Tonight’s episode of Home and Away in Australia saw Nikau Parata leave Summer Bay after just over three years on screen, as he departed for New York with Bella.
When Nikau (Kawakawa Fox-Reo) and his mother Gemma (Bree Peters) initially relocated to Summer Bay in January 2020, we got to know him (Rob Kipa-Williams). The family was intending on maintaining a low profile because Ari had just been released from prison and because Nik’s father, Mikaere, had passed away some six months previously.
It’s fair to say that during their time in Summer Bay, the Paratas did not exactly maintain a low profile. After the departures of Gemma, Ari, and subsequent arrivals Mia and Chloe Anderson, Tane is now the last remaining Parata, three years after Nikau’s departure.
In recent episodes, Nikau’s ex-girlfriend Bella (Courtney Miller) paid Dean (Patrick O’Connor) and Ziggy’s (Sophie Dillman) infant Izzy Astoni-Thompson a quick visit back in Summer Bay.
Bella informed Dean that she didn’t care if she ran into Nikau, but the two soon ran into each other at Salt, and Bella demanded to know why he had ended their relationship so suddenly the year before.
Tane and Nikau realized their loved ones were in danger when the Death Adder bikie gang showed up in town with the intention of exacting retribution for a robbery Ari had committed a decade previously. Nikau attempted to deter Bella from going back to Summer Bay by breaking up with her in an emotional video chat and telling her that she had nothing left for her there.
When Bella discovered the truth, she was surprised, but she also realized why Nikau acted in the way he did. She questioned why Nikau didn’t tell her the truth after learning that the bikies had been apprehended and that she would be able to return home safely.
With Bella needing to head back to New York for work, tonight’s triple-bill of Australian episodes saw Nikau and Bella battle with their feelings as they faced saying goodbye all over again.
Nikau hid his true feelings as John (Shane Withington) informed him that he’d be dropping Bella at the airport later on his way to visit Jett in the city, insisting that the pair were just friends.
However, as the episode progressed, it became clear that this was far from the truth.
Bella gave Nikau some old photos she’d taken of Nikau and his family, and while it was meant to be a nice touch, Nikau interpreted it as Bella no longer wanting the photos and wanting to draw a line under their relationship.
Bella was actually having trouble with the concept of saying goodbye as well.
She and Irene (Lynne McGranger) opposed the notion of a sizable farewell supper since we didn’t want a second sizable emotional sendoff with Nikau there. She instead had a little farewell celebration at the diner with Irene and Marilyn (Emily Symons).
Nevertheless, John quickly interrupted and told Bella that Nikau had noticed that she was obviously not ready to say goodbye and was ready to move past their relationship.
Bella then hurried over to the Paratas’ home, where she called Nikau an idiot and told him that she couldn’t bear to say goodbye to him again. The thought of them parting ways again got even harder after they kissed and decided to spend the night together.
The following morning, Nikau proposed to Bella that he came to New York with her, permanently.
“What about all those reasons you couldn’t come last time? Family, your job, the bay?” she asked him. But it was clear that those weren’t going to stand in his way this time – as long as Tane was okay with it.
Sadly, Tane’s attention was elsewhere because he was still upset about his recent separation with Felicity (Jaqui Purvis). Tane advised Nikau it was a bad idea and not to risk his life and career “for some chick” when he eventually granted Nikau some time with him.
So, Nikau was forced to tell Bella that he wouldn’t be joining her in the states.
Fortunately, some more meddling from John Palmer soon helped Tane realise that his opinion was being tainted by his recent breakup, and he eventually gave Nikau his blessing, handing him his passport and telling him to go and be with Bella.
“Listen to me, you’ve been given a second chance. Don’t blow it. I’ll be fine, you belong with Bella.”
Bella said her goodbyes to Irene, Dean and Ziggy, before getting into John’s car to head to the airport.
Tane and Nikau, on the other hand, were not far behind. Nikau got in the car after taking one final glance around the Parata residence, and the two drove up close to John and Bella.
It’s been rumored for a while that Nikau will leave Home and Away, and it’s long been thought that Bella’s homecoming would mean the end of his stay in Summer Bay.
Kawakawa Fox-Reo left for Los Angeles shortly after Courtney Miller was sighted returning to the set last year. She then posted a major hair change on Instagram, which is frequently a hint that an actor is out of contract.
As we say goodbye to Nikau Parata, we take a look back at his time in Summer Bay.
