THE LORD OF THE COCONUTS

Well, firstly… apologies for the tardiness of this blog… Somehow, we all had good intentions of posting something earlier but time just seems to slip away on you and NEK MINIT… here we are, end of October!

So, by way of catch-up… here’s the plan, we thought we would break 2013 up into 3 parts, so that means....TRILOGY!!! (hell, everyone else is doing it!!)

• EPISODE 1 – THE LORD OF THE COCONUTS, Jan to Apr.

• EPISDOE 2 – TWO-MEKE, May to Aug.

• EPISODE 3 – RETURN OF THE KING (ARI’I) Sep to Dec.

Thus, the title for this blog entry!

EPISODE 1.

A long time ago, (well, not that long ago… beginning of the year actually) in a village far, far away (that parts true!) called ARORANGI, there lived 3 siblings ALINA, TERE and CAPTAIN MORGANNE and their Mother.  Their eldest sibling CONNOR and their father are far to the North in search of COCONUTS… These are their Chronicles… read on.

CAPTAIN MORGANNES STORY

Hey family!  I know it's been a really long time since I've last updated anything on this, but I'll try and do my best to remember everything that happened from January to April!

Aboard Picton Castle

Ok!…… Um, that actually might be a little harder than I thought, but whatever! I shall make this as interesting as possible! :) 
January was fun, since dad came home for a bit and we got to hang out with him again and play with our new toys, but it passed sooner than we thought and sure enough, dad was back in Canada and we'd be going back to school. Me and Tere weren't overly ecstatic about that, but Alina was enjoying herself because she'd graduated and didn't have to go to school anymore! Hooray! Well, 'hooray' for her, that is. :D I'm sure we did something else that month, but it keeps running off before I can remember!! Argh!!

Anyways, I'll move on to February before you get bored with this. Heh heh. 

Confession time, when I went back to school in February, I admit I was a little depressed because I heard that one of my friends, Kolina, was going to be going to a different school from me and Minona (My other friend.)  We could still visit her on weekends and that, and I would still be able to see Minona at school, but our "Triumphant Trio" wasn't as 'Triumphant' with just two people. It was more like a "Depressed Duo", or maybe it was just me who was depressed… 
Well, it turned out that we had no reason to be all depressed because Kolina  only went to a different school for a week, and when she arrived she was welcomed with big hugs from me and Minona, and the news that I was becoming Head Girl on the third week of school! 
The two of them thought that was pretty cool, (I think,) but I thought it was a little ridiculous because the only reason I was picked was because none of the other girls wanted to be it and everyone thought it would be funny if I was one of the school leaders. (Ouch.)  So, for the first few weeks of school after I was elected Head Girl, I wasn't very "amused" with the arrangement, but it wasn't long before I stopped struggling and just went with the flow. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, and now I'm actually enjoying my post as Arorangi School's Head Girl. 

3rd Overall

That's February, so now I'll head into March. 
Surprisingly, March was an uneventful month, and I don't really remember much besides me and Tere's birthdays. For my one, I invited all three of my friends to come over for a slumber party, and we all had a good time. On Tere's, we went to Trader Jacks since we planned to do some big thing for him, but Tere had a massive head-ache and I had the flu….again. So, for his birthday, the only one who was really having any fun was mum, which is kinda weird now that I think about it. :) Unfortunately, that's pretty much the extent of my memory for that month, and all I can remember beside that is doing a lot of drawing, but I always do a lot of drawing, so never mind. 

Hmm, looks like I've only got one month left. So what'd I do in April…? 
Mmmmm, I definitely remember doing something that was really cool and fun, but I can't remember what!!!! I think that was when me and Tere went on a hike with Minona up this really cool mountain….
I remember that occasion very clearly. I was bored at home, and one day Minona suggested that we went for a walk on one of her favorite trails to pass the time. I thought that was a really good idea, and Tere even came with us. On the way up the mountain however, the two of us got so tired that we nearly collapsed in sheer exhaustion right then and there. Ok, strike that. I did collapse from exhaustion, and it was more than once, unfortunately. And that was just on the way UP. On the way down, it was way worse.
Minona and Tere had more experience mountain climbing than I did, so they managed to have a controlled descent without too much difficulty while I was stuck barreling down at full speed with no clue as what I was supposed to do!
 It didn't really help either that I kept slipping or falling over on my face every 10 minutes. Every time I think about that, I always think of how the other two would've had so much fun watching me stumble my way through the undergrowth, but the only part they didn't enjoy was telling me to stop falling down with all the food. :D
Anyways, I'd love to keep updating and letting everyone know what's been happening, but that's pretty much all I can remember from those 4 months. So, I hope you've all enjoyed this, and I can't wait to see every one again. 

