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EASTER ISLAND 2005 - at the Gateway to Polynesia

Soren Crew Marita Furguson April 2005

The early inhabitants called their island ‘Te Pito O te Henua’ The Navel of the World and more recently Rapa Nui. The island is 109 ° 26 ¢ west longitude and 27 ° 09 ¢ south latitude, it’s the easternmost and almost the southernmost island of the South Pacific. The closest inhabited island is Pitcairn, 1900km west. Travelling over 4000NM from New Zealand one comes to appreciate the remoteness of this ’Isle of Great Silence’ this mystical land.

Easter Island possess the largest and most awesome collection of prehistoric monuments in the South Pacific with almost a 1000 giant statues scattered inland and along the coast. It is still a mystery as to why, how, and when these statues were erected. Long platforms or ahu bearing moai were built near the coasts, with long retaining walls facing the sea. Majority of the moai were cut from the same quarry at Rano Raraku tuff, but some are made from red scoria or basalt . Each ahu carried four to six moai towering two to ten meters high and weighing upto 82 tons. The topnots or pukao were carved form the reddish stone of Panu Pau and the eyes were filled into the faces of the moai with cut coral . The giant statues were carved using tools made from black obsidian. A narrow rectangular head, jutting eyebrows, and a long sloping nose typify the moai, however no two statues are identical, each carry their own character.

After saying our farewells to the VC half the crew went ashore to explore, while the other half stayed aboard to prepare the ship for the voyage to Pitcairn. The ‘boys’ being Nate Ulrich, Nick, and Eddie hired a jeep and toured the island in search of stone heads. Eddie also tried his hand at surfing the break at Hanga Roa, this boy from Denmark having surfed very few times was humbled by the experience! Lee, Lucinda, VC Anne, JJ and John also toured the island and I think that they managed to see almost every archaeological site! Astrid organised a tour guide for herself and several of the voyage crew to reveal the hidden secrets of the island. The crew spent a few evenings socialising with the Rapanui folk at the Banana Hut Bar, some took the opportunity to sample the local drink Pisco. On the island was a fine tattoo artist named Tito who specialised in Rapa Nui stylised tattoos. Eddie had Tonga Roa, ‘Guard of the Ocean’ tattooed on his lower left leg, Lee had the infamous ‘Birdman’ petroglyph tattooed behind her ear and JJ had a tattoo on his upper arm with a design inspired by his favourite heavy metal singer, blonde goddess Dora Pesh from the Warlords.

Mikkel, Andy, Dave, Kristianue, Kenny and myself had time off during the second half of the eight day turn around. On the first day Mikkel, Andy and myself toured the island in a jeep. It doesn’t take long to tour this triangular shape island spanning just 171 sqkm. The terrain is rough, barren with low lying scrub and makes for some good off road four wheel driving. There are over 4000 wild horses on the island which at times posed as quite a problem whilst driving! On each corner of the island an extinct volcano exists. Cookie Dave managed to reach the top of all three volcanoes on his 250cc dirtbike and came close to the edge on Maunga Tere Vaka the highest point at 507 meters. He said the views were awesome. He spent his time off riding the least travelled tracks on the island. The highlight for me was Rano Kau, Ahu Nau Nau at Anakena Bay, and the quarry at Rano Raraaku. Rano Kau is an enormous crater which lies on the south western tip of the island and is absolutely stunning. In the depths was a lake with totora reeds, papyrus thickets and in the most protected parts of the crater banana trees and orange grove. On the lower slopes I was excited to see eucalyptus trees had been planted. I made the boys stop the jeep so I could take a few leaves to have a scent from home!

As part of the infamous Birdman cult of Orongo, each spring, men would clamber down Ranu Kau’s sheer cliff’s to the shore and then swim through reeds, shark invested waters and strong currents to the largest and farthest islet, Motu Nui to seek out the elusive brown speckled egg of the sooty-tern. Warlords from dominant tribes would find themselves a representative to endure the long and dangerous expedition. Once found, the egg was secured to the competitors head and they swam back to Orongo. The master became the new birdman for the following year and lived in seclusion in a house at the foot of Ranu Kau, were he neither showered, cut his hair or nails.

AnakenaBay is the only spot on the island with a sandy beach and palm trees! Most of the local folk tend to picnic here and are interrupted by the rove cowboy passing by on his horse. A long platform bore seven moai which featured elongated ear lopes, head-dresses or pukao carved from a soft reddish stone from the quarry of Puna Pau and eyes filled into the faces of the moai with cut coral.

The quarry at Rano Raraaku was amass with moai of all shapes and sizes, lying down, standing up and sitting. This site is an eerie experience, and is without a doubt one of the most strangest places I have ever visited in the South Pacific!

Next stop Pitcairn Island……..

Marita