After Nikau and his mother Gemma (Bree Peters) relocated to Summer Bay, we first met him in January 2020. (Rob Kipa-Williams). The family was intending on maintaining a low profile because Ari had just been released from jail after serving a 10-stretch for a prior heist and because Nik’s father, Mikaere, had passed away about six months previously after being wounded by police after an unsuccessful armed robbery.
When Nik felt Ari was attempting to replace Mikaere in the family by assuming the position of patriarch, their relationship was initially tense.
He initially appeared as Ryder (Lukas Radovich) and Jade (Mia Morrissey) were bickering, and he intervened to defend Jade because he thought Ryder was the aggressor. Unknown to him, Ryder had been wrongly accused by Jade of recording and posting a video of their most recent sexual session. As Ryder attempted to explain that Jade was a problem, Nik punched him.
When Nik started dating Jade, he soon realized that she wasn’t who she seemed to be. He told Jade about his concerns, and she tried to record him as she was seducing him on her phone. Nik called Ryder and gave him the information he needed to clear his name, and the two men grew close.
Ari was out of work due to an accident, which made things difficult for the family. On the day of the siege, his injury had sent him to Northern Districts Hospital, where he had been held captive with Marilyn (Emily Symons). To the chagrin of her husband John (Shane Withington), who Nik and Ari had already offended by using the surf club facilities while sleeping in their car, Marilyn provided the Paratas with a roof over their heads after they were kicked out of their motel for failing to pay the rent.
Whilst Ari moved out to a caravan, soon gaining John as a neighbour, Nik and Gemma stayed on in the Palmer house, with Nik finding casual work from Roo (Georgie Parker) at the bait shop.
Bella and Nik became friends, and she was appreciative of his advise to forgo taking her HSC in favor of enrolling in a TAFE photography course so she could pursue her passion. Ryder revealed Bella’s recent encounter with Tommy O’Reilly (Adam Sollis), who had groomed her online before attempting to sexually attack her, and cautioned Nik against getting too close to Bella. As a result, Nik initially avoided Bella, but after an altercation with Gemma and Ari, Bella decided to go to the city with him to meet up with his other uncle Tane (Ethan Browne).
After Bella awkwardly admitted to Nik that she liked him (by shouting it at him), the two eventually had their first kiss and became an item.
Bella’s insistence that she was ready to sleep with Nik saw her invite him to the apartment, only for her to then have a panic attack as Nik lay on top of her. After yelling at Nik to get out, a distraught Bella locked herself in her room and cut herself.
Nik thought about leaving town after Ryder accused him of pushing Bella too far, but Gemma persuaded him to go to the hospital. Nik was relieved when Bella’s brother Colby (Tim Franklin) absolved him of any responsibility and allowed him to briefly meet Bella before she was taken to a facility for equestrian therapy.
Tane accompanied Nik back to the bay and ultimately decided to rent a house for the entire family after additional tensions with Ari caused Nik to flee to Tane in the city once more. The Paratas hosted a hangi for their new neighbors to mark the occasion of Ari resolving their conflict with Tane and moving in with them. However, Nik and Gemma were at odds since she started hanging out with Ben Astoni (Rohan Nichol) during his temporary separation from wife Maggie (Kestie Morassi).
Nik’s mood continued to deteriorate when Bella indicated he wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a relationship after she got back from treatment, and he started to snap at those around him. Colby looked directly at the Paratas when Leah (Ada Nicodemou) interrupted a burglar who had broken into the restaurant. Despite being innocent (no, really, we looked into it! ), Nik freaked out when he learned he and his uncles would be required to participate in an identity parade.
Tori (Penny McNamee), who had raced to help John after he had fallen over and left the keys inside, was targeted by a frantic Nik who was trying to flee Summer Bay and stole her car. When Nik subsequently realized with horror that Grace, a baby, was in the back car, he called Tane, who came to his aid. No one was the wiser when they abandoned the automobile and brought Grace back to the Morgans’ porch, despite Colby once more blaming Nik.
When the entire family planned to go to New Zealand to return Mikaere’s ashes on the first anniversary of his death, they discovered that Colby had put a block on Ari, Nik and Tane’s passports.
As Gemma had already passed through security, she was forced to take the trip alone, and ultimately decided to settle back in New Zealand. The men marked the anniversary of Mikaere’s passing in their own special way, by performing a haka on the beach.
Once they were reunited, Nik stood by Bella when she learned that her father Ross’s (Justin Rosniak) death had been discovered in a shallow grave. Bella was terrified of making a mistake when it came time to deliver her testimony to Detective Angelo Rosetta after she confessed to Nik that Colby had killed Ross, something she had known for some time (Luke Jacobz).
