Postcrossing Blog

The Little Mail Carriers’ adventure in the Pacific continues! After their first stops, they’re back on the move with their hosts Andry and Maret (aka andry1961 and Cerres), island-hopping through the ocean in search of postcards, post offices and friendly postal people. This time, they’ve landed in Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands — where time does funny things, rain showers are frequent, and the friendly post office is definitely worth a visit!

Our plane left Auckland for the next island on the morning of September 6th. After a three-and-a-half-hour flight, we arrived in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, on September 5th, at 2:30 in the afternoon. It felt like a magical journey back in time to the previous day, without us even realizing it!

The Cook Islands consist of 15 islands. We visited the main island, Rarotonga — an almost perfectly round island surrounded by beautiful azure waters and coral reefs. Snorkeling to observe turtles and colorful fish is as easy as stepping into the water; you don’t even need a boat. The indigenous people here are Polynesians, and the official languages are English and their own version of Māori. Amidst the enchanting natural beauty, there’s an interesting rule: no building on the island can be taller than a palm tree, although the palm trees here were impressively tall.

The Cook Islands were named by the Baltic-German Admiral Adam Johan von Krusenstern (born not far from the point where we started our trip in Estonia) in 1820 in his book Atlas de l’Ocean Pacifique, after British Captain James Cook, who visited the islands in 1770.

The history of the Cook Islands is closely intertwined with England and New Zealand, but since 1965, they have been in free association with New Zealand. Two weeks after our visit, the USA recognized Cook Islands sovereignty and established diplomatic relations. We did also our best in developing these new diplomatic relations and even sent a couple of postcards to the United States!

During our stay, there were heavy rain showers every day, which helped us stay engaged in our favorite activity: preparing postcards for mailing and visiting the post office! All post from here will be sent to Auckland and only then distributed worldwide.

The post office in the capital, Avarua, was a bustling place. Unlike the previous two smaller islands, there were many tourists here, and some of them had postcards in their hands. Most tourists were from New Zealand and Australia. The majority of Cook Islanders also hold New Zealand citizenship. Also local music here was different from the previous islands. In addition to the drums we could hear skillful ukulele players in the evenings in different places. But people with smiles were as welcoming as on the previous days.

In the post office, we made some new friends, and hopefully, some of them will become postcrossers in the future. The post office’s staff, Caroline and Ophelia, greeted us with smiles and helped us get our stamps and took our postcards. We did the cancellation of the postal stamps in the postcards ourselves (with the help of our fellow travelers, of course).

A big thank you to Andry and Maret for taking the Little Mail Carriers along on this wonderful journey, and to Caroline and Ophelia at the Avarua post office for helping all those postcards on their way! Their Pacific adventure isn’t over yet though! Next time, they’ll be heading somewhere even more remote, where mail has quite a journey… Stay tuned! ✈️

The Little Mail Carriers are back on the move with postcrossers Maret (aka Cerres) and Andry (aka andry1961)— and this time, their island-hopping adventure brings them to New Zealand! After their stop in Wallis and Futuna, our tiny postal duo crossed a big stretch of the Pacific and landed in Auckland. Naturally, they went looking for mailboxes, postcards and some nice postmarks — with a detour to some rather famous postboxes along the way.

We landed in Auckland (in New Zealand’s North Island) on the first of September. The history of sending post in New Zealand dates back to 1830, initially without regulation, but by 1860, the first private mailboxes had already appeared.

We set out to explore what’s happening directly inside at least some of the NZ mailboxes. We chose the Hobbiton mailboxes as our destination (in the Shire!). It appeared that they had just been emptied. Bilbo Baggins was still busy preparing for his birthday, as there was a sign on the gate that read 'No Admittance Except on Party Business.'

Although we didn’t encounter any hobbits themselves, it seemed like they would return very soon, but we couldn’t wait, so we rushed on.

Auckland’s antipode is Setenil de las Bodegas in Andalusia, Spain, which means we were almost on the other side of the Earth from our home in Portugal. So, we were about as far away as one can get. Naturally, we set out to find a place to send postcards.

We chose a Post Shop where we had the opportunity to hand-cancel postage stamps. We were assisted by the lovely lady Wendy, who was very excited to hear about Postcrossing. Turns out, it’s no easy task to obtain hand-stamped cancellations on postcards from New Zealand!

That’s all we had time for in this visit, but this wasn’t our first time in New Zealand — check out our previous adventures here! Ok, time for another jump on a flight to another exotic nation in the Pacific… Can you guess our next destination? 😉

The Little Mail Carriers are still island-hopping in the South Pacific! After their adventures in New Caledonia with postcrossers Maret (aka Cerres) and Andry (aka andry1961), our tiny postal duo boarded another plane to visit a place most of us only know from stamps and atlases: Wallis and Futuna. Come along as they report back from this remote corner of the world, where life (and the post!) move at an unhurried island pace.

