The 'life-changing' ferry that took diasporic Pukapuka descendants to their motherland

A passenger on the ferry that took over 100 New Zealand and Australian-based people of Pukapuka descent to the northern island is abuzz that they made it.

Lady Samoa IV picked up the group of around 160 in Rarotonga earlier this month, travelling over a thousand kilometres through Nassau to Pukapuka.

Passenger Genesis Su'a-Tariau hopes more Pacific diasporas can have this "life-changing" experience that he and his family have had.

"Sometimes growing up in the city life in New Zealand you don't think too much of it," Su'a-Tariau says.

"But when you're actually here there's a big moment of reflection that happens and I think I've been able to have that."

The ferry took around a week to arrive to Pukapuka from Rarotonga. Photo/Google Maps 2023 Data

He says so far it's been a learning curve, from transferring from a large ship to small boats just to access the island, going fishing, hunting crabs and even husking their first coconut.

"I'm pretty much a local now," Su'a-Tariau joked.

"We ate the birds last night too. They literally just caught those birds and threw them in the pot and it was ready to eat."

Su'a-Tariau says the most important aspect of the trip has been meeting his people and hearing their stories.

"What have our people been doing all this time? How have they been making up their 70 years of life here on this small island?

"I can't wait to spend the next five weeks doing that."

Political controversy

The charter was funded by the Cook Islands government by around $640,000, which was the result of a three-year conversation between Pukapuka descendants in NZ and Australia and Pukapuka MP Tingika Elikana.

The funding subsidised the fares, reducing costs for adults to $1000 one-way, $2000 for return while for children it was $500 return.

According to Cook Island NEWS, opposition leader and Rakahanga MP Tina Browne asked Elikana how he was able to charter the vessel, inquiring further on how she could get her family funded for a trip to Rakahanga.

Elikana replied that the request initially involved two additional groups with one wanting to travel to Penrhyn and the other for Palmerston - however, those groups withdrew their requests.

Su'a-Tariau acknowledged the newspaper's, saying they know that their trip was a "bit of a political controversy".

He says the journey to Pukapuka was not easy as uncertainty hung in the air for many since making it to Pukapuka was not guaranteed.

"Funding and all that, making it accessible for our people to get back. I believe that the fact that it's difficult to get here in the first place makes it even more special being here.

"Our people here, [it doesn't] take much for them to be happy. Whether you're here on the island or not is not going to disturb their daily life.

"The fact that we're here now we consider it a blessing."

Watch the full interview from PMN Cook Islands FB page below: