls we visited have big lagoons and the normal mode of transport is an aluminium dinghy with an outboard motor so we walked across Motu Ko to pick up a boat on the lagoon side, pausing while Edson winkled a coconut crab out of its hidey-hole.

This was a medium sized crab, about 15-years-old with a lovely black, brown and orange carapace. It didn't have the enormous claws of a fully grown crab – they can live up to fifty years.
Pukapukans are very conservation-minded and are careful not to over-harvest or take small crabs.

A boat, a swim, a tiki tour

It took about half an hour to cover the 10km north to Wale where we had time for a swim before hopping aboard a pick-up truck for a tiki tour of the village.

The roads are rough coral with neat houses set close to the road edge. Women and small children sitting on verandas waved as we passed by but we saw very few people out and about.

Pukapuka has the largest population of the northern islands at about 425 – and growing according to the mayor – so the CICC church is a substantial building with colourful carvings and painted motifs.

Government offices are located at the administration centre in Ngake village and staff were smartly dressed in pareu uniforms although they didn't look particularly busy.

The area also housed the BCI bank and Vodafone offices, the agriculture department and the solar power array. All the northern group islands have 24 hour solar power.

Wowolu, the Shark Bait Hotel sits near the admin centre.
It looks like a concrete water tank that's been converted into a jail with a ventilator on top and a barred door.
Kora said it was where miscreants could be incarcerated but it's not currently in use! Still the threat of it apparently keeps youngsters on the straight and narrow.

Eating in style

We had lunch in a room at the centre.
A long trestle table was laden down with plates of food; fish, coconut crab, raw fish, uto pancakes, taro. Also sausages, rice and potato salad all of which have to be imported - you can't grow potatoes in this climate.

The taro was definitely home grown.
The road snakes through a large taro growing area in the interior of Wale. Over many years people have filled a depression in the coral with vegetation that has rotted down and become compost, very good for growing the important staple root crop.
Fresh sweet nu, served in the shell of course, washed our lunch down.  Delicious.

We ate heartily but with only seven of us there was plenty left over. That's not a problem though. The locals would finish it off or take it home once we left. Nothing goes to waste after a feed like this.

Time to say goodbye

Our original schedule called for an overnight stay on Pukapuka but the usual accommodation was being used as a hospital while a new hospital is being built so we had just the day tour before flying on to Manihiki. Later tours were put up in the nurse's house I believe.

All too soon it was time to cross the lagoon back to Motu Ko and the airstrip for our flight to the island of black pearls – Manihiki.

Beautiful, peaceful, friendly, laid back; the real danger in Pukapuka is not wanting to leave.

The Northern Group Discovery Tour

Tourists are few and far between in the Cook Islands at the moment (because of Covid-19 travel restrictions) so Cook Islands tourism, Air Rarotonga and Island Hopper Vacations got together to organise packages to some of the Pa Enua.

The idea was to keep tourism alive on the outer islands and to give locals on Rarotonga the chance to see some of our less visited destinations.

It was a brilliant idea and heavily discounted prices had people flocking to join a tour.

Initially there were just three trips to the northern group (Pukapuka, Manihiki and Penrhyn) and four to the southern group (Mangaia, Mitiaro, Mauke, Atiu) but all of them sold out almost as soon as bookings opened - for the northern group within half an hour and a waiting list of well over a hundred.

We managed to get the two of us on the first trip to the north, a four night tour, leaving on Monday 16 November and returning on Friday 20 November.

A trip to remember

This video is a general one featuring all three islands and a look at the plane, a Cessna Citation jet that cuts travel time dramatically, from over four hours to Penrhyn, the most distant island, to about two-and-a-half.

The weather was dull as we left but at least the rain stopped.

The Citation had two pilots, Munro and James, our guide, Kora Kora, and six passengers, Cathy and Kevin, Jo and Mark plus Phil and me.

Kora served up tea and coffee plus a variety of snacks as we flew. Wine was also available but 8am was a bit early for that.

Pukapuka

The original plan was to spend one night on Pukapuka, two on Manihiki and one on Penrhyn but there was no available accommodation on Pukapuka for this first trip. (That changed for later tours.)

We still visited the island and had a good view of its beautiful lagoon as we flew in.

