Tipenes' treasure OH, BOYIT'S A GIRL!

After trying to conceive in three different countries, Kaiora and Francis' family dream was created right here at home!

- Wendyl Nissen

With six boys, The Casketeers’ beloved stars Kaiora and Francis Tipene know a lot about having a new baby, but this time it is very diff erent. Because their new baby, due in September, is a muchwanted girl.

“I’m over the moon and everything else,” says Francis, 39, as he and Kaiora share their news with the Weekly.

The couple had been planning a new child for some time, but had decided it wasn’t to be. Then Kaiora discovered she was pregnant.

“We were trying for a baby, but we’d stopped,” shares Francis, who says he had been making quite an eff ort.

When the couple went over to London to attend the Queen’s funeral last September, Francis thought it might be a good time to try.

“So, I did a bit of trying over there. And I thought this might be our lucky, lucky time and we could give the baby a royal name, but it wasn’t. Then we went to Honolulu for a conference and I thought it would be a good time to try because it would be amazing to say to my child, ‘You were conceived in Hawaii,’ and I would have given our baby a beautiful Hawaiian name. But then it didn’t happen.”

But Francis didn’t give up.

“We went back to Fiji for a holiday with the kids, and I thought if this child is conceived in Fiji, that would be great because we love Fiji and have had lots of vacations there, and there were a few Fijian names we could think of.” But it wasn’t to be.

“So, we gave up and what I learned is that when you don’t try, sometimes it happens.”

At Christmas, the family went home to Pawarenga in the Far North.

“And, boy, did I get a Christmas present!” exclaims Francis.