Nik booked some plane tickets with money Tane had hidden away, and he and Bella fled to Mount Currawong.
Nik and Bella spent their first night together while traveling across the area in an outdated ute. As the ute broke down, Nik raced for help and came across Ari, Tane, and Mackenzie (Emily Weir), who had come looking for them. Bella had vanished upon returning to the car, but a text from Nik persuaded her to visit the bay a few days later just in time to prevent an arrest warrant from being issued.
The fact that drug dealers were now posing a threat to the family when Gemma requested Nik to join her in New Zealand played a significant role in his decision to leave and ask Bella to accompany him.
When Bella agreed—angry with her brother for having an extramarital relationship with Taylor, Angelo’s wife (Annabelle Stephenson), to learn more about the case—Colby threatened to take away Nik’s travel privileges once more.
Colby was forced to back down when Nik revealed that he knew the truth about Ross’s passing, but the plan was shelved when Colby was detained on suspicion of murder.
As the family began to receive more threats from the drug dealers, Bella persuaded Nik to travel alone to New Zealand while staying in touch with her via video conversations. Nik ran across Chloe Anderson (Sam Barrett), an old friend who had grown up with Ari as a father figure until his incarceration, while they were both traveling. Chloe’s mother Mia (Anna Samson), who had come to visit Ari, soon joined him in bringing Chloe back to the bay.
Bella and Nik had disagreements because of Chloe’s continual presence, and Chloe’s awkward encounter with Ryder added to the tension. The four were abducted by the drug traffickers who Ari and Tane had made enemies with while Nik and Bella invited Chloe and Ryder out clubbing and made them spend the night in a shipping container.
Ryder and Chloe’s continued desire to hang out as a quartet eventually grew tiring to Nik and Bella, who scheduled a weekend getaway to get away from them. Ryder was astonished to later learn that Chloe and Ryder had begun a secret romance. Ryder and Chloe played practical jokes on one another when they accompanied the two to the remote cottage.
Nik eventually caught the eye of modeling agent Sienna Blake after a picture Bella had unknowingly taken of him won an award (Rose Riley). When Sienna gave Bella an internship with photographer Emmett Ellison, he changed his mind about signing up for her books (JR Reyne).
Model Allegra Freeman (Laura McDonald) was soon Nik’s shooting partner, and both he and Bella were shocked when Allegra unexpectedly kissed him during a shoot. Nik made a threat to resign, but Sienna countered that Bella would also have to go if he did.
Using Nik’s deception that Bella had cheated on him with Emmett, Sienna devised a plan to remove Bella from the picture. Nik was then lured into bed by Sienna, and although he realized he had been duped, Sienna used blackmail to force him to consent to a shoot in Japan.
After finally telling Bella everything, who then dumped him, Nik also told Sienna he was done modeling and wouldn’t be traveling abroad. Despite her initial efforts to keep him bound by his contract, she ultimately let him go without compensation.
He gatecrashed a joint exhibition Bella and Emmett were holding in the city out of desperation to win her back and embarrassed her by expressing his love into the microphone. Nik left after a second refusal and arrived in a little rural village. When the only available accommodation was full, Nik called Mia, who sent Dean (Patrick O’Connor) to pick him up. Dean, however, crashed the car when they were returning to the bay after swerving to miss a kangaroo.
Nik was thrown out as the car rolled down a bank before coming to a stop on the edge of a cliff. Though severely injured, Nik managed to make it back to the road for help.
When he found out that Mia had lost her and Ari’s child in the accident, Nik, who was in need of immediate surgery, was overcome with guilt. Bella had hurried to Nik’s bedside, but he wouldn’t look at her, so she soon gave up. After the Sienna incident, Bella vowed to stop taking photos, so she placed all of her gear up for sale. Nik bought it through a proxy and promised to store it until Bella was ready to take it back. They eventually resolved their differences and reconciled.
After the crash, Dean was unable to work due to a damaged pelvis, so Nik assumed responsibility for the board shop. But, he soon discovered that many customers simply signed up for surf lessons so they could take selfies with him.
Nik pinned the responsibility for Tane’s attack in the gym on Felicity (Jacqui Purvis), whom Tane had accused of stalking him. Tane was almost fatally poisoned with organophosphates. Using the support he had on social media, Nik declared Flick to be dangerous and asked for help finding her when she vanished. When it was proven that Flick’s buddy Anne Sherman was the real offender, he was made to eat humble pie (Megan Smart).