From the airstrip on Motu Ko we took a half-hour boat ride to the main settlement of Wale where we had time for a swim, a tiki-tour and an enormous, delicious lunch.

A trestle table was laden with plates of local fish, ika mata, coconut crab, taro, uto pancakes as well as rice, sausages and potato salad. Fresh sweet nu to drink, served in the shell of course.

Then, sadly, it was time to head back to the airstrip for the flight to Manihiki.

Manihiki

We had a good view through the clouds as the plane approached Manihiki but it was raining when we landed. Fortunately the weather was fine for the rest of our stay and we had brilliant weather for the visit to Tekake William's kaoa (large coral head) and pearl farm.

Manihiki is famous for its black pearls; Tekake William started peal farming there but the bottom has dropped out of the market now, due to oversupply world-wide and a lack of tourists on Rarotonga because of Covid-19.

Lunch was spectacular. Barbecued tuna slices and other sorts of fish, paua, crayfish, coconut crab as well as rice, poke, taro and bananas.

This gave us the energy to go crab hunting on a pig-free motu later on – but not for eating purposes, just to see how they live. The locals are conservation-minded and don't take young crabs – they can live up to 50 years.

Penrhyn

Penrhyn is the furthest north of the Cook Islands, only about 9 degrees south of the Equator.

The lagoon is enormous, brilliantly blue and dotted with coral outcrops.

We didn't need a boat to get to our accommodation, it was just a few hundred yards past the end of the runway.

The lagoon is famous for its shark population and feeding them in the morning was a fascinating experience.

Black tip reef sharks and nurse sharks turned up; according to the locals neither of them are dangerous and apparently the nurse sharks don't have teeth but that didn't stop them grabbing the offered food (left over bits of fish).

A boat trip of about an hour across the lagoon to a fishermen's campsite gave us the chance to swim and snorkel – and admire the scenery and bird life.

We also had the opportunity to buy beautiful woven hats made by Mama Saki who is probably the best weaver on the island.

Back to Rarotonga

All good things must come to an end and after four fabulous days on the Cook Islands' most remote, beautiful and little known islands it was time to return to Rarotonga.

We left at about 10am for the two-and-a-half hour flight but the holiday atmosphere continued with snacks and a celebratory wine (or two) as we winged our way south.

The weather was cloudy and dull by the time we landed, as it had been when we started.

But in between we'd had sun, sea, sand and wonderful experiences.

If you ever get the chance to go on this discovery tour … take it!

Watch out for the posts and videos on Pukapuka, Manihiki and Penrhyn.

Te Maeva Nui cancelled for 2020

This year's TeMaeva Nui cultural dance festival has been cancelled because of the coronavirus situation.
Although the country is Covid-19 free, the social distancing and ban on large gatherings made rehearsals and costume-making impossible.
So here are a couple of flash-back videos, from 2011 and 2013 as a reminder of the singing, dancing, drumming and all-round excitement.





See more on this story on the Cook Islands News website.

Rarotonga's water

Rarotonga's water issues have been around for a long time.
I've just remembered this video, published in 2011, saying back then that Rarotonga was very lucky compared to many countries.
We usually had enough water and the streams and springs were not polluted - with industrial or farming pollutants at least. Our main problems were wastage (30 to 70%!) and lack of storage.
Even in times of drought the rivers up in the mountains usually had water in them – it was just harder to get it into the reticulation system.
Government was well aware of this problem and in 2012 announced a project to refurbish the water system by:
- upgrading the intakes
- increasing storage facilities
- treating the water to make it fit to drink
- upgrading the distribution system
The hope was to have this completed by 2015/16.
China, New Zealand and the Cook Islands were to cover the costs, estimated to be about $60 million.
(More details here:
http://ici.gov.ck/sites/default/files/downloads/TMV%20Facts%20&%20News%2002.pdf)
Fast forward to 2020 and we're not there yet.
The project has been beset by problems and the cost has ballooned to $90 million.
The ring main around the island was completed but shoddy workmanship by the Chinese contractors meant that a large amount had to be repaired - by a local company. This is still going on. The intakes are on private land and some landowners are unhappy with lack of government communication about access.
And some people are complaining about the proposed system of disinfection.
There is an excellent opinion piece in Cook Islands News by Jaewynn McKay here:
http://www.cookislandsnews.com/opinion/item/75457-you-can-t-live-without-water
I am completely in favour of chlorination - it's cheap and efficient (and it will kill coronavirus as well as the other harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites present in 'pure' mountain streams).
People are entitled to oppose it but, hey guys, buy yourself a water storage tank and collect rain water.
Don't stop the rest of us having safe water delivered to our taps.

