Postcrossing Blog

The Little Mail Carriers are still making their way across the Pacific with postcrossers Maret (aka Cerres) and Andry (aka andry1961)! After their stop in the Cook Islands, the next leg of the trip took them to French Polynesia — a place of blue lagoons, fragrant flowers, distant archipelagos… and, naturally, a few post offices to visit along the way.

From the Cook Islands, our journey continued to French Polynesia, which consists of 35 islands and 83 atolls. We landed on the largest island, Tahiti and our attention was immediately drawn to this map that illustrates how spread out the territory is, by superimposing it on a map of Europe:

Pretty impressive, right?

Although Tahiti was just as fragrant with flowers and surrounded by clear blue water, our first destination was, of course, the post office. We began at the Tahiti Philatelic Agency in Faa’a, near the airport. To our disappointment, it was closed for stocktaking that week.

Although we could not enter, Mauritua, a member of staff, brought out a special postmark for us, along with several stamps for us to buy. He also gave us a postcard featuring the local Father Christmas and sent his greetings to all postcrossers.

Fortunately, the regular post office next door was open, and from there we sent our postcards on their way.

With the most urgent postal duties taken care of, there was finally a little time to look around Tahiti. We saw the monument commemorating French Polynesia’s autonomy in Papeete, admired the blue lagoon views and palm-lined coast, and enjoyed the island’s mix of lush green hills, black volcanic rocks and bright tropical flowers. Everything felt so full of color!

While walking around Papeete, we also noticed some striking street art, with large murals bringing Polynesian symbols, flowers, birds and traditional motifs onto everyday city walls. The bright colors and bold figures felt very much at home among the mountains, tropical plants and busy streets, turning ordinary corners into surprise open-air galleries.

Flowers seemed to be everywhere in French Polynesia: on market stalls, in people’s hair, around their necks, and offered as a sign of welcome or celebration. Garlands and flower crowns are part of everyday life as much as special occasions, adding color and fragrance to arrivals, departures, gatherings and ordinary moments too. It was one of those details that made the islands feel especially warm and generous.

Our next stop was Moorea, which we reached by ferry from Papeete. Like many islands in this part of the world, Moorea is surrounded by crystal-clear water and coral reefs. Snorkelling is one of the recommended activities, so we tried it close to shore. The water was so clear that we even went along to see the fish — safely tucked inside a jar, of course!

After spending a few days on Tahiti, we boarded a flight that would take us closer to our next destination outside French Polynesia. To reach it, however, we first had to fly to the Gambier Archipelago, in a remote corner of French Polynesia.

Two hours into the flight, the crew announced that the plane had developed a technical problem and would have to return to Tahiti. Safety came first, of course, but a ship was waiting for us in the Gambier Islands and was supposed to depart that same day. Our replacement flight was scheduled for two days later. Can you imagine how disappointed we were?

Then a message arrived from the ship: they would wait for us. For two whole days! Can you imagine how happy that made us? It turned out that all 11 passengers on the flight were due to join the same ship.

While we waited patiently, we came across some impressive carved wooden tiki, or ti’i — stylised human figures that are part of Polynesian artistic and spiritual traditions. Traditionally, these figures could represent deified ancestors, protective beings or holders of “mana”, the spiritual power connected with people, places and objects. Their forms appear throughout the islands in carvings, tattoos, jewellery and public art, linking everyday life with ancestry, protection and cultural memory. Next to them, we felt even smaller than usual!

Two days later, our plane left Tahiti once again and landed safely at Totegegie Airport in the Gambier Islands. And yes, the ship really was waiting for us!

From the airport, a boat took us on the half-hour journey to Mangareva. We managed a short walk around the island and stopped by Saint-Michel Cathedral in Rikitea, one of the most striking buildings in the Gambier Islands. Built in the 19th century from coral stone, its white-and-red façade rises unexpectedly above the village, and inside it is famous for its mother-of-pearl decorations, especially around the altar.

And then it was time to complete our exit formalities with the gendarmerie before leaving French Polynesia.

That brought our time in French Polynesia to an end. We boarded a rubber dinghy and headed out to the ship that had waited two days to take us towards the island we had been trying to reach. The sea journey brought a few surprises of its own, but that is a story for next time.

Many thanks to Andry and Maret for taking the Little Mail Carriers along on yet another unforgettable Pacific adventure! Where were they headed next? Let’s just say it’s one of those places that makes us lean a little closer to the map to find it… stay tuned!

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! 😊