Movember - Cook Islands style

November is 'mo month' here on Rarotonga as well as in the rest of the world. It's the month for drawing attention to men's prostate cancer.
Local personalities have been raising funds to sponsor the awareness campaign by getting rid of the current facial hair in order to grow a brand new mo. 
Three brave guys - George George, Kevin Iro and Mark Brown - showed their support for the campaign by having a close shave at the Sevens in Heaven tournament at the BCI Stadium on finals day on 1 November 2014.

Sevens in Heaven 2014 - trailer

Well, it's all over for another year but once again the Sevens in Heaven international rugby sevens tournament was a huge success. 2014 marked twenty-five years of staging top class sevens action on Rarotonga and we had a mixture of sixteen overseas and local teams, some with imported talent, in the men's competition. This year saw a welcome return of the women's division - always popular with the spectators. Three teams battled it out for bragging rights here.
We were lucky with the weather. The three competition days were sunny and dry but clouds and rain put in an appearance once the tournament was over.
Saturday's finals day is always the highlight of Sevens inHeaven, when the off-field fun factor is as exciting as the rugby action with food, competitions, wierd and wacky costumes plus hip hopentertainment.
This short video is a trrailer for the rest of the sevens action. Watch this space for more ... coming real soon now!
BTW Teimurimotia Stallions were the top men's team and Suburbs Angels from Christchurch the top women.

Rarotonga Girl Guides celebrate 86 years

It's been over a month since I added a video to RaroLens.
Computer problems! Unfortunately it meant getting a new motherboard and chip from the US as the ones available locally couldn't handle video editing. Took ages.
Well, I'm up and running now and I really, really hope the machine can keep going as I've got a few videos to get on with.
First up is this one of our local Girl Guides celebrating 86 years of guiding here.
Guiding was introduced to the Cook Islands in 1928 by Mrs Tailby, the wife of a missionary at Takamoa Theological College. Then the daughter of resident commissioner judge Hugh Ayson got permission to start a company in Avarua. Ranger patrols were set up in 1935 and the first Brownie pack was registered in 1937.
The 86th birthday party was organised by the Arorangi company and they were delighted with the big turnout of guides and supporters.
The celebrations included a film about the history of guiding here, items by various companies and, of course, kaikai!
For more about the history of guiding in the Cook Islands check here:
http://cicc.net.ck/youth-department/girl-guides-association
and here:
http://www.wagggs.org/en/world/organisations?mo=37