Lots Of Love, Morganne

TERE’S STORY

Well, I don't recall that much of January, just lots of blurry memories of going to school and even blurrier memories of possibly passing out during school. February wasn't that much different, just bleary memories. (But I vaguely recall seeing an opera duet at one point.)

Tere studying

March on the other hand, I actually vaguely remember. First off, it was my birthday, and I decided to have a night to remember, and boy did I get it. I woke up with a minor head-cold, then it got worse, and then we went to a bar, and given the circumstances, I'm surprised that I didn't keel over or anything to that effect. Turns out one of my cousins also got married on the same day, and from what I've heard, I wasn't the only one who had a hangover.
I think it was also around March, that I got moved up a year in school. I wasn't learning anything at all before, so they moved me up to year 11, and that panned out pretty well. For one thing, I now have 2 friends, Nick and Te Tuhi, for another, I actually do subjects I like, and I actually enjoy some of the lessons.

Around April, Nick introduced me to the universe of Warhammer 40'000 (40K for short), and simply put, it is the biggest, coolest, and most enticing thing I've seen. I've read quite a bit on it, and I've decided that the Chaos Marines are my favourite (They're simply former Imperial soldiers that defected and swore to drown the universe in eternal Chaos). Te Tuhi also picked up on it, and he likes the Necrons (Undead robots that look like human skeletons). Needless to say, I'm plotting to build my own 40K army for intergalactic domination.

ALINA’S STORY

The first few months of this year were pretty cruisy for me in some ways. Unless you're going to uni, a fresh school leaver does not have a lot on their plate. My only job was part-time, in the evenings at Alberto's Restaurant. I guess the idle hours were driving me a little nuts, and I was sick of my job, so I started reading the classifieds. Mum spotted a vacancy at Kai Pizza, which is a relatively new, independent business. The hours, wages, and management were all good starts, and I discovered that the work was better in several different ways. Kai Pizza is, basically, a travelling food truck; the unit is made up of a mobile woodfire oven and fridge, so pizzas are made fresh on site. The unit drives to different locations throughout the week, and has a home base in our village, Arorangi. The job incorporates different skills: food prep, self-management, customer service, assembling the unit, handling the fire, etc. However, I discovered these weren't hard to learn and it didn't take me long to fit into the crew (after five months or less I was able enough to manage the shop alone, not that it should be necessary).

KAI PIZZA at the Harbour

I was still working my previous job when I joined the team, and I juggled the two for a little while. It was manageable, and it meant extra cash. It did not last for very long, and soon I quit Alberto's (really, resignation was long past overdue. I made a white lie that it was too difficult managing two jobs--har har!). 

This was around the same time that our good friend Garry came to Raro… that is, the South Pacific's very own Cyclone Garry, which was a Category One and hanging around the Cook Islands. Garry was a bit of a bully, as he sent us winds and rain, fiddled with our traffic and power, and gave us a wee bit of a fright… when we heard about the Category One, locals were estimating it would amp up to maybe Three by the time it came to Raro. Kai Pizza had closed for the week; on the day we tried, it barely made a kilometre before getting blown off the road and nearly flooded in. By the end of that week, it was confirmed; Garry was going to hit the island. Also by then we had packed down pretty well, all stocked up and ready to hide in my room, which was the most secure part of the house other than the bathroom (it got pretty cozy!). That night we could hardly sleep, the rain drummed so hard and the wind screamed so loud, and we were feeling somewhere between nervous and frightened. Still, I don't know who could have been prepared for the shock that greeted us in the morning…
The day was clear. The sun was shining. There was no wind. Birds were actually singing. What-the-HELL! Garry you should be ashamed of yourself. Damn you.

GARRY ON!!

Suffice to say, it didn't take long for us to move on from that. It's fortunate for us that the worst we walked away with was wet clothes and a lame story. After "Trader Zac's" and "Garry On", I guess we Cookies can start a collection of silly stories in the Pacific. And a good thing too, I was in need of some conversation starters pretty soon: it was this year that our cousin Stephen was getting married, as well as an unveiling for some of my mum's whanau. Last year, we had been successful in flying all six of us to Aucks for my cousin Jason's wedding, but sadly we couldn't afford the same representation this year. The good news is that the one representative for Team Raro was ME! It was my first time flying alone to a different country (I've flown alone before, and to different countries, but not at the same time you see), which was exciting for me and most likely a worry for my parents. Rest assured I had a blast; it's always good to catch up with the kuzzies, and knowing I'll always have somewhere to go once I land. 