The story of Te Are Manu

Te Are Manu is the only vet clinic in the Cook Islands and it's now a busy, well-equipped place.

But it didn't start out that way.

In July 2017 we leased a building behind the Ministry of Agriculture in Arorangi.

Cook Islands Investment Corporation did a great job of cleaning and painting our new clinic.

The back yard needed clearing of discarded rubbish.

Volunteers and board members put together donated shelves and sanded and painted second-hand cupboards and tables.

We also had an operating table and trolleys to be assembled.

Early volunteer vets and vet nurses organised the supplies that were now coming in.

The Te Are Manu sign on the main road showed we were getting ready for business.

Donated vet supplies were now arriving from clinics overseas, mainly in New Zealand.

A washing machine, dryer and fridge were donated by previous Rarotonga residents now living in New Zealand.

Although we weren't yet officially open we had our first furry patient.

Pinot Gris came along for a check up and de-flea.

On 13 October 2017 we had our official opening ...

and after a rousing imene tuki, board chairman Trish Barton and board members asked Tinomana Ariki, the ariki of Puaikura, and Taamo Heather, the landowner representative, to cut the ei.

We were now officially up and running.

The Aronga Mana of Puaikura nominated Te Are Manu for a Village Pride award.

We put our $1500 prize towards buying a van for the clinic.

The back of the room was organised into an office space and a work space.

The main purpose of our clinic is to look after sick animals

and our operating theatre was well-set up for this.

Many generous vet clinics overseas have given us equipment that's surplus to their needs.

Our volunteer vets and vet nurses make full use of the theatre.

Our lovely new operating theatre was originally set up by CareVet

for the SPCA dog de-sexing team and is now fully functional.

Dr Sean Owens and Dr Jessica Sanchez from the University of California at Davis have set up a diagnostic lab to help detect parasites in animals.

Te Are Manu doesn't work in a vacuum.

We assisted Aitutaki Vet Trek, an American group, including two vets and two vet nurses, travelling to Aitutaki for a cat de-sexing programme. They've gone two years in a row, 2018 and 2019.

We also work closely with the Cook Islands SPCA – Te Are Manu is the vet clinical side and SPCA is the animal rescue and shelter side.

Whenever we have enough volunteers Te Are Manu sets up a stall at the Saturday morning market.

This means people can meet our volunteers and learn about our services.

And we bring along kittens and Sonny the clinic dog - always popular, especially with children.

The yard at the back of the clinic has always been a place for our dogs to play and especially clinic dog Sonny who mentors young pups spending the day with us.

In July 2018 we started building a kennel for our recovering animals – cats as well as dogs – to make things less stressful (and smelly) for everybody.

The kennel is now in use and can be accessed directly from the new operating theatre.

We couldn't do all this without our volunteers.

The vets and vet nurses come from all over the world, mainly New Zealand and Australia but we've also had people from England, Ireland, all parts of Europe, the United States and even Singapore. It's a real united nations.

They are all dedicated professionals willing to donate their time and expertise to help our furry friends here in the Cook Islands.

Meitaki maata – thank you all very much.

Rarotonga's Creative Centre

Foundation

The Creative Centre was founded in 2002 as a place where people with disabilities, over the age of sixteen, could get together and find a pathway to as much independence as possible.

The programme included activities, lessons about various crafts and visits to the outside community. In the past these have included street festivals, watching the annual float parade, exercise classes at a local gym and being part of an environment day presentation, depending on what is going on locally.

The Centre

The centre is open for 48 weeks of the year – it closes doors over the Christmas/New Year period.

The Creative Centre owns a couple of large people-mover vans and every weekday morning many members are collected and taken to the premises behind the Tupapa Public Health building although some members are able to make their own way, travelling by Cooks buses – all free of charge.

Activities

There are various activities during the day with those who are able making items for sale while others might colour in pictures or do puzzles.

In the past the members have had painting and pottery classes but that depends on having teachers available.

A favourite activity right now is pareu and t-shirt making, as you can see in the video.

