Kia Orana!

Return to Mangaia

Large hands, scarred, move gently over intricate patterns carved into mahogany, the handle of a Mangaia adze.

Papa Tuaiva Moutairi speaks in lilting dialect of a home island, explaining to visiting Mangaia expatriate Tanara Maarametua Buchanan meanings of a traditional motif...

Te Itiki Experience

Leading me down an unkempt footpath, Mama Ake Teau walks deftly, scampering in sandals over jagged coral and through thorny bramble.

The Big Blue Lagoon

My cousin is spellbound, his eyes fixed on the turquoise lagoon spreading from beneath our little boat, his mouth open in awe.

“This is unreal,” he says, with intentional stress on the final syllable. He saw this lagoon once, when...

Manihiki - enchanted atoll of the north

Party Johnson wraps a baited hook in a fanu leaf. He says a prayer, ties the little parcel loosely to a rock with nylon line, and drops it into the sea.

There is an island called Mauke in paradise

For over 100 years the Ziona Church bell has rung at ten o’ clock every Sunday morning over the quiet villages of Oiretumu and Ngatiarua, calling the faithful to worship – and dressed in their best, the villagers have gathered...