Vaka video

Rarotonga's traditional canoe carving project, ‘akateni i te vaka’, is proceeding well. For the past week the grassy area opposite the Banana Court has echoed to the sound of chainsaws, planes and a variety of hand tools as large albesia logs are shaped into sea-going vaka. Most of the carvers are men but there are a couple of women who are clearly experts and plenty of kids making themselves useful - it's school holiday time here. This video shows some of the early stages, sawing the logs into rough canoe shapes and then hollowing out the inside.
At the end of next week (23 October) a National Geographic adventure travel show ‘Treks in a Wild World’ team, will be on Rarotonga filming the carvers and their canoes.