From New Caledonia, we flew to Wallis and Futuna with the airline Aircalin, which operates two flights per week from Nouméa. Wallis Airport was a charming sight to behold in itself. Beyond its delightful architecture, the airport served as a vibrant gathering place for the locals. When we departed four days later at the early hour of five in the morning, the area around the airport was surprisingly bustling with people.

Wallis and Futuna is an exceptionally unique France overseas territory that has never been colonized but chose to become a part of the French Republic (1961) while preserving its three kingdoms.

The first inhabitants of Wallis came from New Caledonia. Europeans only discovered Wallis in 1767 when Samuel Wallis laid eyes on an uncharted island. After an initially confrontational reception from the locals, he returned to the sea, leaving the island with his namesake. The local population predominantly comprises Polynesians, whose gracious hospitality and traditions whisk you away from daily life.

Many of them adorned themselves with beautifully scented flower necklaces (often more than one) or tucked flowers into their hair. This was not limited to women; men embraced the tradition too. The daily presence of these traditions was evident in the local attire and tattoos. Both floral and oceanic motifs were popular in these expressions.

The Wallis Post Office is located in the capital city, across from the royal palace and near Mata-Utu Cathedral. Here, the post office isn’t just for sending postcards: you can also arrange telephone and internet connections, transfer money, pay bills, and more.

Adjacent to the post office, there’s an impressive philatelic department where we spent at least two hours every day when the post office was open. We received a warm welcome and were even offered a workspace for leisurely stamping.

The islands’ first stamps were overprinted stamps from New Caledonia, issued in May 1920. The stamps depict the history and nature of Wallis and Futuna, all of which are displayed along with explanations behind numerous glass-encased panels. On our last day in the Philatelic Center, they gifted us a flower necklace, though it was a bit too large for us — Maret was wearing it instead of us.

During our time in Wallis, we also visited Talietumu, the best-preserved Tongan Fortresses in Pacific Region and Lake Lalolalo, one of the largest inland crater lakes in this area.

In total, we made several rounds around the island during those days — the circumference is only about 50 kilometers. Although the distances were not vast, pedestrians were quite rare, also in Mata-Utu, but friendly stray dogs were abundant.

However, it’s worth noting that our journey was not without its challenges. A daily storm, which prevented flights to the nearby Futuna Island, added an element of unpredictability to our adventure. 😞 We’ll have to leave that visit for another time… but that’s part of the adventure.

With postcards written, stamps carefully chosen, and new friends made at the post office, it was soon time for Maret, Andry and us to say “mālō” and continue our journey across the Pacific. Stay tuned — we’ll soon have some more exciting travel reports to share!

Some time ago, the Little Mail Carriers got wind that Andry (aka Andry1961) and Maret (aka Cerres) were preparing for a very exciting trip to the Pacific. As dedicated travel mode enthusiasts, they jumped at the opportunity to join them on their journey!

Hi everyone! The goal of the trip was to visit Pacific islands belonging to various countries where Postcrossing was not yet well-known. The journey took off from Tallinn Airport, and of course, there are no direct flights to these desired islands, so our route also included other major country post offices along the way.

The first stop was Istanbul, Turkey. The Turkish Post (or PTT) has a presence at Istanbul Airport. Most postcards sent from the country are shipped to other nations via their national airline, Turkish Airlines. We also took the longer flights on the same airline during this trip.

The plane landed in Singapore, but it’s easy to travel from the airport to the neighboring country of Malaysia via public transportation… so that’s exactly what we did on our layover! Across the border in Johor Bahru, a friendly postal worker lady Farah helped us stamp our postcards at the local post office. While the stamping was done at the post office, the postcards themselves had to be deposited in an external mailbox, from where they were sent to the sorting center.

Back in Singapore, there are post offices with varying opening hours all over the city, but to ensure we made it to the next flight on time, we decided to mail the postcards from the airport post office. By the time we arrived, it was already closed, so we dropped the cards in the mailbox before jumping on our next flight.

After 10.5 hours in the air, we were approaching our main destination. What motivated people to sail on their small vessels to unknown waters thousands of years ago is still a topic of debate among scientists. We support the idea that curiosity and the desire to explore foreign lands drove us, just as it did for those early explorers.

Our first stop in the South Pacific was Grande Terre, the largest island of New Caledonia. New Caledonia is a French overseas territory (technically, a sui generis collectivity) situated in the Pacific Ocean. It encompasses over 300 islands and islets and is located between Australia and Fiji. The native population is the Kanak people, but there are also many inhabitants of French origin and their descendants living on the island.

British explorer James Cook became the first European to visit New Caledonia on September 4, 1774. In the mid-19th century, it transformed into a French colony, and by 1946, it became a French overseas territory.