These items are tagged with the maker's name and when sold a portion of the price goes to the one who wielded the roller.

The printing screens have all been provided by local artists.

Other crafts include making bead jewellery such as necklaces, earrings and bracelets. The beads come from donated items that must first be picked apart before being reassembled. It needs good eyesight and patience.

The craft is sold either at the centre or at the Creative Hut down at Punange Nui Market. That's open on Saturdays and another couple of days a week and is run by volunteers.

The staff try to see that everyone gets a small pay packet at the end of the week.

The garden

One of the members is a wizard with a weed-eater and keeps the area tidy. He sometimes works in the community – all part of becoming as independent as possible.

The garden beside the centre has herb and vegetable beds and a shade-house where seeds are raised in pots either for sale or to plant in the beds. At the moment there's a healthy crop of basil.

The produce is used in the centre's kitchen where lunch is cooked every day.

And some of the members help with the cooking.

Changes

There have been some changes over the years.

For example the centre now has more older members. This may be because strokes or heart disease lead to disabilities but also because of the early stages of dementia.

But regardless of age, the dedicated staff look after everyone. They are all caring and compassionate but also very practical.

The atmosphere at the centre is absolutely positive. It's a happy place.

Donors

None of this would be possible without the help of generous donors.

The Japanese government funding the respite area is an obvious major example, as is James Talbot, currently walking the length of New Zealand to raise money to run this area. There is more about the Creative Trail walk on the previous blog post.

But many local businesses and individuals give support like Cooks Buses mentioned above, retail stores with discounts and the women's housie groups that often donate up to $5000 a year.

Visitors welcome

People are welcome to visit the centre and in particular tourists can come along and make their own pareus or T-shirts.

They will always receive a hearty welcome.

Kiwi walker helps Rarotonga's Creative Centre

This story by Barbara Dreaver, TVNZ's Pacific Correspondent, is about James Talbot who is walking the length of New Zealand to raise money for the Creative Centre.
At the beginning of her media career Barbara worked for Cook Islands News. She still has a soft spot for the Cooks and is very popular here.
See this story about James Talbot on the Cook Islands News website.
Follow James Talbot's walk on Facebook.
Make a donation on the Creative Trail Givealittle page.

Aitutaki Vet Trek is finally here!

19 sq mi of lagoon
6.97 sq mi land
pop about 2000
cat population: “unknown” large feral population plus owned cats
Beauty of Aitutaki: unparalleled. “the Most Beautiful Lagoon in the World” (Lonely Planet quote)

Cats, Paying it Forward, and the Kindness of Strangers

A year go my husband and I came to this beautiful paradise, and as most people do, we fell in love with the islands, the people and communities. During our visit, a chance meeting on Aitutaki with someone who shares a passion for animals led to an idea being born to help with animal welfare, especially the cats of Aitutaki.

Almost a year later a small team of us arrive here in the Cook Islands with such gratitude for the phenomenal support we’ve received on so many levels and from numerous people and organizations. Our hearts soar to experience such warmth and true compassion. For us this is “paying it forward” to be able to help the animals and thus the people of the Cook Islands. It all started with the kindness of strangers, and now we know and understand that that is the Cook Island way.

We’d like to recognize and thank Gwen Welland and the people of Te Are Manu Clinic for all of their support and help with the government approval process, customs, helping us getting the donations we brought in order, and getting local support for our endeavors. We had quite a few changes and alterations during the process of coming here, and Gwen was always available to help get things through in a pleasant and efficient manner. Meitaki ma’ata Gwen.

Air Rarotonga has also sponsored us in a big way and has donated all 5 of our round trip airfares to Aitutaki. Thank you Ewan Smith, for your continuing support of the animals of the Cook Islands.

Thanks to the businesses and community of Aitutaki for their generous donations of dinners, lodging, a vehicle (with fuel) to pick up and return the animals, and even a Vaka cruise! When we’re not working we will certainly enjoy being able to drive to the lagoon, snorkel and eat some great food! Yumm!

Thanks to the Islander Hotel for 2 day rooms to rest and make ourselves presentable before going over to Aitutaki. Much appreciated!

