Features

Penrhyn poems help with learning

Penrhyn’s Omoka High School students are studying numeracy, and submitted two poems that pay tribute to what they’re learning. I Have Ten Tiny Fingers I have ten tiny fingers I have ten tiny toes I have two ears I have two eyes I have a little nose I have a mouth to open, with little […]

Holiday fun!

A range of activities are being held next week for school pupils on holiday. The Cook Islands Cricket Association is again running a school holiday programme, following the success of its others this year. A direct result of the popular cricket in schools initiative – the holiday programme will comprise activities suited to groups of […]

Potter may be back

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 […]

Singing and breathing in time

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

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

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

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

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

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'

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

It's all relative in the scheme of destruction

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 […]

Raro Idol starts tonight

The official Raro Idol competition begins today. Staircase held auditions last week, and 15 vocalists went into the running to be Raro’s newest singing sensation. The competition proper starts at 8.30pm today at Staircase. For 10 weeks afterward, the competition will be at the same time, same place. To watch the live show at Staircase, […]

OM Nite at Raviz

It’s Open Mic Nite time again, so dust off your guitars and prepare to perform at Raviz Indian restaurant on Monday night. OM Nite kicks off at 7pm, and all aspiring and established musicians are welcome to come along. “Use it as an opportunity to try out that new song you’ve been working on, or […]

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 […]

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 […]