Rob Hack

1 | 2

Mangaia, the oldest island in the Pacific

 

A friend told me her family lived on Mangaia
for a year when she was young. Her mother

 

rode her scooter into a taro swamp chasing
Stubby the pig. Taro swamps were everywhere

 

she said and blimmin’ pineapple trees.
I told her it was a New Zealand Government

 

initiative to introduce pineapples. Mangaia
is 18,000,000 years old, the oldest island

 

in the Pacific. It has extremely fertile soil.
It’s volcanic that’s why it’s so red. She said

 

a stray cat used to come in their house
at night and shit all over the place and
so her dad killed it with a machete.

 

 

 

Contents | About this Author