Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Frisbie

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Cook Islands

Any Frisbie fans out there? I had a surprise experience tonight watching Hawaii news on TV. They were reporting on a long road closure because of an accident and they were interviewing some of the people wanting to get through. They interviewed a lady that sounded like she was from Cook islands and then they put up her name.....Johnny Frisbie. Wow......I guess she lives in Hawaii now......I know she was living in New Zealand years ago. It was lovely to see her as an older lady now after reading the stories written by her and mainly by her father, Robert Frisbee about living on Puka Puka...early 1900s. Aloha

Yes, I know Johnny quite well, she is a wonderful lady. She was living in the Cooks for several years until a couple of yrs ago I am guessing. She has relatives in Hawaii.

A relative of hers was getting married in the Cooks a few years ago, and one of the in-laws turned out to be one of the five spies upon which Ian Fleming based his character "James Bond"! He and his wife stayed at my place (Shangri-La) for a week or so. I always told future guests that stayed in cottage #3 that "James Bond slept there"!

Johnny was very involved in charitable and community activites when living in the Cooks. I think she still has a house there. she may in fact have only been visiting Hawaii, not sure.

For those interested, check out "The Book Of Puka Puka" by Robert Frisbee, and others he wrote about the Cooks. Johnny also wrote a novel based in the Cooks, not sure of the name.

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I just bought "The Book Of Puka Puka" from an Amazon seller.
Looking forward to reading it

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There's another one he wrote, which is also about time he spent on deserted Suwarrow. I gorget the name of it, but Amazon should have it.

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The book about Suwarrow is called "The island of Desire, the story of a South sea trader"
The lowest price I've found is $375 for the hardcover version, so not exactly cheap, but there's also an eBook version available via abebooks.com

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$375??!! Ridiculously overpriced. I've seen that book available maybe ten yrs ago, there should be some around at normal prices. There are some South pacific focussed bookstores, one in Detroit, and one in Seattle, but I forget their names. Should be available in paperback, I would hope.

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I got the eBook for $3, printed it in "book" mode and had Kinko's bind it for me.

I've seen the "regular" version for sale at more than $800 and there aren't that many around, so I guess that drives up the price.

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Spent 2 wonderful months in the Cook Islands in 2006
and with the kind help of Raro I was fortunate enough
to meet Ms Frisbie - and have her sign my copy of "The Frisbies in the South Seas"

She was working at the library as a volunteer at the time....
Such a nice person - I even gave her the desktop PC I had bought earlier
(my laptop started acting up about a week after the arrival)

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Hi Bung!! How have you been??!!

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Hi Raro
I'm great....have been awfully busy with...errr...pretty much everything...
Haven't even have time to follow how things have developed in the Cooks....and the little I've learned
hasn't exactly brought a smile on my face....

STILL - I'm planning on returning to Rarotonga in 2009 (fingers crossed)

How about u?....Have you been traveling a lot - having all the time in the world now?

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Hey Bung, mostly visiting relatives here in the US kind of traveling. Maybe I'll hit Finland next summer!

yes, prices have gone up on airfares to the Cooks, and within the Cooks. Petrol is way up, as are many food items.

Still some good places to stay in each category.

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