Manihiki Magic - Our Tree House

Our Tree House

The locals call it Fare Ngōio, the bird house, because common conception on the island is that those buildings are just large enough to house birds. But for us it is our new home away from home! We have to warn you though, our castle is not child friendly and comes with many possible hazards, such as steep staircase, unsealed concrete floors and windows that have no glass. Despite all of that it may be just because of these differences that we do love it so much - it feels like living in a very comfortable tree house!
Location, location, location: our house is located at the northern side of the lagoon in the center of Tukao, Tukao being the smallest of the two villages in Manihiki (82 inhabitants in April 2017 for 152 in Tauhunu). From the window of our bedroom we have the most wonderful view of Manihiki lagoon. Every morning we wake up to the sunrise!

View from our bedroom

The house is one of 74 shelters that have been funded by the New Zealand government in the aftermath of cyclone Martin who hit the atoll on November 1st, 1997. Local author and journalist Rachel Reeves has written a very comprehensive story about the natural disaster. The book gives a great account of not only the catastrophic circumstances of Cyclone Martin but more so she tells the story of a strong Manihiki community. It is a story of strength and survival. For more information you can find Matini book online or at the Bounty Bookshop in Avarua, Rarotonga.

Well appointed Fare

Reeves describes the houses as follows:
"The microshelters are one-room structures on three-meter poles with water tanks cemented into their foundations and the amenities of flush toilet, showers, and sinks."

Basic Shelter in Tukao

The shelters cover the basic needs. But being used to the modern and western amenities they test our ability of adaptation. There is no drinking water coming from the tab and "running water" only when we turn on the pump to fill a reservoir on the roof that is gravity fed back into the house. There are no windows, just plywood that covers the window frames. Unsealed concrete floors, one living space with open kitchen and one room for the four of us. We cook on a double gas burner and have no oven. But we love it and it really makes us appreciate all the amenities that we take so much for granted back home.

The best thing about the shelters is the 20,000L water tanks that they are built on. We heard about water shortages in the northern group islands and were worried that we would not have enough water to do the laundry (especially reusable nappies!) and shower. But no worries about that at all. Manihiki has received enough rain this year, the tanks are full, so we can do our washing on Saturdays in our double tub Cofly Washing Machine. This machine is fantastic! We have to manually fill it up - we'll write about the adventure of doing your laundry in Manihiki in a later post.

For now it's time to close our wooden windows, listen to the waves and go to bed in our tree house!

Bird House hidden in the bush

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