IT is not every day that you get to meet a keen environmentalist or a professional photographer who worked on ‘The Whale Rider’ movie. And so visitors Therese Mangos and Kirsty Griffin made for an interesting few days on Mauke as we spent time chat- ting about our sustainable living endeavours, their special project.

Together we enjoyed a first visit to the giant Banyan trees with vines aplenty for swinging on and Motuanga, an under-ground adventure that is part of the cave with one hundred rooms. We saw three of those rooms and enjoyed swimming in crystal clear cold waters that played with torch and candle light on the cave walls. No one knows now if there really were 100 rooms and I’m guessing that most have long since overgrown with new lime deposits. But while the 100 rooms exist only in legends now, Therese is on a quest to record another part of Cook Islands history before it falls into extinction.

Therese works for an Environmental Trust in Auckland and has blood connections to the Cook Islands through her mum Tuaine Utanga who is of Mauke descent through her mother’s side, a connection not lost on the locals in Mauke. She has a passion for Cook Islands tattoos, in particular in finding out their origins. This personal pursuit over a period of about 16 years, is now leading to the creation of a book. Therese says that this won’t be the definitive work on Cook Islands tattoos, rather a catalyst to spark interest and hopefully further discoveries. It hasn’t been easy to find information, as so much has been lost with past generations. In fact, she quips, if she had realised what the cost would amount to in time and money, she may never have begun this journey. Therese is thankful to have the talented help of her friend Kirsty, a professional photographer of Ngati Porou descent. Kirsty calls this her ‘labour of love’ as she gives her time to photographing the links between patterns in nature, local crafts and the art of tattooing. Once the women complete their final Cook Islands visit, to Mangaia, they will have covered all of the southern group. Compilation of current Cook Islands research along with that done through the museums in New Zealand should make for very interesting reading in the future.