Fijian architecture enthralled early European voyagers and history writers when they set foot on Fiji more than two centuries ago.

Many wrote about the beauty of its design and magnificent sizes and shapes of these traditional houses, generically known in the Bauan language as ‘Vale’ (house) or ‘Vale Vakaviti (Fijian house). They were also in awe of the master- designers and architects, traditionally called mataisau, whose design and workmanship resulted in creatively built houses that have been admired the world over. Despite its magnificent reputation, modernization has brought in a lot of changes to houses in Fiji today. In some rural areas of Fiji, traditional ‘Bure’, pronounced as ‘Boo-ray’ can still be seen however many villages have adopted the use of modern materials such as bricks, corrugated iron and treated wood to build their houses.

In every traditional Fijian village, there were many different types of dwellings depending on the occupants and their purposes or functions.  Burenisa was a dwelling for young men and burekalou (priest-house) was the tallest building in any village.…more

The world's Greatest Diver Ever!

Spectacular diving footage of Greg Louganis at the '84 Summer Games by legendary Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan.

Greg Louganis was born to parents of Samoan & Northern European ancestry.  They were both 15 yrs old and gave Greg up for adoption when he was 9 months old.   He started diving when he was 9yrs old winning his first championship at the Junior Olympics national competition at the age of 11yrs.

He had a troubled childhood but turned to diving as this was one area in his life which gave him self-confidence & success.

He went on to win numerous national & International Diving awards and is the only male & the 2nd diver in Olympic history to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympic Games.  He won Gold at the 1984 & 1988 Olympics on both the Platform and Springboard.  In 1984, he received the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.…more

11 Year Old Muay Thai Fighter 

11 year old Rhyme 'The Rage' Loto is about to fly out to Thailand to fight in the IFMA Youth World Championships. Last year he won the silver medal. This year he's hoping to bring home the gold.

You can donate to help with Rhymes expenses getting to Thailand by donating to his 'Give a Little' page here

Suggested Links:

11 Year Old Rhyme raging to the top 

Mark Hunt Fighting the Past 

Joyana Finch (nee Meyer)

Mechatronic Engineer

Former Miss South Pacific & Miss Cook Islands

Cook Islands 

What do you love about doing what you do?

Thats a hard question. There's so much to enjoy in this job. Yes I enjoy the travelling, working with new people and a whole lot of other work perks but my love for this role has nothing to do with that.  What I love about being an Engineer is the opportunity to solve problems.  I imagine that many would hear that and their eyes would glaze over but when I think about it .... being able to attack problems systematically and methodically with logic (aaaand a boat load of patience) gives me a sense of .... freedom.

When you understand more and more about how the things that make up your world work, how you can fix them, how you can modify them to do your bidding, or better yet, how to build something of your own imagining ...…more

Today will be remembered as Fiji Day!

The Worlds Greatest Sevens team has won Fiji their first ever Olympic GOLD medal & their first ever Olympic medal in history!   Well played!!

You've shown us why you're truly the greatest 7s rugby team in the World.

Here are some of the highlights from the finals match today.

Suggested Links:  

Songs in the key of rugby 

Fijis Olympic Hopeful Winston Hill  

The Samoan Slammer 

Meet Joseph Kayes, the Kiwi born Samoan representing Australia at the Rio Olympics in .... wait for it .... Water Polo!   Seeing as many Samoans had their dreams shattered earlier in the week thinking Team Samoa had won a Gold Medal, we thought we'd introduce another medal contender they can put their hope in because well, hope is a beautiful thing!

5 things you should know about Joe:

#1 FAMILY - His grandparents are from Sapapali'i, Savaii in Samoa and made the move to NZ in the '60s.  His mother Dorcas is one of 8 children & married a kiwi - Paul Kayes.  Joe has 1 brother & sister.

#2  GROWING UP - He grew up in Tauranga, New Zealand and went to Mt Maunganui Intermediate & Mt Maunganui College.  He was a swimmer and surf lifesaver and first started playing Water Polo in Intermediate.  His father Paul built the pool at Bay of Plenty Polytech & also founded the Tauranga Water Polo Club in 2002.…more

Meet Tupuna Rangi 

While the world worked itself into a frenzy this week over an oiled-up Tongan Taekwon-do athlete during the opening of the Rio Olympic games;  on the other side of the world, a young Cook Islands Maori man was quietly winning a gold medal at the International Taekwon-Do Federation 2016 World Championships.

He posted these messages on his Facebook page after his win "Guess who got the Gold for the Taekwondo World Championship? Now I feel like a World Champion :) Proud to rep Aotearoa"

"1 Bronze, 2 Silver, 10 Gold medals and a Trophy.  Feels good being Grand Champion in Hawkes Bay and World Champion in England (Brighton).  Hopefully I can compete in the next World Champs in 2018 which will be held in Argentina"

Tupuna wearing his Gold Medal 

Twenty-one year old Tupuna Rangi (Rarotonga, Rakahanga) made sporting history this week when he competed in the first ever Special Needs Division of the ITF World Championships.…more

Our little island nations caused a stir in more ways than 1 at the Olympics opening ceremony in Rio yesterday.  Here's our Top 3 moments.

#1 PITA TAUFATOFUA - Tonga's flag bearer leading out the rest of his team into the Maracana Stadium

at which point the internet collectively lost its mind ....

Way to put Tonga on the map Pita!

You can follow him on instagram here https://www.instagram.com/pita_tofua/  on Snapchat - PitaSii or on Facebook 

#2 OSEA KOLINISAU - Fiji's Flagbearer/7s Captain who was asked by Serena Williams to have his photo taken with her which she shared on her Snapchat! 

#3  COOK ISLANDS OLYMPICS TEAM making the Best Dressed Team & the Boldest Uniform lists in their TAV sponsored uniforms 

Manea tikae!  

Suggested Links:

Our Pacific teams at the 2016 Olympic Games 

Meet our Pacific Island people representing us at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Special mention to Team Tuvalu who has 1 person in their team - Etimoni Timuani a 100m Sprint specialist!  

Coco congrats to everybody who made it to Rio, we wish you all the best as well as our Pacific Islanders representing New Zealand and Australia in this years Olympic Games in Rio.

Lets get behind our island nations - most of them have their team pages on Social Media accounts so follow along on their progress and send them messages of encouragement too!

AMERICAN SAMOA 

COOK ISLANDS 

FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA 

FIJI 

GUAM 

KIRIBATI 

MARSHALL ISLANDS 

NAURU 

PALAU 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

SAMOA

SOLOMON ISLANDS 

 

 T

ONGA

 

 

TUVALU 

 

 

VANUATU 

 

Paeariki Johnson (nee Mataroa)

Principal, Rongomai Primary School in Otara 

Cook Islands 

I was born in Ngatangiia in Rarotonga and came over to New Zealand with my 2 older siblings, I was only 1 at the time.  My Dad came over first and worked here for a year or 2, sent money back and brought my Mum and my sisters over.  We stayed with our uncles first and then moved into a flat but all they drilled into us was 'Education, education, education'.  We settled in Otahuhu first but I was schooled in Otara - East Tamaki Primary, Ferguson Intermediate & Hillary College.  Then I went off to Teachers College in Epsom and during my teaching career I did my degree through Auckland Uni and did my Post Grad in Educational Leadership.  

I had always aspired to be a teacher.  When I was in Year 6 (Standard 4), we had this amazing teacher at East Tamaki Primary and he used to give us breakfast, we'd go for runs and so on and that was something that wasn't done back then.…more