In some ways it was like a business trip. Because it was just me on "the team", I had certain duties, shall we say. The unveiling was for our aunty Mihi and uncle Albert, who were Mum's dad's younger siblings. The whanau was gathering at the marae, and there was much to do. There were relatives to greet and to feed, meetings and blessings to attend, and of course, the actual unveiling ceremony. I played some small parts, being the sole representative of my pops KB; I removed a layer from aunty Mihi's headstone with our Grand-uncle Karamea, and I was asked to reveal and read uncle Albert's plaque for everyone. Considering impromptu public speaking is not what I call a skill of mine, and based on the positive reception from the others, I think I handled that one okay. The ceremony was quite sweet, and a bit sad, but well worth the time and effort. 

Of course, there was part two to take care of: the kaikai! Well-known facts: a whanau gathering is no small crowd, and feeding a Maori is no small order. But, that being said, there was no small amount of helping hands. Aunty Celia's girls and I made quite the kitchen crew, and I'm proud to say that we did our elders proud that afternoon, and that kitchen hand experience I so dreaded proved very useful. We were exhausted, but determined to keep burning until the marae was as clean as we found it. All in all, I feel I did a fair job as the face of Teams KB and Raro.

Of course, Team Raro did not finish there. There was still Stephen's wedding, and as soon as I was back in Auckland there was stuff to get done. Being a Cook Island anau, the Georges were preparing an item which Stephen totally did not know about, and he was completely surprised on the day (actually we did a pretty decent job of hiding, and I think he was expecting something anyway). There were three parts to our item: first we would embarrass him with Disney love songs, then we would dance to the song "Tapea", and finish with a round-the-world, which got the wedding party and random guest members involved. To be honest, not all of us cousins are quite as committed to traditional dance as your typical Kuki kid, but we gave it our best shot. Relatively speaking, there weren't many Pasifika in the crowd, so the culture dance was refreshing and distinctive, and did we impress a memory or two. Well, more than a few to share for sure…

Tapea

There was one little-known "memory" of the wedding that very few people know about, and that is the story of the cake. Stephen's sister Enua was assigned with delivering the package, and because I was free at the time I tagged along to help. Unfortunately, Enua was a bit fuzzy on the location of the bakery, and I, being the foreigner, could be of no help with bearings. Oh dear. We did our best with the directions we were given, but somehow ended up in a nameless beauty salon (the look on that lady's face when we said we were after a cake…!). So, what were we to do? Ask for a recap of directions? It was, after all, THE day. If it wasn't crunch time already, it certainly was by now. We only had a few hours to find the bakery, safely deliver the cake to the reception, and make it back to the church in time, so this was no time to be lost. So, awkward much. It took some mucking about, but we did find the proper address of the bakery (and we kicked ourselves, because when we dug out our customer details, the address was printed at the top of the page). The gentleman at the bakery explained that there was to be a bit of a wait for our cake, as they were very busy that day with events, and it would have been better for us if we could have arrived earlier (and here we kicked ourselves some more, because that was the time that we spent getting lost…!). He was very patient with us, and even gave us cheesecake samples while we waited (that, friends, is quality service). They even helped us pack it in the car, and off we went with Enua trying to drive quickly and smoothly, which is quite tricky, and me in the back seat, trying to hold the cake steady. 

We didn't have time to make it to the reception and back by now, so we decided to sneak it into the church and rush it away after the ceremony. This plan might have been much more effective if we hadn't been spotted by the bridal party. Oh dear, AWKWARD MUCH. We pretended not to notice and shook them off our path. When we arrived at the church we smuggled it into the kitchen, hid it on top of the stove because the fridge and tables weren't big enough, and gave ourselves a pat on the back. Nobody suspected a thing (in our minds)! When it finally arrived at reception, the catering staff wondered what took so long (ah hush you). Most importantly, the bride and groom never found out, at least not until their honeymoon…

Some further excitement for us was about to get started, because now we had company coming to us. First was none other than the newlyweds Mr and Mrs Rule! They chose sunny Rarotonga as their honeymoon destination (can't think why), and so it was our unspoken duty to hit them with the best of Cook Island hospitality. For the first week they stayed at a resort in Muri (the very same Muri where Grampa and his infamous business took place) and explored the island tourist-style. For the second week they came to our place, where Morganne and I sacrificed my bedroom and we had a chance to really visit. I was back at work and the kids had school, but we made the best of our time. I made sure that, before they left, Stephen and Jessica each got a chance to have a proper island-style motorbike ride, because according to their stories about their first week, their early experiences did not go "properly". But, that is another story for another time…

CONNORS STORY

It has come to my attention that my involvement with the family blog has been sparse... Here, we use the word "sparse" in lieu of "negligent to the point of oblivious". However, at the very, very gentle prodding of my dad, I was coaxed into adding my own personal installment in the George's personal chronicle of events and lively-like activities. Having said that, I apologize for a superfluous use of vernacular, as it is my only means of flavoring an otherwise bland documentation of personal toil. Ahem. So, uh, here we go.

