• Visit date: September 17 2023
• The visited post office: Pitcairn Post Office
• Cost of sending mail:  Everywhere 2 NZD (1,1 EUR)
• Postcard availability: Although the island is small, there are two souvenir shops on the island. One of them Pitkern island Artisan Gallery is also a very active online store with many beautiful postcards and stamps.
• Out of all the postcards I sent to different countries, the one sent to USA arrived the fastest, in 3 months and 9 days

Short history of Pitcairn Island Post.

The Pitcairn Islands didn’t have a postal system until the early 20th century. Outgoing mail was hand-stamped with “Posted on Pitcairn Island: no stamps available” and carried free of charge by passing ships. These letters would receive stamps and cancellations at various ports, such as San Francisco in the East and New Zealand in the West.

In 1927, a postal agency was established on Pitcairn, selling New Zealand stamps at standard rates. Mail originating from the island was marked “Pitcairn Island/NZ Postal Agency”. This system continued until 1940, when the Pitcairn Islands Post Office opened, and the first set of Pitcairn postage stamps was released. Roy Palmer Clark became the first postmaster.

In 1941, a new post office was built in Adamstown, boosting the volume of mail sent from the island. A larger post office was built in the 1960s. Pitcairn’s stamps became popular with collectors, and the sale of these stamps became a significant source of revenue for the community. The funds helped build a school and hire a teacher, with stamp sales at one point making up two-thirds of the government’s revenue. Wikipedia

Our trip to Pitcairn island.

Pitcairn is a tiny island (1.6 x 3.2 km) belonging to the United Kingdom. There are two ways to reach this remote island. You can arrive by cruise ship, which anchors far offshore and allows a limited number of visitors ashore. Alternatively, you can travel on the Silver Supporter which makes 3-4 trips to the island every month, departing from Mangareva harbor. This journey, in favorable weather conditions, takes about 32 hours. We opted for this second option, but due to stormy weather (the boatman said he hadn’t seen such strong winds in his five years there), our journey stretched to 48 hours, significantly cutting our planned time on the island. Additionally, a previous aircraft malfunction (a flight from Tahiti (Papeete) to Gambier (Mangareva)) delayed our boat trip by another 48 hours, as all passengers traveling by boat were on this flight, and the ship had to wait for the plane. Our planned four nights on the island were reduced to a single active and sleepless night (which wasn’t bad, as the lack of light pollution offered a beautiful starry night). Thanks to new friends on the island who helped us explore at a fast pace, we even managed to squeeze in a tour of the island, visiting the museum, the church, the highest point (347m), Bounty Bay, and even hiking to Christian’s Cave.

It must be acknowledged that having read about Pitcairn beforehand, I felt like I already knew most of the inhabitants, and they acted as if they knew me for a long time. At that time, there were 38 residents. The post office employee was so helpful that he moved into our homestay, assisting us with choosing and canceling stamps and preparing all our postcards for sending.

The same ship we arrived on acts as a mail ship three or four times a year, transporting mail to and from New Zealand. Our postcards were scheduled to depart on the October 25, 2023, sailing, five weeks after our visit. While the first batch of our mail did travel on that ship, a portion of the postcards inexplicably ended up on the next sailing, not reaching New Zealand until February.

And it was time to say goodbye. Despite the short stop, the island left a big mark full of love in my heart. The whole village came to see us off once again, though not specifically for us, as it’s a custom for them to gather at the harbor when a ship arrives or departs.

The same crew was waiting for us. The return journey was almost completely windless.

If you’d like to read future entries from this post office diary, you can subscribe here.