New Zealand has long attracted Pacific islanders who have moved from Polynesia to Aetaroa, the Land of the Long White Cloud, for study and work.

Auckland is now the biggest city in the Pacific and the unofficial capital of Polynesia..... and every month, the city's substantial islander community gets together at the popular Otara market.

Clement Paligaru: Emma, we're in a really special place, tell me all about it.

Emma Tavola, Manukau City Council: Yep, it's Saturday morning, we;'re in the heart of Manukau city, south Auckland. This is the Otara Flea Market. This is the coming together place for Pasifika peoples so this is where we get our food stuffs, our breakfast, all of our clothes and our cultural garb. This is everything we need.

This is a great example of what's on offer at Otara market. This is the kind of thing that is commonly seen in Pacific gift giving in New Zealand. It's the pillows and duvet covers. It's affordably priced. It's definitely tailor made for our audience. And it's part of life here. It's functional, it's what we need.

Clement Paligaru: And it's beautiful and colourful as well.

Emma Tavola: It is, definitely.

This is a classic example of the Otara Flea market. T-shirt culture is huge here. So it's the idea that you can put a statement on your chest which tells the world who you are. This is a very common artform in the market. Loads of young people get into this. Young designers get into this. And our people are basically the target audience for this kind of thing.

Clement Paligaru: And people probably earn an income from this as well?

Emma Tavola: Definitely, it's an income earner.

The Otara flea market runs from 6 o clock in the morning, Clement, to midday. So it's a whole day of shopping for some people. You've got everything here: contact lenses, carpets, clothing, food. You've got a whole food market here.

Female shopper: Things are more variety here because people come from different islands and they bring their own food which becomes the variety here.

Male shopper: I believe this is where I meet a lot of relations from the Cook Islands, mainly from Aitutaki.

Emma Tavola: Stores like this are very common in the market, selling things which show how important island life and island practices are to us in New Zealand. The coconut oil, the kava, the sasa broom, the Samoan medicine, these are all part of life here.

Clement Paligaru: That was great Emma. Thanks so much for that.

Emma Tavola: Good. It's twelve o'clock. The market's packing down, it's all over today but Saturday morning next week, it's all on again.

Clement Paligaru: And thousands are going to come back?

Emma Tavola: That's right!