January was spent engrossing myself in the island culture of Rarotonga, as I enjoyed the closing days of my vacation with family. Island culture is a wonderful, yet arduous experience. One tends to underestimate the effort involved in enduring exhaustive hours spent basking on sandy shores in the blazing heat, or the gruelling effort of sampling every form of island cuisine, ranging from the entirely traditional island doughnut to the surprisingly decadent raw fish and coconut cream. 


Even the agonizing walks along the island amidst rolling hills and sweeping tropical canopies will leave you breathless..... Um, from the walking. Not from the scenery. Which is beautiful.... It's um... Yeeeah. It's a hard go, that's to be sure.
Yup, she was a rough trip, true enough. But that's why we spend time with family; for those brief moments of tranquility, or those intervals of unspoken understanding and empathy..... Ahh... Yup. You quickly forget what that's like when you embroil yourself in a George household. Aheh.

In all fairness  I will accept full responsibility for that (Mum undoubtedly would reaffirm my accountability regardless of my claims anyway). The mundane never altogether suited me. Not insofar as my most dearest of siblings were concerned, anyway. Life is meant to be celebrated, as they say. So why not celebrate it by reveling in having survived a day with their eldest brother? A half dozen well-intentioned scuffles and kerfuffles later a responsible adult tended to intervene (not pointing fingers. Mum.), and our little cycle of life continued on.

Perhaps that came off as a nostalgic soiree down memory lane. Fairly said, it was. Their was a comfortable level of chaos in my day at home that I grew fond of. Nothing sinister, but enough to keep us kids on our toes, and Mums hands to her temples (Haha... Sorry Mum). And it's that genial manner of discord I grew to miss, for as soon as my trip was done, I had myself catapulted into the ravenous maw of an entirely separate beast. This metaphorical beast is one we all are well familiar with. It is that abhorrent abomination that we know as....... Work.

Now I could wax most loquaciously regarding my innumerous escapades at work, and a substantial majority would be flecked with colorful profanity to enunciate a point. However, because of having already exceeded my daily usage of verbosity, and also because of censorship reasons, I will not. Succinctly, work was as much an ordeal as it was an experience, a reality you all are well familiar with.
New construction, hydro testing, reinstatement, and pneumatic pressure tests occupied my time whilst in the mod yards for CH2M Hill Industrial. However, the job was a temporary stop as I sought employment opportunities in the oilfields further in the north of Alberta (home to eternal cold and general lunacy). So needless to say, I leapt at the opportunity to join URS Flint Industrial constructing a well-pad, as the bureaucratic nature of the offices of CH2M Hill had begun to impede the working atmosphere of the workers.

Flint was, for lack of a more appropriate definition, a fiasco. However, there are silver linings behind every cloud. What the work lacked in general organization and availability of necessary materials, it more than made up for in a quality crew of workers. I found myself in a tight-knit unit of some of the more skilled tradesmen. An atmosphere of geniality, camaraderie  and wry humor kept our group warm over the frigid months, and kept morale a little it higher than our corporate masters would have approved of. And it was in this manner, dear readers, that I concluded my March

TEMAEU'S STORY

The beginning of 2013 was busy and that seemed to set the tone for the year so far.  I was working at Aroa Beachside Inn for January and up until mid-February.  I received a phone call in January from the CEO of Maritime Cook Islands, Glenn Armstrong, who had been given my name as a good administrator.  (The woman who provided my name was Victoria Dearlove, who is the organizer of the Vaka Eiva event ( a week long paddling event).  I had volunteered for a couple of days in November, 2012 and guess I made an impression.)  Glenn wanted to know if I would be interested in working at Maritime Cook Islands as a position had opened up for someone with a strong administrative background.  Ideally, the person would also be somewhat familiar with the maritime world.  As I only had the administrative side, I wasn't holding out much hope of getting the job.  Much to everyone's surprise, I was the lucky candidate!  The hard part was providing 2 weeks notice at Aroa as I enjoyed working there and had made some good friends amongst my fellow co-workers.  I still visit Aroa and highly recommend both the accommodation and Shipwreck Bar to anyone who is visiting Raro.

