Features

AOG conference on

Saturday 9 October 2010 | Published in Church Talk

A chance to hear international pastors speaking about access to religion is set to attract hundreds of people to a conference in Rarotonga next week. The Cook Islands Assemblies of God (AOG) church is hosting its bi-annual conference at its Avarua church from Monday to Wednesday. Auckland-based pastors Paul and Maree De Jong and Scott […]

Exotic fruit industry expands

Saturday 9 October 2010 | Published in Features

Manea Nui Plantation is a new company being formed to expand the exotic fruit industry in the Cook Islands. Carambola, Mangosteen, Rambutan, Lychee, Longan, Durian, Abiu, Mango and Avocado are just some of the tropical fruit trees that will be grown and sold by the company. Australian Brian Paxton and his partner, American Jon Beymer […]

Local art on offer

Saturday 9 October 2010 | Published in Features

You are still in with a chance to own a piece of original art from Telecom’s telephone directory competition. Nineteen of the best 20 pictures are on sale at the Beachcomber gallery with reserve prices as low as $50. At press time yesterday, there were only nine bids listed. Half the proceeds go to Te […]

Golf for paddlers

Saturday 9 October 2010 | Published in Features

The Live Free Outrigger Canoeing Club is staging a Golf Ambrose Tournament to raise funds for repairs, paddles and uniforms for the team. The tournament starts at 4.30pm on Friday October 15. It’s $120 entry for every team of six, and the theme is Black and Gold. The team are currently in training for the […]

Muri photo, framing studio opens

Saturday 9 October 2010 | Published in Features

A new photography and framing studio – reportedly the only one on the island – opened recently in Muri. Now, tourists wanting holiday shots and locals wanting professional family portraits snapped and framed can head to Picture Paradise in Nukupure, open five days a week and by appointment on weekends. Professional photographer Jenna Tere moved […]

Common bonds

Saturday 9 October 2010 | Published in Features

Delhi, India is a world away and more diverse than the Cook Islands, but I’ve come across a number of things that the two have in common. The stand out similarity between Delhi and our tiny country is island time! We’ve worked out that five minutes Indian time is around 20 minutes Cook Islands time […]

Why remember Lot's wife?

Friday 8 October 2010 | Published in Church Talk

This is one of the shortest verses in the Word of God. So what happened to Lot’s wife that we should want to remember it? What can we take from it and learn from? We can find the story of Lot and his family escaping from Sodom in Genesis 19. Two angels arrived with the […]

CICC attends Pacific meeting

Friday 8 October 2010 | Published in Church Talk

Mataio represented the CICC and Henry represented not just the Cooks contingent but youth all over the Pacific at a conference that drew thinkers and church leaders from across the region. The conference touched on some big socio-political issues, and suggested ways that churches and spiritual leaders can approach them. The primary focus of discussion […]

Singing and breathing in time

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

Matavera musicians Mary Hamer and Steve Harsley are recording their first album as husband and wife – a rich, multi-genre mix of tracks underlined by Mary’s resonant vocals and Steve’s guitar riffs. One track called ‘Paradise’, infused with a jazz-Latin feel, is a tribute to the Cook Islands, and another is inspired by the Atiu […]

Test yourself with this maths quiz

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

If you didn’t get a chance to take part in the Maths Quiz this week, here are a few of the questions for you to try out! The answers are below Virtues. Grade 6 questions 1. Mataio, Nga, Steven and Ben have 23 marbles each. How many marbles do they have together? 2. Mrs Mataora […]

Legends come alive at Avatea

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

Avatea students and siblings Enua (left) and Lavinia Fameitau proudly show off their legends ‘diorama’ which they along with their fellow students have been creating as part of the schools legends project. Enua, 10, created a papier mache double hulled vaka to represent the canoe of legendary warrior Ru while his sister Lavinia, 8, holds […]

Hand surgeons gather

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

More than 100 hand surgeons are taking part in a conference at Edgewater Resort. The specialist surgeons are all members of the New Zealand Hand Surgery Society. Karen Smith, the hand specialist from Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, organised the annual get together and decided that an offshore location might be a draw to her colleagues. […]

Money back from Motor Centre

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

Kevin Hosking (centre) was the lucky winner in the Motor Centre’s Constitution celebration competition. The promotion offered buyers of garden equipment and white goods between 23 July-20 September the chance to win their money back. Hosking accepted a cheque from General Manager Ken King and Sales Manager Kim Mulholland for $1658, which the Hosking family […]

Phone book art on show

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

The winner of the Telecom phone book design competition will be announced on Monday. A top 20 has been selected from around 50 entries – all of which will be on display in the Beachcomber Gallery next week. The judging panel – Ben Bergman, Ian and Kay George and Jules Maher – has chosen the […]

'I will just do my best'

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

Two weeks ago 17-year-old track athlete Patricia Taea took on Oceania’s best under 20 sprinters and won a bronze medal. Now she is preparing to take on some of the world’s best at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in India. And although buoyed by her recent achievement on the track, Taea is certainly not talking up […]

Incredible India

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

It's all relative in the scheme of destruction

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

Just over a week ago I was somewhere very warm and pleasant and the sea temperature was just right to cool you down after a few hours in the hot sun. I was on the beautiful island of Aitutaki, one of the homelands for the people we now call Maori here in Aotearoa. It’s said […]

Potter may be back

Saturday 2 October 2010 | Published in Features

Author JK Rowling told US television talk show host Oprah Winfrey she cried uncontrollably when she finished the last of her best-selling Harry Potter books, but did not rule out writing another one. “I’m not saying I won’t. I love writing them,” the 45-year-old British author told Winfrey in a videotaped interview at the Balmoral […]

Anonymity – a coward's way of hiding behind hurtful words

Friday 1 October 2010 | Published in Church Talk

Ko te uuna I tona Ingoa tikai – e tu moa ma’u tereira I te pipini ki muri I tetai au tuatua tamamae me kare akakino tangata Some say that anonymity is the last refuge for cowards. This woman after having read so much mail and comments submitted anonymously, seemed to agree. People hiding behind […]

Faith without works is dead

Friday 1 October 2010 | Published in Church Talk

In reply to Nick Carter’s three questions of Friday September 24’s Churchtalk and based on Holy Scripture: 1. Do I try harder to be good? Yes! “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? Even so faith, if it hath not works, […]