James Cook and the crew of the Endeavour no longer have a reason to remain in the Society Islands. As such, they need to decide where their voyage will take them next. To do this, Cook pulls out his secret, sealed orders from the Admiralty and cracks them open.

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Cook starts to explore more of the Society Islands, with Tupaia’s direction and knowledge proving invaluable.

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Now that the Endeavour no longer has any need to remain in Tahiti, a bunch of people start making decisions about their future, some less well thought out than others.

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Cook finally does the thing he came halfway around the world to do: Observe the Transit of Venus.

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It's that time of year again! BOTY is back! As is tradition, I've picked a bird to tell you all about and hopefully pick up your vote. This year we are discussing the ngutu pare, the wrybill!

birdoftheyear.org.nz

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We return to May 1769 where the quadrant, a vital piece of equipment for observing the Transit of Venus, was stolen and then recovered. In the course of this, Tutaha had been arrested against Cook’s orders, being handled rather roughly and in such a way to cause great insult. Today we see how this affected the pair's relationship.

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Tupaia is trying to navigate his way through the ever changing and deadly world of Tahitan politics as the two major leaders of the island clash. Can he come out the other side unscathed?

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Tupaia has escaped to Tahiti and soon realises that if he wants to survive he needs to make himself useful. The island is going through a rather chaotic time politically and Tupaia is known to be a smooth operator, in more ways than one, so he hitches his wagon to Purea.

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James Cook has now met Tupaia, high priest of Tahiti and advisor to the chief Purea. He is going to become very important to our story so it is worth going back a few years in the timeline to talk about his early life as well as the culture and history of the Society Islands through his eyes. This will set us up nicely for the next episode where we will explain the backstory of the conflict that the Europeans had found themselves in the middle of!

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Final preparations are underway for the Transit of Venus as the equipment is calibrated only to find shock a vital instrument is missing! Where did it go?! We also meet the other power player that Tutaha is competing against for control of the island of Tahiti; the supposed queen herself, Purea.

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