2021-03-31 Wed

The Cook Islands also introduced a set of three notes with the denominations of 10 and 20 Dollars in the 1987 series. These have become sought-after tourism gifts and in some cases have been overprinted for special occasions. The colours of the banknote resemble a sunset, with their vibrant hues of pink, orange, green and blues.

What is also interesting; is the 1987 notes all have a big shark being ridden by a local woman, with an interesting story to go behind it known as the story of Ina and the Shark. The Cook Islands stretched out for miles and miles across the deep blue ocean. Also home to Ina, the Fairy Voyager! Ina was married to Tinirau, the God of the ocean, who lived on a floating island far from Ina. She longed to see her true love but needed help crossing the harsh ocean and couldn’t do so herself.

She asked turtles, birds and even fish to help her cross the ocean, but unfortunately, they were too small to help her. Finally, she came across a shark that was willing to take her. This journey became the mythology on the islands and the same story of their journey is portrayed on the banknote.

The above banknote is the 10 Dollars Banknote which depicts Ina and Shark on the obverse and Pantheon of gods on the reverse.

Image Courtesy: banknoteworld.com