Hip Hop 4 Kidz entertain at Pacific Netball Series

Well, the Pacific Netball Series is over and the Fijian, Samoan and PNG netballers have flown away.
Actually most of the Cook Islands netballers have done the same but in many cases that's because they are studying overseas. Our squad is very young, the youngest just 17, and most of them were born and brought up here in the Cook Islands.
More on the netball later but this video shows some of the between-match entertainment by the Hip Hop 4 Kidz group trained by Natasha Areora.
Tash has done a great job, taking over when Nana Hirata returned to Japan earlier this year.
The kids, from tiny tots upwards, spend their Saturday afternoons perfecting their moves and learning the routines. And you can see from the video what an amazing job they've done.
Awesome!

Pacific Netball Series in Rarotonga

Netball fans have had a week of top class games here on Rarotonga where we've been hosting the Pacific Netball Series.
The four Pacific teams involved are the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Papua New Guinea and the top two teams in the round-robin competion win spots in next year's Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia.
With just one round left it's going to be Fiji and Samoa who represent the Pacific.
Here are a couple of videos, one of the teams at the opening and the other of highlights from the first day's play when the Cook Islands went down to Fiji and Samoa defeated Papua New Guinea.
Once the tournament is over I should have a chance to get more highlights edited and online.
For some really stunning PNS photos check out Harvie Allison's Facebook page (Harvpix). Harvpix Facebook page

Rarotonga's Highland Paradise

The weather's been terrible recently; cloudy with a lot of wind. No good for flying the Phantom but I managed to get some flights in a couple of weeks ago at Highland Paradise (http://www.highlandparadise.co.ck/) and at last had a bit of time to get this video finished.
Highland Paradise covers about 200 acres on mount Maungaroa, inland from Puaikura vaka (district).
The mountain refuge covers many historical sites including a 600-year-old village, home of the Tinomana tribe. The village was abandoned with the arrival of Christianity in the 1800s when the whole tribe moved down to the coast to what is now Arorangi.
Some 25 acres have been developed into a botanical delight full of native, introduced and medicinal plants. And the views of mountains and coast are magnificent.
The background music is appropriately enough a Puaikura pe'e. The pe'e is a chant based on a legend significant to the village concerned. It was written by Katu Teiti, a well-known local composer, choreographer and drummer. It was most prpbably written for The Maeva Nui, the Cook Islands constitution celebrations culture festival but the CD (Paradise Mixx 4) doesn't have a date.