Sydney welcomes Cook Island's Marumaru Atua

Sydney welcomes Cook Island's Marumaru Atua
By admin


Cook Islands Tourism will celebrate the arrival of their traditional ocean voyaging vaka, Marumaru Atua, in Sydney tomorrow.

Marumaru Atua is on the final leg of its six-week voyage from home as it leads a fleet of Pacific vakas (canoes) into Sydney Harbour to open the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Parks Congress.

Cook Islands Tourism is inviting travel trade to join in celebrating the arrival in Sydney this Wednesday 12 November at 8am for coffee and pastries at Yots Café at Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour.

Vakas will be welcomed at 8.45am by hundreds of Pacific Islands performers and a First People’s smoking ceremony.

The Cook Islands prime minister Hon Henry Puna will arrive on Marumaru Atua to deliver a message about the importance of ocean conservation to the Cook Islands nation.

Captained by Master Navigator Peia Patai, the Cook Islands’ vaka Marumaru Atua, with its crew of 15, was joined enroute by Samoa’s Gaualofa, Fiji’s Uto Ni Yalo and New Zealand’s Haunui vakas.

Their voyage is the first ever recorded by traditional ocean voyaging canoes to Australia.

Three thousand delegates from 160 countries are attending the Congress. 

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