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Exhibition showcases Aus-Cooks connections

The Australian High Commission in Rarotonga celebrated Australia Day with a beach barbeque and the launch of the ‘Stories of Friendship’ exhibition highlighting Cook Islanders’ connections to Australia.

Art

Balancing tourism and culture

Cook Islands Tourism’s transparent, inclusive and practical planning public consultation which explored the challenges and opportunities tourism brings in all areas of wellbeing, drew a good number of community members.

Tall ship has a rich history

The pride and joy of the Cook Islands shipping register, Picton Castle, has quite a rich history. The first chapter opens across the world in Europe in 1928 when she was born a motorised fishing trawler. Local Waterfront Service Training director Ron Bird, who hails from Yorkshire, remembers that she was built at Cochran Yard […]

Features

Cooks are 'pretty much there'

Captain Daniel Moreland has sailed around the world six times – an impressive feat for any seafarer – and he’s got friends in faraway places to prove it. He’s midway into his last world voyage, but doesn’t ever plan to stop sailing. “Sailing around the world is amazing and I love it, but time marches […]

Features

Bodybuilding back in the day

Bodybuilding as a sport has been dormant in the Cook Islands for some years. In fact, nothing has happened within the sport since the passing of easily the island’s most recognised bodybuilder the late Felix Enoka in 1999. The sport locally began in 1981 with Tony Hole the major instigator of getting islanders involved in […]

Features

The dos and don'ts of whale watching

Watching whales is an extraordinary experience and a rare privilege. For locals and visitors alike – watching the majestic humpback whales play in our waters from land is a huge buzz. But land based whale watchers have been alarmed at the number of times that boats have been seen chasing whales. And while whale harassment […]

Features

CICC news and pictures from the past

The Cook Islands Christian Church recently released its latest newsletter highlighting some of the events that has been happening in the different CICC churches across the Cook Islands. The newsletter edited by Nga Mataio also included a section ‘history in photos’. The segment included photos of a Boys Brigade trip to Tahiti in 1967 and […]

Features

The Breeze Brothers blow in

The Breeze Brothers reckon Rarotonga is the perfect place to make music. New Zealand musician Robin Tripp and Yorkshire percussionist Chris Bold are The Breeze Brothers, a newly-formed band that will be playing around the island this month. Chris Musselle of Waterline, co-founder of Open Mic Nite, heard Tripp’s music in a New Zealand bar, […]

Features

Air NZ explains future changes

Air New Zealand manager Cook Islands David Bridge was the Cook Islands Business and Professional Women’s Association (BPW) guest speaker at its general meeting on Monday. Bridge was invited to talk about the airlines’ history in the Cooks as well as recent changes to its operations. The meeting held at Cafe Salsa was well attended […]

Features

New Plymouth 'old boys' share yarns

Boarding school memories flooded back from about 40 years ago at a reunion of New Plymouth Boys’ High School ex-pupils recently. Accounts of great rugby games, haka performances by a whole school of boys, army cadet training and corporal punishment in the form of canings were topics that got the group going. The gathering of […]

Features

Shapeshifter news making waves

News of Shapeshifter’s upcoming Club Raro show is making waves around the island. Heaps of people have already pre-purchased tickets online and are waiting for them to be shipped from New Zealand, and others are anticipating the arrival of Monday morning, when 88FM will put a limited number of tickets up for sale. Nick Henry […]

Features

'Virtues' workshops for parents and teachers

The Virtues Project is holding workshops for parents, caregivers, teachers and community leaders in each vaka from August 25 to September 8. The free non-denominational workshops are a follow on from the introduction of the Virtues Project in schools. The Virtues Project is now endorsed by the Ministry of Education. The ministry is inviting more […]

Features

Tall ship due today

The Cooks-registered Picton Castle pulls into port this morning, a load of crewmembers and even a movie star onboard. Vaka Marumaru Atua will sail out to meet the 179-foot tall ship and escort it into the Avatiu harbour. The ship will be docked here on Rarotonga for 10 days, before it heads to Palmerston and […]

Features

Reaching out through music

Samoan hip-hop legend King Kapisi performed for a crowded Rehab on Wednesday night alongside his wife, fellow hip-hop artist Teremoana Rapley, originally from Rarotonga and a legend in her own right. He said he’s wanted to do a show on Rarotonga for awhile, but there’s something else that motivated this recent trip. King Kapisi and […]

Features

Keeping the tradition alive

This week’s tivaevae exhibition at Akaoa Hall was hugely successful, a well-attended display about which people are still raving. Brilliantly coloured and artfully hung, 28 tivaevae from Rarotonga and Atiu brightened the empty room. Local artist Andrea Eimke curated the exhibition, which included tivaevae from the private collections of Tata Crocombe and Cassey Eggleton. The […]

Features

Arts action around Raro

A number of events were held around the Pacific Arts Association symposium this week including a craft fair, tivaevae exhibition and a show at Staircase. Artists, scholars and curators from across the Pacific and around the world gathered at Crown Beach to discuss Pacific art and the issues surrounding it. Here is some of the […]

Features

Tavionis on the state of art

This week’s Pacific Arts Association (PAA) symposium, a major event for the local art community, generated some interesting discussion amongst attendees and raised some pertinent questions about Pacific art. An issue to which artists returned throughout was the repatriation of Pacific art, or the transfer of Pacific artefacts from overseas museums back to their islands […]

Features

Sights set on affordable health

Improving the health of all Cook Islanders through accessible and affordable health services is the objective of newly appointed director of funding and planning for of the Ministry of Health Dr Fran McGrath. Dr McGrath began in her new role this week with the Ministry of Health and brings with her a wealth of knowledge […]

Features

A big fan of green energy

Captain Tama’s Lagoon Cruises has already gone green with a compost toilet on Motu Koromiri and now owner Tamaiva Tuavera is applying the same green principle to his home. But this time, Tauavera is harnessing wind power and this week he installed a wind turbine at his hillside home in Muri. The wind turbine, which […]

Features

Carnival adds to colourful day

The Queen Carnival on Mauke was one of several colourful events organised on the island to celebrate self-governance on August 4. An air of expectation and excitement greeted the queen carnival, which sounds like an event more appropriate to the US culture unless one is aware that the infamous Tangiia chose two wives from Mauke […]

Features

An island celebration

While August 4, Constitution Day, was a quiet day on Rarotonga – it was the complete opposite on the outer island of Mauke when the community came together to celebrate the Cook Islands’ self-governance. And so with the theme ‘No taku ipukarea kia rangatira” and a gift of $2000 from the Ministry of Culture providing […]

Features

Exhibit explores new media

PAA participants on Tuesday night attended The Beachcomber Contemporary Art gallery’s opening of an exhibit by Janet Lilo. Lilo, who is of Maori, Samoan and Niuean descent, is based in Auckland and could not be in Rarotonga for the symposium, so curator Ron Brownson presented her exhibit to the artists and scholars present. The exhibit, […]

Features

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