The Queen's Baton arrives in Rarotonga

The Queen’s Baton contains a message to be read at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi later this year. The baton visits as many Commonwealth countries as possible with a relay being held in each one.
The baton arrived in Rarotonga on Friday 21 May and was welcomed at the airport with a turou and dancing.
There was quite a media throng on the tarmac with not only the regularlocal contingent but also a large number of photographers who are travelling with the baton to record its every move. It may sound like a lovely assignment, travelling around the world taking pictures, but those people are working really hard as they have to get a story and selection of photos online every day on the Commonwealth Games website.
The arrival and greeting must have been quite impressive for the newly arrived tourists. Of course, Jake Numanga was there with his ukulele and songs meeting every plane as he has done for many years, but the cultural display was something extra!
There were a few speeches, mercifully short but the highlight of the welcome was people being able to hold the baton which is a pretty impressive high tech article.
The baton relay itself took place on Saturday (22 May). Beautiful weather plenty of action.
I’ll have more videos of parts of the relay but at the moment I’m in Dunedin (where the weather is anything but beautiful) where my time to edit and internet access are both limited.