Features

Kikau Hut a work in progress

For Cathy Pearman and Kevin Simkin, 2010 has been about change. The couple moved to Rarotonga in December, and assumed ownership of Kikau Hut in January. Since then, they’ve been revamping the restaurant’s look, and they’re not quite finished. Kikau Hut has new gardens, and Cathy and Kevin plan to have a mural painted on […]

A step up in sausages

Dan Forsyth and his team at Prime Foods are working hard to offer people the best sausages possible. Now they have a new machine and around a hundred tried and tested sausage recipes, the team are keen to make sure everyone knows what’s on offer. “When we first opened Prime Foods I wanted to make […]

Edgewater lays it on for lucky guests

Even arriving after midnight on Thursday night’s delayed flight hasn’t dampened the thrill of being the 300,000th guests at Edgewater. If the flight had come in on time, Ronald and Debra Adams would have been serenaded by the resort’s musicians and greeted by three members of staff. As it was, a team effort from the […]

Local link to Niagara sinking

In June 1940, Keith Tombleson was a fresh-faced 15-year-old, a deck boy on the RMS Niagara. Following in the footsteps of his older brother Geoff (who at the time was working alongside deck boy Stan Dearlove), he’d swapped life on a South Taranaki farm for life at sea – “from way down in the bush […]

49 Cook Islanders fly our flag at the Delhi Commonwealth Games

If more teams and athletes pull out of the Delhi Commonwealth Games – the Cook Islands are sure to win medals! That’s just one of the light hearted comments being bandied around as Team Cook Islands prepares to fly out to the games being branded the ‘Delhi dilemma’ by international media. Jokes aside – chef […]

Idol dream

Fifteen people have qualified to be the next Raro Idol. Staircase held auditions on Monday this week, and 15 vocalists went into the running to be Raro’s newest singing sensation. The auditions will be televised this weekend, but the competition proper starts at 8.30pm on Saturday, September 25 at Staircase. For 10 weeks afterward, the […]

Windjammer Restaurant changes course

Dan Forsyth has been in the kitchen at Windjammer six nights a week for six years and four months. He and his wife Maire have decided it’s time to hand the restaurant back to Crown Beach on September 25. Since opening Prime Foods the couple have been working two jobs, with Dan regularly putting in […]

New book gives poets a voice

The University of Hawai’i Press recently published a sequel to Whetu Moana – a book of contemporary poems penned by Polynesians in English – called Mauri Ola, which features the work of well-known poets from across the region, including a number of Cook Islanders, based both here and overseas. Jean Tekura Mason and Vaine Wichman […]

It's 50 years since the Solent flying boats stopped visiting

New direction and designs for Cook Islands postage stamps

The Cook Islands Philatelic business, until recently owned by Greta and Jim Little, is under sale to an American company, Philatelic Collectors Incorporated (PCI). They have exclusive rights to design, issue, print and market postage stamps for the Cook Islands and will provide the Post Office with supplies stamps free of charge for their use […]

First two new sets of stamps

One set depicts Anzac Day on the Cook Islands using photographs of the cenotaph, the national flag and marching. The second set of 15 stamps focuses on flowers found in the Cook Islands – although none of those depicted is a native species. The government will receive $50,000 per year from the sale of stamps.

Artist captivated by Rarotonga

The first time New Zealand artist Freeman White came to Rarotonga, he was guided up and down Te Manga by a little dog that befriended his group at the start of their mountain trek. They named the dog Akatere, guide. “He kept barking at us and we tried to shoo him away…then he just started […]

Holiday prize highly valued

Travel agent Helen Roehnelt of Trendsetter Travel & Cruise Centre spent this week enjoying the prize she won at Cook Islands Tourism’s Australia road show in June – a week’s holiday on Rarotonga and Aitutaki with her husband and four mates. “Someone (at the road show) won a black pearl, but this is so much […]

Pollsters ready for the numbers game

The 2010 pre-election opinion poll conducted by Cook Islands News this week has produced some very interesting and, we believe, accurate results. Our staff pollsters called 500 randomly selected – and current national numbers – kindly supplied to us by Telecom Cook Islands. We received just over 200 valid responses of which 182 were eligible […]

Outer island thoughts

From the outer islands there was some sage advice as voters said MPs need to be fair to everyone without favouritism, and that MPs need to consider the welfare of the nation, leading wisely. Many offered all standing good luck in the coming elections. But there was also much unhappiness with the current government in […]

The people speak:

From humorous to angry, to some who had one too many at the pub, our staff pollsters got them all while doing an election survey over the last few days and nights. While some just wanted to rant without giving any constructive comments, many were insightful and offered some excellent suggestions and thoughts. Our staff […]

Eminem to kick off awards

Eminem is ready to kick off the MTV Video Music Awards. MTV general manager Stephen Friedman said Wednesday that the rapper, who’s nominated for eight trophies and continues to sit atop sales charts with “Recovery,” will open Sunday’s ceremony at the Nokia Theatre, which has been transformed with a sprawling white set reminiscent of the […]

Three wakas turn into one again

Trinity Roots’ two albums made a big impact and set a path for New Zealand’s emerging roots scene. Five years after parting ways, the trio is releasing a live album, a documentary and is getting back together to rekindle the spirit. It’s five years since Wellington band Trinity Roots turned their one waka into three. […]

Schwimmer turns dark with new movie

David Schwimmer made his name as a hapless romantic in the hit TV comedy series Friends, but takes on a much darker topic in his second stint behind the camera with the movie Trust. A heart-rending drama about how online predators groom child victims and the impact it has on a family, Trust was inspired […]

Maori culture study brings out writing talent

Not only did Takitumu Primary School students take part in fun learning activities during their Maori Culture programme this week – the senior students also put their Maori writing to the test in creating original poems. Poems were based on a number of themes including my environment, my strength and my dream. Following are the […]