We’d also like to thank the veterinary clinics of Corvallis and Eugene, Oregon, USA for their very generous donations of supplies, medicines, more supplies, and heaps of supplies! When we asked for just a few clinics to clean out their closets, they surely did! So much generosity made it hard to bring everything, but we managed to stuff 5 huge suitcases full to the brim! We know that the supplies will be well used and especially for the outer islands. Thanks Oregon! Could not have done this without you!

Also want to thank all the individuals in the states, both friends and new friends, who donated to our cause with cash donations to purchase many of the supplies for surgery. Again could not have done this without raising the money for the medicine purchases.

I’d like to introduce our team:

Dr. Sharon Forster-Blouin, DVM of Corvallis Cat Clinic, Corvallis, Oregon
Dr. G. Rochelle Brinton, DVM of San Diego, CA & founder of the Feral Cat Coalition of San Diego.
Ms. Sheri Pandey, CVT veterinary nurse, Corvallis Cat Care, Corvallis, Oregon
Mr. John Adams; assistant, all around go-for
Ms. Tomie Timon; assistant, chief cat herder and organizer of the mission

So when it’s all said and done, it always comes back to helping the animals.
They have no second agenda, their lives are valuable as are all lives, and if we can pay it forward to help them live better lives, what can be better?

Meitaki ma’ata and Meitaki atupaka!

Mataora matou, i te aere mai, ki konei!

Maungatea's mysterious basalt boulder

Hmmm. Loooooong time since I added anything to RaroLens.
That's because most of my videos these days are of various travel destinations so I've decided to put them on a new blog:
www.havepension-willtravel.com
But today I have a Rarotonga-based video so here it is.
A group of friends recently hiked up to Maungatea Bluff, heading into the hills on the northern side of Rarotonga.
We were going to see a strange basalt boulder that Gerald McCormack, the director of the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, found a while ago.
This boulder had tumbled from the bluff down the side of the hill and come to rest a short way off the side of the track so wasn't particularly easy to see if you didn't know it was there.
There are lots of basalt boulders up there but most of them are breccias, conglomerates made of basalt rubble held together by molten lava pouring over them.
The mystery boulder has a series of parallel grooves with rounded bottoms along its surface and on Rarotonga there's nothing else like it that anyone knows about.
Gerald wanted to re-visit the boulder to take more photographs and we all tagged along.
He originally thought the grooves might be man-made but after a lot of online research he found similar rocks in New Zealand, in particular at the Wairere Boulder Nature Park in Northland.
Geologists say these were formed when rain dripped from trees onto humus on the ground. The humus acidified the water which then formed streamlets that ran down the face of the rocks. Over millions of years the water dissolved the rock to form grooves (often called flutes).
There may be other fluted boulders somewhere on the hillside or possibly even signs of flutes up on the bluff but the ground isn't easy to walk over. We were on a track and it was quite a scramble in a lot of places. It's not surprising, then, that nobody has reported seeing anything similar on Rarotonga.
It was lovely being up in the bush but not particularly peaceful. The squawking sound you can hear on the video is the sound of birds, I think they are petrels, flying back from feeding at sea which they apparently do around midday.
Flying is clearly the best way to get to and from the bluff.
We had to walk, make that scramble, back down.

The Golddigger Trail

 
While we were in Chile tweaking the settings of Phil's remote telescope(El Sauce Observatory), we stayed at the Hacienda Los Andes.
The Hacienda is in the valley of the Hurtado River at the southern end of the Atacama Desert in the foothills of the Andes. It is well away from the usual tourist routes and surrounded by pure wilderness although the valley itseld is green and fruitful.
The lodge grows much of its own food and has hiking trails and is a centre for astrotourism as it has several observatories on the property.
It also has a small herd of Chilean Criollos horses and has horseback riding tours ranging from half a day to multi day expeditions where you can spend up to 5 days in the saddle with overnight camping under the stars.
Well, I've only been on a horse once and that was fifty years ago but the Hacienda can cope with rank beginners as well as experienced riders so I decided to tackle the Golddigger Trail, a three hour morning ride.
My horse, Sirius, was very placid and new the trail intimately. I just had to sit on his back and hold the reins loosely. He had a tendency to stop and pull up clumps of grass to chew as he ambled along but he was the ideal mount for a non-rider.
It was a fascinating ride; once you leave behind the Hacienda environs you are out in rugged country with not a sign of human habitation.
The trail is narrow and winds alongside steep sided canyons, through dry riverbeds and over rocks and sand. Vegetation included cacti, lotsof them, and trees, shrubs and grass that were all so dry that they looked dead but must get enough rain during the winter to keep them alive.
We stopped on top of a ridge for a drink of water. This is supposed to be where an abandoned goldmine was situated, hence the name Golddigger trail, but I saw no sign of anything there.
Thought I might be a bit saddle sore at the end of the ride but I wasn't at all. This is obviously thanks to Sirius - the ideal horse for a beginner.

