Azure Coconut

A small part of Tukao's share of Coconut Crabs or Te Kavou Okay, so we have come to love Manihiki as a very special place. The most amazing people, stunning lagoon, beautiful reef and the sweetest drinking coconuts on this blue planet. But yesterday, well, Manihiki has topped it all and put on the most amazing feast for us. A dinner worthy of kings and queens and we are truly grateful that the Manihiki community has shared this with us. So what has happened? All of the Cook Islands have Ra'ui - protected areas where nobody is allowed to fish or hunt in. It is a traditional way of protecting the natural beauty and abundance of the seafood in each island's lagoon. But once in a while, once or twice a year in Manihiki these areas are opened for hunting and gathering. An amazing spectacle begins! I am up, walking the main coral road of Tukao with our youngest at 6am because she is teething and can't sleep. That's when we hear the drums. ...

Things we take for granted – Drinking Water The boys on a mission - ready for a 300m walk to the water station After having spent 3 months on Manihiki we start really operating on island time. It feels so rejuvenating to slow down a bit. Also, and we do apologize for this, it is a natural phenomenon here on the island, we started being a bit complacent with our blog. Finding topics when there are so many to choose from seems like a big task in 30 plus degrees heat. But there are so many things that we could and should write about.   So we decided to initiate the category “Things we take for granted”. Simply because at home (Germany, France or Rarotonga!) there are so many things that we don’t even think about. We enjoy them without truly appreciating how amazing and luxurious certain services are, the ones that we consider normal in our households. How exciting to be out with Papa! You wouldn't believe it when you are comfortably abl...

Rachel and I walking home from school. This was when she still lived in Tukao. Now she is back in Tauhunu with her mum and dad and brothers.   In Rarotonga I spent a lot of time at Island Bubz daycare. I liked it a lot. There were the aunties Lerma, Leba and Nancy. And there were my friends. Keanui, Kiva & Noah, but also Maine (all the boys always wanted to give her a cuddle), Elliott, Paea, Annie-Jade, Narita and all the others. I was one of the big ones, not like baby Evie. She was so small that she couldn't walk yet. This was my first day at school. All my friends came with me: Isaac, Rachel, Helina and Frederick. Now I am in Manihiki and my friends all go to school. They are all big. And I am small like baby Evie now! In the morning they wear their uniforms and they have their hair neat. They walk to my house and tell me they go to school. I ask: "Maman, I go école with Helina"!  And Maman says to wait until I have my uniform on to...

Nimata - Freshly harvested and resting on Black Pearl oysters   Life in Manihiki is well paced. Steady but there is always something to do. When you walk through the village and stop to have a little chat you here this one quite a lot: how are you? Oh, busy. Thanks! With no supermarkets (two small corner shops), restaurants (a snack bar open 2 nights every fortnight) or other food suppliers (except for the community sharing their catch), providing the everyday meals becomes a never ending task. Life follows the cycle of going fishing, catching, cleaning and enjoying the fish for dinner! There are other tasks like sweeping the floors with Kikau brooms, the best and most efficient broom I have ever used! But this task also takes a lot of time and has to be done daily if you don't want to have half the beach in your bedroom at night. And so the weeks in Manihiki unfold in the same beautiful rhythm week in, week out. My favorite task is preparing the drin...