Rarotonga’s flowering trees

First an update on the airport upgrade. It’s going to be completed much earlier than I thought.
According to Cook Islands News, the project manager Russell Smith says everything should be ready by the end of March.
Some people wonder why on earth the Cook’s is bothering with an expensive building project for the relatively few planes we have each week, but firstly the US insisted because of airport security after 9/11. The Cooks has a direct link to LA and we don't want to lose it.The second reason is that the airport, while adequate, was a bit old and dingy. Since we had to improve security anyway the Airport Authority borrowed the money from one of the local commercial banks and decided to do it in style.
This new video is of some of the flowering trees along Rarotonga’s main road.
The best time of year to see flowers is late November, early December. That’s when the Tiare Festival takes place and trees, bushes and flowers should all be at their best then.
However even in January there’s still plenty of colour and variety. This video shows just a few of the trees, but bushes, particularly hibiscus, are still in full bloom.
Actually most of the trees pictured have been introduced to the Cooks. The flamboyants are natives of Madagascar although they were introduced from Sri Lanka in 1892 (Cook Islands Biodiversity Database). The cassias are from SE Asia (India and China) and frangipani is native to Mexico.
Only the beach (or tree) hibiscus is either native to the Cooks or was introduced by the Polynesians.
I think an Irishman, William McBirney (1871 – 1956) was responsible for bringing many flowering plants to Rarotonga.
It wouldn’t be possible nowadays, of course, with border restrictions on plant and animal material but all these newcomers make a wonderfully colourful splash and keep Rarotonga looking like a tropical island paradise.

Rarotonga airport update

Rarotonga airport is being upgraded.
A new check-in area and domestic terminal was built a few years ago and now the international arrivals and departures area is under construction.
It was probably necessary in order to beef up the security arrangements. The arriving and departing passengers used to be separated by a piece of string. In fact they used to be able to mix and mingle in the duty free booze shop. It meant that everyone was able to listen to Jake Numanga serenading with his ukulele but secure it was not.
Some parts of the new building have been completed and the whole thing should be ready to open in June or July.
The baggage collection area is still the same although when the revamping started the plain glass windows looking in from the car park area were replaced with frosted glass. It was really annoying because that’s where everyone waited to get the first glimpse of friends and relations. The airport authority must have had a lot of complaints because the clear glass is now back. Good thing too.
Adverts have just appeared in Cook Islands News for people to operate various shops, a café and duty free outlets and when the whole thing is completed it should be light and airy and perhaps a bit less like a temporary barn than it was.
The video shows an Air New Zealand Boeing 777 arriving in Rarotonga.
Air NZ have been flying here since the airport opened (in the early 1970s I think). It used to cost an arm and a leg! Raro/Auckland must have been amongst the most expensive air miles in the world but in these days of rising costs and inflation air tickets to the Cooks are among the few things whose costs have plummeted. It helps that there is more than one airline flying here. At the moment we also have Pacific Blue (to New Zealand) and Air Tahiti (to Tahiti – but Air NZ no longer flies there anyway).
It would help our economy if other airlines could fly more tourists here but that seems unlikely in the near future. Mind you, Air NZ will soon be starting up direct flights from Sydney. Aussies provide our second biggest tourist numbers after Kiwis so we could soon be seeing more of them. Hotels, motels, restaurants and shops will be very happy about that.

Looking back - lawn bowls at the mini games

A Happy New Year to everyone.
I’ve been looking over some of the video footage I didn’t have time to process towards the end of 2009. It’s time to do something about it before it disappears totally from my short term memory.
One of the things I want to do this year is tidy up the Pacific Mini Games website so that it gives a more organised record of the event. At the time it was just a mad rush trying to get information and pictures online. I must confess I haven’t even looked at it since the fat lady sang and I took off on holiday. The medal table was up to date but I don’t think all the results were there and certainly the stories and photos need to be put in better order. I want to put short videos of most of the sports on the website for future reference, but first I’ve got to edit the stuff!
Here’s the first – lawn bowls.
Those bowlers really know how to organise a competition and have a good time. They turned the medal presentation ceremony into something of a party, starting with a march through town of all the competitors.
Some other sporting codes could learn a thing or two from their attitude.