Ma'uke

Tourism

Mauke has a special atmosphere. Its people cleave to the old customs of hospitality – the 'ui tupuna' – and they are very friendly to visitors. People from overseas need to adjust to a different pace and style. Shops are few and far between, are often closed and the range of goods on offer is limited. There are no cafés or restaurants, milk has to be bought in powder form in cans and fresh home baked bread comes from an old gentleman in Ngatiarua village who bakes loaves in a wood-fired oven.

Probably the best way to explore Mauke is by rented bicycle. The coral roads are deserted and peaceful. A day spent cycling slowly round the circumferential road is an absolute delight. The road curves gently through the coconut palms and hardwood trees. Every so often a small, sandy beach comes in sight bordered by rocky outcrops. In the vegetation bordering the track you will find growing wild the 'noni' tree whose fruit is now the darling of the health food industry in the USA and is being touted as a cure-all for every imaginable ailment. Also called the Indian mulberry, it is an ancient Cook Islands herbal medicine. Its botanical name is Morinda citrifolia.

Accommodation on Mauke is limited. The Island Council has decided there should be rooms for no more than 40 visitors. There are no restaurants or cafes on the island

The island has power 24 hours a day. The adventurous will find a swim in some of the underground caves both refreshing and spectacular. There are also three beaches on the island or you could join the local children for a swim in their favourite place - the harbour.

---

Significant inhabitants

Dashwood wrote sensitively and evocatively about the Cook Islands in magazines and books ('South Seas Paradise') under the pseudonym Julian Hillas. He later had a short but eventful career as a Minister in the first Cook Islands Government in the 1960s, but resigned after being convicted on corruption charges. He died shortly afterwards in 1970. His grave lies beside his wife's, Kopu, in the garden behind the house, close to the road. The spacious house is now a ruin, the half-acre garden overgrown with weeds. The high-ceilinged rooms contain remnants of furniture, a wind-up gramophone, bedsteads and small cupboards.

It is not hard to imagine, however, what the homestead would have looked like in its heyday in the 40s and 50s. Rows of huge hibiscus bushes surrounded by cropped green lawns and the massed flowerbeds blazing with color under the big, shady trees. Here Dashwood would have entertained his guests and played the role of lord of the manor in the South Seas. Near the junction of Ngatiarua and Areora villages is the huge Zion church which is Mauke's largest and most idiosyncratic structure. The Maukeans call it the 'divided church' because it was built as a place of worship to be shared between two villages. The pulpit is in the centre of the huge nave and the congregation sits on whichever side has been designated for them. At the front of the pulpit, which is in a low railed enclosure, are embedded eight silver Chilean coins a one silver Peruvian coin, which were common currency in the central Pacific in the nineteenth century. Often referred to wrongly as Chilean dollars, there are eight Chilean pesos dated between 1870 and 1881. The ninth coin is a silver Peruvian coin named 'sol' with the inscription: 'Firme y Feliz por la Union', state motto from Peru.