Telescope in the Atacama Desert

 
Since retiring Phil's been hankering after a remote observatory.
When we first came to the Cook Islands over thirty years ago it seems that the night skies were clear and the Milky Way looked magnificent for most of the year. I'm sure that's an exaggeration; you remember the things you want to as time goes by. But certainly the sky at night is much cloudier than it was when Phil first built a telescope on Rarotonga. That's global warming in action at the local level.
It's been a long time coming but at long last Phil's telescope in Chile has seen first light.
The observatory is situated at the southern end of the Atacama Desert, 1600 metres high, in an area called El Sauce.The site is home to several other telescopes including four large domes owned by a group of Russian astronomers who also have air-conditioned containers with living, office and storage quarters. Phil's telescope is the first of what will eventually be six set up in a large shed with a roll-off roof. Another much smaller shed nearby has several small telescopes used for tracing space junk. And site has room for more observatories of varying sizes.
Electricity shouldn't be a problem as there's a large array of solar panels with plenty of room for more and, along with clear skies at night, the Atacama has lots of sunshine during the day. Not all the time though - about 330 days a year!
The scope has has been operational for a few months now but needed some extra bits and pieces added to it so we had a holiday that included flying to Santiago, Chile's capital, and then La Serena, a forty-five minute flight further north.
Hired a 4WD SUV iin La Serena and drove to Hurtado, the town nearest the site. The 4WD was necessary because most of the roads we were on were one lane dirt with occasional passing places as you can see in the video.
It was quite an adventure, but the thing about adventures is that they're usually uncomfortable at the time otherwise they'd just be called 'travel'. It was hot during the day but one night we stayed at the telescope and boy was that cold! At 1600m above sea level, when the sky is clear the temperature drops like a stone. During the day the wind howls around the various observatories, because of thermal currents. At night the temperature falls and the winds die down. This means that very early morning is the only time to fly the drone to get some aerial footage, so we were up before dawn and wore layers of t-shirts, jumpers and jackets to ward off the chill. Also needed to keep the drone and GoPro batteries in pockets to warm them up before they would operate.
Living in a tropical island paradise, you forget what really cold weather is like!

Fatu Hiva, Marquesas Islands, on board the Aranui 3

Here's a flashback to 2010 when we sailed aboard the Aranui 3, a combination cargo/passenger ship that carried goods and tourists to the Marquesas Islands.
Back then I edited videos from several of the islands but, as is frequently the case, I didn't get all of them finished. (I have gigabytes worth of unedited video on my hard drives.)
I was reminded of this when I checked out the Aranui 5, the extremely fancy replacement for the Aranui 3. Whatever happened to the Aranui 4? I've got no idea - the 5 was always planned to take over from the 3.
In 2010 we visited Fakarava (not one of the Marquesas), Ua Po, Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa and Tahuata as well as Fatu Hiva, Ua Huka and Makemo; the videos from these three islands have been in limbo for many years.
The itinerary of the Aranui 5 now includes Bora Bora. I imagine this is for the benefit of the tourists as I'm sure Bora Bora has no problem with cargo deliveries unlike some of the more remote Marquesas.
We travelled to Fatu Hiva after leaving Hiva Oa - Paul Gauguin's tropical island bolthole.
The island has bleak-looking mountains made all the bleaker by the torrential rain. The valleys were green though, unsurprisingly.
This is the place where the young Thor Heyerdahl and his then-wife went back to nature before the second world war. There they struggled against the climate, mosquitoes and venomous insects, rain, skin disease and local hostility. The book 'Fatu Hiva: Thor Heyerdahl's first Pacific Adventure' describes this in fascinating detail.
It was on Fatu Hiva that Heyerdahl formed the ideas which eventually led to the famous Kon Tiki expedition. 

