Nico's Journal

On Saturday we went to the annual Pasifika festival. We missed it two years ago because we were out of town, and last year because it rained. This time it was grey (like most of our summer) and humid but the rain held off till Sunday. Maxx (public transport) wasn't running buses from Newmarket as in other years so we had to drive to a train station, wait ages for a train (most were cancelled last weekend; great planning, guys) and then a crowded bus, then all that in reverse going home. I think we spent more time in transit than actually there. :-P

Pasifika is held at Western Springs, a lovely big park with a lake. Various Pacific islands set up "villages" all round it so people can do a circuit visiting them all. They have dancers, demos, and lots of yummy food to try, the highlights for me being "te baan", Kiribati pancakes filled with fresh grated coconut and te kamamai (coconut syrup). We took coconut buns and Cook Islands poke (paw-kay) home with us. Poke is usually made from cooked bananas and coconut cream; we also got pumpkin for its rarity value.

( Three photos of weaving and dancing )

Here at last is my Pasifika picspam.

The Pasifika Festival is held every year in the park at Western Springs, and celebrates the cultures of the different Pacific islands. It's apparently the biggest free community event in the world, and there were about 200,000 people there on Saturday. Some pictures from last year's one are here.

We caught a bus from Newmarket, outside the 277 mall, which I mention only because of the clothes I saw in the boutique by the bus stop.
( Back to the future )