Christmas in the Park on Rarotonga

Once again the Rarotonga Rotaract club organised Christmas in the Park as a family event in the lead-up to Christmas.
They do this every year; it’s a fundraiser but also gives families the chance to enjoy themselves together.
There’s plenty of food, of course - no Cook Islands event is ever without that - and kids (and some adults) get the chance to dress up, have their faces painted and win some prizes.
After the sun goes down there’s entertainment and the evening ends with a firework display.
It’s a lot of fun and according to organisers over 2000people came along to take part with about $10,000 raised for the Rotaract community fund.
The weather was great. Good timing on Rotaract’s part because it seems to have been raining ever since! From Christmas Day until now we’ve had rain, strong winds and more rain. A broad band of cloud has been moving over us, and from the satellite images it looks as though there’s a bit more to come although the cloud could break up a little by the new year.
Still, at least it means the drought’s over!

Another great outrigger canoe festival

Vaka Eiva, the annual oe vaka (va'a) festival on Rarotonga, was another big success. About six-hundred enthusiastic outrigger canoe paddlers took part this year with open, master, senior master and junior teams from Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Canada and (of course) the Cook Islands fighting it out in V6, V1 and OC1 vaka.
Cook Islands News has always been a strong supporter and sponsor of the festival and once again produced a supplement chock full of information about teams, the programme, personalities and the various extra events that keep everyone buzzing. The supplement, full results and plenty of great photos are on the CINews website here.
The official Vaka Eiva website has photos and videos from previous years.