Lao Food Festival, Vientiane

Before our Mekong river cruise on the Laos Pandaw in early 2016, we stayed in the Lao capital Vientiane for a few days and checked out a food festival in Chao Anouvong Park beside the Mekong River.
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The annual Lao Food Festival is a fascinating celebration of Lao cuisine,that takes place in late January in Vientiane.
This year the weather wasn't great but that didn't spoil the fun.
The organisers, the Women's Union and Businesswomen's Association, focussed on units run by Lao women, growing and selling agricultural products as well as cooking for restaurants and cafes.
One-hundred-and-sixty stalls were set up in Chao Anouvong Park beside the Mekong River.
Some sold fresh or  preserved food as well as herbal medicines, silk and souvenirs while others cooked popular local Lao treats.
Lao people enjoy fresh vegetables and herbs, and these appear in almost every Lao meal.
Meat and fish are usually grilled or steamed, so the dishes are fresh and low in fat - healthy as well as tasting great.
Vientiane is full of western-style restaurants but for tourists it's well worth looking out for local ones such as Ban Vilaylac.
As well as the whiteboard specials this friendly place has a very large menu - makes choosing difficult!  But the Lao version of fish amok was tasty as was my stir fry chicken with vegetables.
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Good to get back to editing the holiday videos - brings it all back.

Cook Islands Noni

 This video started life as a look at scarifying noni seeds to speed up germination. Scarifying didn't make much of a difference as the seeds germinated and grew anyway but the video also grew and it now covers seedlings, planting, picking, pressing and bottling.

TRANSCRIPT

Morinda citrifolia is better known as noni.
Its knobbly egg-shaped fruit goes from green to yellow to white when ripe … and it is full of seeds.
Cook Islands Noni Marketing produces organic noni juice mainly for export and our customers are crying out for more.
So we need more growers … and more trees.
Noni seeds can take up to a year to germinate.
To try to speed up germination we scarified the seeds to roughen the the hard outer shell.
We also experimented with soaking the scarified seeds for one or two days but the wet seeds are much more fiddly to plant and it made little or no difference in germination time.
Even scarifying made only a small difference so we don't think the time spent was worth it.
The seedlings appear about 5 weeks after planting.
They are then transferred into dirt bags where they stay until ready for the plantation.
Small size 5 bags are used and plants must be watered daily.
They will be ready for field in 3 to 5 months after bagging when they should have healthy green leaves and a strong root system.
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We fill the hole with organic compost from the local composting centre to give the plants a good start.
We make organic juice so there are no chemical sprays or fertilizers used in the plantations.
Weeds are kept down by regular mowing.
The old tyres protect the young trees from mowers and weed-eater.
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Six months later the trees are are a metre or more high and already producing fruit.
The first fruit picked is small but as the trees grows the fruit will be larger.
Noni is not seasonal.  Once the trees start producing they continue year around.
Ripe fruit goes into large blue barrels.
Full barrels are collected, weighed, labelled and stored at the factory.
Ideally the fruit should be kept in the barrels for at least 3 months to maturate.
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Junior is our processing expert.
The presses are 160 litre hydro-presses – no moving parts and they require little maintenance
They have a  large central bladder.
The maturated noni is packed into the press and when the bladder is filled with water, the pressure against the fruit squeezes out the juice.
For darker juice a longer maturation period is needed.
Most of our customers prefer dark juice.
The juice is filtered through clean white cotton material.
This can be re-used after thorough washing in plain water.
The food grade blue barrels hold 125 litres of noni juice.
When we have an order, we press then pasteurise the juice by heating it to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (about 30 degrees Celsius) for about 15 seconds.
The pasteurised noni juice is pumped into 1000 litre IBCs (Intermediate Bulk Containers).
Filters for the pasteuriser are used only once
Some of our customers prefer bulk juice which we ship overseas so that they can bottle it themselves.
Other clients prefer bottled juice, rather than the bulk product
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Noni juice has a sweetish smell but some people say it tastes like liquid cheese.
It contains many trace elements
Noni juice is said to boost the immune system.
It's been used for hundreds of years by the native Polynesians as a natural food supplement and health tonic.
A good way to take it is 20ml first thing in the morning, sometimes mixed with fruit juice.
CINM is certified every year by Australian Certified Organic (ACO) for Japan and the US.
It is also certified organic for the Chinese market.
CINM has been operating for over 10 years.