When John persuaded Nik to enroll in school and become a lifesaver, he had found his vocation. He initially had trouble understanding the theory, but he persisted and eventually received his bronze medallion. When he was asked to perform a man’s resuscitation on his first solo shift, he was quickly plunged into the deep end.
Nik was devastated when Ari later admitted to killing Chloe’s biological father, Matthew Montgomery (James Sweeny), a crime he was covering up for the true perpetrator Chloe. This came after celebrating Ari and Mia’s engagement. He believed that Chloe should be held accountable for what happened and was upset that he was advised that the family needed to pull together and that he should avoid Bella.
Tane took him away for a few days, where he taught him the ways of the taiaha to help focus his energy. After mastering it, Tane presented Nik with Mikaere’s taiaha to keep.
Nik was devastated to learn that Ari had a severe form of terminal cancer, and he witnessed their bedside wedding just before Ari passed away. Nik and Tane returned to New Zealand with Ari’s body after a customary Mori tangi.
On his return, he found Chloe—who was struggling with her guilt over Ari—forming an unhealthy attachment to Bella. Chloe began to resent Nik spending time with Bella, and manipulated situations to ensure that Nik was the one portrayed as having issues, even going so far as to steal his taiaha.
Nik eventually uncovered all of Chloe’s manipulation tactics when he read her journal, after inadvertently knocking it off the table, and confronted her at Ryder’s farewell party.
Eventually, Nik and Chloe put their differences aside, and Nik was obliged to give up his voluntary lifesaving work in order to look for a job with a salary. When John promised to assist him in submitting an application to work as a full-time, paid lifeguard, Nik was thrilled. When the application was accepted by the council, Nik couldn’t believe he had landed his dream position.
It was this job that caused Nik to stay in Summer Bay, when Bella was offered a three month contract working with Emmett on a photography exhibition in New York.
When the victim’s sister Naomi (Jamiaca Vaughan) asked him to dinner as a thank you for saving another life at the beach, John encouraged him to accept. While Naomi nominated Nik for a courage medal, Naomi fell in love with him, but Nik fought the urge. Angered that Nik would put his life on hold for a non-attending Bella, Naomi planted a kiss on him when he bailed on going to the ceremony to claim his prize.
When Tex Wheeler (Lucas Linehan) arrived at the bay, the next danger to the Parata family was just around the corner. He charmed his way into the locals’ life as a Death Adders Motorcycle Club member before telling Tane who he really was. They were aware that Ari had taken money from the gang during the heist that landed him in jail and that the funds were later used to purchase the gym, which Tane and an absent Mia now owned.
Nik vowed to safeguard Mia’s daughter Chloe when attention shifted to her. After the bikies refused to budge on their plans to utilize the gym as a means of money laundering, Nik worked with Tane to arrange for Chloe to sneak out of the house and board a flight for New Zealand.
Nik video-called Bella to break up with her just before she was scheduled to return to Summer Bay, knowing that the bikies could soon go for their other loved ones.
Nik followed Tane to the meeting with the bikers not knowing that Tane was working for the police. The two managed to flee unharmed when the police attacked the HQ after Nik’s arrival, which had the potential to blow the operation.
Tane and Nik were compelled to face judgment from the villagers by being plastered over the papers for being caught with the gang members in order to avoid jeopardizing their safety by exposing their cover. Nik almost lost his lifesaving job as a result, but John was able to convince the committee otherwise.
After the threat had passed, Nik was resolved to make amends with Bella and had made plans to see her in person in New York, but Dean dissuaded him from doing so. It was evident from Bella’s social media posts that she was enjoying her best life, so bringing it up again would be unfair.
Heather Frazer (Sofia Nolan), who had a no-nonsense attitude toward getting what she wanted, soon became Nik’s new love interest. They began sleeping together soon after their initial encounter. While he began to question Heather’s motivations as she wrecked havoc for Marilyn, she tricked him into sticking by her side. He was shocked when Heather subsequently revealed that she was Marilyn’s long-lost daughter.
As Heather held Marilyn and her friends hostage and the truth about her was revealed, Nik felt bad and helped Roo find Maz in the city, where she had fled in humiliation.
Nik was honored to be chosen as Tane’s best man for his marriage to Flick in the recent months and made a commitment to uphold Mikaere and Ari’s standards.
Tane’s buck’s night was planned in a nearby club, but the wedding was called off when the bikie group returned and wrecked the wedding car, resulting in a fatal accident.
Nik has been helping Tane over the previous several weeks while Flick spiraled out of control due to the trauma of the accident, and he was the one to notice that Flick was using alcohol as a coping technique.
When Nik walked into Salt last week, he was stunned to come face to face with Bella…
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