Around her stall you will find the wider island world: flower ei, pareu, island foods and coconuts, and local oils such as monoi oil. For adventurous travellers heading out to the outer islands, or just starting in Rarotonga, the market is an easy first introduction to Cook Islands craft and culture.
She also shares how the market itself was born. After the 1992 Pacific Arts Festival, the huts used by visiting countries for carving and weaving were kept in use, and Mrs Q, back from travelling Australia with her art, helped open the market in 1993. It began small, took years to grow, and kept going through COVID with local people. It now has a new building.
Mrs Q makes jewellery by hand using shells from the Cook Islands' far-flung Northern Group islands and pearl shell. Her earrings and pieces are a small, wearable link to atolls that few travellers ever see, and she talks about how she turns these materials into something to take home.
Some of the most remote islands in the Pacific are hard to reach, but their treasures find their way to Rarotonga. In this episode, Normand Schafer of Far and Away Adventures.com (https://farandawayadventures.com/) talks with Mie, known as Mrs Q, a founder of the Punanga Nui Market.Plan a Cook Islands adventure, from Rarotonga to the outer islands, with a Far and Away Adventures specialist.
There is a lesson in grit here too. Mrs Q explains that there were few tour buses when the market started, and the local mamas and papas had to be persuaded to come and sell. During COVID the market closed for a time, but it kept going with its own people. That same self-reliance runs through life on the outer islands.
Her advice is to come on Saturday, the biggest day, when locals and visitors fill the market.