Marumaru Atua.  One of our Ocean going Vaka (canoe)

I began work at MCI mid-February and it's a challenging position.  I am a Fleet Manager and look after approximately 72 vessels around the world.  My fleet consists of commercial yachts and anything under 1000GT, (except tugs, barges and fishing boats).  So, I have a range from a 2 man submersible and its' mother ship to Picton Castle, (which is a Tall Ship) to patrol vessels around South Africa, to commercial yachts that trade in the Mediterranean and the traditional voyaging Vaka.  Essentially, I look after the registration and trading certificates and other documentation.  It is never boring and I have learned so much.  My head is often very full feeling by the end of the week.  Because it administrative, I feel that it is a better fit for me than being in hospitality.  It's also a Monday to Friday job, 8 - 4:30, with public holidays off.  This provides more opportunities to spend with the kids, (which can be a double edged blade).

Picton Castle in Port

In March, I joined a triathalon team with a co-worker and a friend of hers.  I started training for the race two weeks before and our cyclist had a practice ride on the morning of the race.  So.......(ahem) lots of training!  Our team was the "Three Krazy Mums" (T - Tania, K - Katherine and M - Moe).  Morganne even designed our team logo.  I think there were over twenty teams.  The swim was 400m, the bike ride was 16 km and the run was 4 km.  I started off near the back of the swimmers but was able to work my up so I finished closer to the leaders.  Our cyclist was amazing and our runner, Moe, realized that we were in this to compete so she ran.  We placed second and were just 47 seconds behind the 1st placed team!  We are thinking that we should be able to improve as we could do more pre-race training next year!

Triathlon, Island Style

April was the month of visitors. Our nephew, Stephen Rule and his bride, Jess,  came over to Raro for their honeymoon.  They spent the first week on the east side of the island and their second week with us.  During their last weekend, it was the corporate vaka races, and MCI had a team.  The kids, Stephen and Jess came to support.  For our first race, we almost had Stephen paddling with us as we thought we were a person down.  We raced three times and ended up being too slow for the semi finals and too fast for the slow finals.  It was still a lot of fun and again, we reckon we can only improve as we didn't practice as a team until the first race.  Ina came home on the day Stephen and Jess were flying back to NZ so he was able to catch up with them for a bit.  Ina's brother Tere flew in that night so Stephen and Jess were there to greet him and he was there to farewell them.  Ina was only home for about 3 weeks and the first two weeks were spent with his brother, Tere.  Lots of laughter, lots of music, lots of visiting and just chilling as brothers do.  They went over to Atiu and took our Tere with them.  Tere is the first of the kids to go over.  Ina had about a week after Tere, (his brother) flew home and we started listing what would need to be done for Connor's 21st.  It wasn't nearly enough time and then he was gone again

INA'S STORY

TAUNGARORO beach, ATIU

The New Year started off great for us… everyone made it back for Christmas and it was a good time had by all.  Connors plan is to always be home for Christmas, at least for the foreseeable future so this was his first time coming back from overseas.
Christmas and New Years was pretty awesome as time with family always is but the “Ghost of Christmas Future” showed his ugly face again i.e. WORK so I headed back up to Kearl Lake, Ft McMurray again…oh yay…  Bit of a shock to the system… from Cooks - to - Kearl but that was to be expected… there’s not much else I can say about work, so I’ll jump ahead to my return in April

TE-MANU BRO'S

Well the big news for me was that my brother had decided he would like to return to the Islands too at some point so, that meant flying over from Australia to sort out a piece of land for him to build on…  I was pretty excited to hear that news, we lined it up so that we would both be in RARO at the same time and from there, we would go to ATIU

The trip over was pretty cool, I decided to take my youngest son Teremataiapo with me as he hadn’t been before.  He was the first of our children to go there.  We had a few days over there to re-connect and, more importantly, start the all important process of claiming land for him to build on as I had done previously…  We had the family meeting which went well.  No issues at all really other than having to deal with the land-court bureaucracy when he got back to RARO!!

MATAI beach, ATIU

We also ended up at the TUMUNU, which is an island word meaning “BUSH BEER” club… home brew in most other languages… the funny thing is that I remember quite clearly arriving there… but have no memory at all of leaving, or arriving back at our bungalow, or how the rental truck ended back at the bungalow too… one of the great mysteries of life!  It was a great trip in the sense that my brother got his meeting done and started the ball rolling on his land…

Well, that’s pretty much the end of EPISODE 1, THE LORD OF THE COCONUTS... 

Here’s a “trailer” for EPISODE 2, TWO-MEKE… I haven’t tried inserting videos in the blog before so hope this works!

See you all end of November!