Avarua Parade

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Constitution Week!

So I had the good luck of timing my arrival right and landing during Constitution Week. This actually turned out to be a little bad to because everyone was taking time off from work so things got started slow but I got to see some cool cultural stuff so it was worth it.

The main event of the week was the parade, held on Saturday. I tramped into town to see it and it was pretty cool. Uploaded some of the pics to try and get the overall feel of it.

One of the big things in the Cooks is drumming. The week before the parade they'd have trucks going round with bands of drummers in the back cruising around, pretty sweet. They also had a drumming/dancing competition. Got to see the winning group (I think they won) but I didn't have my camera so no pics - didn't have a very good view anyways.

The pictures speak for themselves I think. It was a very festive atmosphere and almost all the pics I have got a corresponding picture in the intro for CITV (Cook Islands TV, the one station on the island), so I guess I took all the right pictures.

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Photos

Cook Island Navy
So as I was walking to the parade I went by the harbor and think I ran into the whole of the Cook Island Navy, featured above. I actually think this is a coastal patrol boat or something, probably used mostly for emergencies. I think there may be a nav arc or two checking out the blog, maybe they can say more. Anyways, found this amusing...

Shark Rider
So this was one of the first floats that came down, a huge shark with moving jaw and a chica riding its back. It was actually pretty cool and the shot of it has been put into the local news intro reel.

Drummers
This is what a lot of these festivities were about: the drumming. At least half the cars went by had a band of drummers on them, many covered with so many plants I'm surprised the drivers didn't crash. I chose this shot because you could actually see the drummers and there's a bit of greenery.

Where's the Water?
As everyone hopefully knows, I'm eager to learn about outrigger canoeing so I just had to add in this shot. The evidentially found the little dingy-like boat that's been sitting by the boat ramp as long as I've been here, put it on the back of a trailer, and stuck a kid in it paddling. I tried to point out that the water was the other way and he had poor technique but he ignored me.

The Hit of the Parade
So this guy was definitely the most popular of the parade, but I didn't get a shot that did him justice so my words will have to work it out. They used every truck in town for the parade and needed some more so this group got a crane actually. They had a troop of drummers on the back but they hung this guy off the crane hook. He's wearing a German Polizei shirt, has a beer in hand, and a bottle of wine dangling from the saddle. The truck driver would stop short to make him swing, forgetting about the rest of the people on the back...

Good Old Scientology
No South Pacific island would be complete without a Scientology mission (they had one in Fiji too at least) so I just had to include this picture to kindle the hearts of those who were in Fiji with me. Anyways, they've been the topic in the papers a lot, there's some legal stuff going on so they've been shut down a few times. I kinda wanted to go check out, mostly because they seem to have free internet...

Comments

[BeN]

THIS > Macy's thanksgiving day parade. I wish they had drunk germans hanging off cranes in the Macy's parade. btw, i am dissapointed that the scientology tent did not come with a life size cardboard cut-out of Mr. Cruise with his thumbs up or something. i means seriously... who would join scientology without celebrity endorsement?