Nouméa welcomed us on the morning of September 26 with cheerful and windy 20-degree Celsius weather. However, since it was a Saturday, we had to rush to the post office. Only some post offices are open for half a day on Saturdays, and they are all closed on Sundays.

Apart from us, there were many other visitors at the post office. The official name of the postal operator in New Caledonia is the Office des Postes et Télécommunications, which manages mail, phone, and internet services, as well as banking services. We were the only ones on that morning sending postcards.

We were graciously assisted by the lovely lady Melatia. Postcards sent from here are routed to Europe through France, while direct connections are available to the USA and Australia. To our delight, we discovered that New Caledonia, despite being a French overseas territory, has its own unique postage stamps… so it was a nice opportunity to see these distinctive stamps!

Nevertheless, the visit to the post office was not the sole item on our agenda. We also joined in to support our travel companion Cerres, who participated in the 7th Marathon International Mobil of New Caledonia 10 km run, where she achieved a personal record. YAY! 🎉

To close the trip, we checked out the Great South Lagoon of New Caledonia, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008. We also had the opportunity to explore one of the many exquisite national parks on this remarkable island — Blue River Park! It was amazing to see the river meander through the backdrop of red earth and the ancient kaori trees, some of which are more than 1,000 years old!

This was just the first leg of our Pacific adventure though, and our hosts Andry and Maret tell us there’s still a lot more to come… so if you’re curious about small islands and their post offices, stay tuned to see where we’ll land next! 😊

Combining his academic background in Finnish language and culture with his lifelong love of stamp collecting, some years ago Jonas (aka radiohead92) embarked on an internship at the Postal Museum in Tampere. Get ready to explore the fascinating world of Finnish postal history through his eyes, accompanied by some very special little travelers…

"Some years ago, I had the idea to combine my two main interests, Finland and philately. Finland has been an important subject for me through my studies of Finnish language and culture at the University of Vienna, philately since I was 11 years old when I started collecting stamps. I remembered the Postal Museum in Tampere, and asked if an internship there would be possible. Years ago, I had been in Finland for the first time, visited Tampere and participated the big International Meetup during the FINLANDIA 2017 Stamp Exhibition. Now I am a proud member of the Finnish Postcrossing Friends Association and have visited Finland many times. The Little Mail Carriers have observed and participated my whole internship at Postimuseo.

Tampere is a city famous for its industrial buildings, so it is not a surprise that it is called the “Manchester of the North” (Finns call it “Manse”, which is the Finnish word for Manchester). The Postimuseo is housed in a former building of a foundry, which looks really beautiful.

In the museum exhibitions that were featured back in 2022, you could see many interesting items of Finnish postal history, like the first motorized car of Posti or ancient writing instruments (e.g. a quill). Believe me, the little ones and I were stunned about this amazing exhibition everyday!

They were so many great other parts of the museum. Especially the library, full with interesting books about Postal History and Philately was a place where I had been often in my leisure time. No surprise, that the Little Mail Carriers wanted to explore the department of postcards immediately.

Behind the scenes, the full collection of European stamps of the last 100 years or the printing plates of the first Finnish stamps 1917 were amazing. I had the chance to see everything there, the staff of the Postal Museum was very friendly and willing to show me their treasures.

They were delighted to see my shining eyes and my tasks were varied. For instance, I had to scan old and expensive collections of stamps and postcards, or to sort stamps for the next exhibitions.

Sometimes I participated in the guided tours for school-children and wore an old postal uniform for them. It was very nice to see how the children explore the former and current postal items. Everyday I got a new, exciting task and the Little Mail Carriers were good and helpful fellows.

During the weekends, we traveled to other parts of Finland and attended some Postcrossing meetups, at Rovaniemi and Oulu. In Rovaniemi was the big Santa Claus Meeting on Arctic Circle, where we visited Santa Claus and its post office.

In Oulu we met some local postcrossers and, of course, the famous Toripolliisi, a sculpture of a former local policeman.

The Postcrossing meetup at Tampere, held at Postimuseo, was also special. The Little Mail Carriers were the V.I.P.s there! Finland (and Tampere) are famous for the Moomins, so the little ones had to visit the Moomin Museum, which is situated in the fairground of Tampere, the venue of FINLANDIA 2017.

In short, my internship at Tampere’s Postal Museum was a dream combination of my passions for Finland and philately. Surrounded by fascinating postal history and with the Little Mail Carriers as my steadfast companions, I experienced firsthand the rich stories behind mail and the vibrant spirit of the Finnish Postcrossing community. This adventure has left me with lasting memories and an even deeper appreciation for the connections Postcrossing fosters worldwide."

A big thank you to Jonas for sharing his amazing adventure at the Postal Museum with us and the Little Mail Carriers! We’re so glad they had such a fantastic time exploring the world of Finnish postal history. Until their next journey, happy travels, little ones! ✈️