IMPROMPTU TROPICAL HOLIDAY, 1a:4c.

What could go wrong….. well it started with a rushed purchase of cheap flights months ago, that had the kids and I arriving in Tonga within days of Moon Rivers ETA.

Fast-forward to Opua, passage meals had been made and frozen, Moon River was ready, Richie was ready, the crew was ready, I farewelled Richie and our floating home and headed to Auckland with the boys to prepare for our flight. My head was full of images of palm trees, white sand, children frolicking in knee deep water, the reality, read on, not so much.

First things first, check flight details, I had somehow booked flights arriving into Tonga at 9pm, 2.5 hours after bed time. I can do this…. So much to think about, packing for us all in a way I can manage the luggage, in bags that can be given away as they wont fit onboard later, food for a few days, snorkel gear, sunscreen. Then, nightmare, a midday call from Richie on the sat. phone asking me to contact our boat mechanic, and find out what might be causing Moon River to only turn in one direction. I was gutted, the rest of the afternoon was spent following Moon Rivers limited progress in 30-40 knot winds and large seas, agreeing with the obvious call to turn back, the catalyst for a number of issues in relation to customs, CAT1 certification, such disappointment and worry. I felt immense relief when Richie rung to say he had brought Moon River home safely using the emergency tiller, he arrived into Opua at 2am. My heart was broken that I was not there with him, he was devastated.

After some much needed sleep we both went into problem solving mode, and did everything possible to get back on track for the next weather window. We had put our hearts and souls into this adventure, and this challenge taught us both so much, resilience, trust in Moon River (and Captain), it was humbling, and mother nature was in charge, but we responded well and all our hard work and preparation paid off, we had trialed the emergency tiller and Richie had managed to install it in terrible conditions.

Our crew was amazing, and keen to get back underway, we weren’t the only boat to turn back and the support from Gypsy Soul and Squander was huge. Richie’s blog has all the details about the repair, but my role involved the delivery of a critical part from Auckland to Opua on Friday, that had me home at 2am Saturday morning with the late afternoon departure to Tonga looming. The cost of changing flights far outweighed the cost of 8 or so nights accommodation in Tonga, so off I went, with limited sleep, four children under 7 and too many bags.

This is a huge first for me, I have only ever flown with Richie, general admin guru, carrier of passports and tickets. I have never arrived at an airport with any responsibility for any official documents, and there are a LOT of documents when travelling, without onward flights, to Tonga with 4 small children.

Thanks for the photo and the ride to the airport Dad! From here on in, for what turned out to be 9 days it was just the 5 of us. We survived the flight, late arrival and just made it through customs in Tonga, with the help of a lollypop each. I was feeling pretty proud of my efforts, some kind of supermum, but I celebrated internally too early, I should have waited until all 4 were safely in bed asleep. We exited the airport, and found our taxi driver. He was telling me to run, with a 2 yr old asleep in a baby backpack, SO many bags and 3 tired children. Apparently we had to get onto the road ahead of a funeral procession or we would be stuck in the car for hours…. so we ran! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mckinley run straight into the tray of a parked ute and hit the deck “Jackson help him up, everyone run”, we made it to the taxi and the driver threw all our bags in the back. Mckinley calmly told me his head was bleeding, it was pitch black but I could see his whole face was covered in blood. I used my phone torch to investigate, then apply pressure to a pretty small cut using his sweatshirt, desperately trying to make sure we didn’t make a mess of the taxi. Next minute Tas told me he too was bleeding, a blood nose!! “I cant help you, use your sweatshirt and make sure you don’t drip blood everywhere”.

So that was how we arrived to our first accommodation, 1 tired stressed mummy, with a 2 year old asleep on her back, 2 tired children with blood all over them and 1 tired boy helping carry bags. Tears were close, I just needed to get all 4 children up 2 flights of external stairs, clean and into bed, and then I could sleep….

Mckinley - after clean-up post collision with tray of ute

We all awoke to a beautiful sunrise, and went out to explore, it was quite a contrast leaving the cooling NZ Autumn, to feel such warmth, the humidity was comfortable and Tonga smelt like summer, salty sea air, coconuts and long grass. The lovely hotel owner took us to a local church service, which had lots of family activities, we were welcomed so warmly. The next day we transferred to Ha’atafu, a beach in the north western corner of Tongatapu, I had booked a self contained unit that bordered on the beach!!

Finally the tropical escape I dreamed of, nothing better than parenting at a beach. We were set, enough food for a week, a beach, warm water, does it get any better than this? we had a pretty perfect first day in our own little slice of paradise. The other units were all empty, and we had the place to ourselves.

Then came the first night, I was a little nervous being alone in a foreign country with 4 young children, no car, a long way from anything, and a lot of darkness, and I was checking the Moon River satellite tracker almost every hour through the night, so I was exhausted. Richie was being hammered by strong winds and large seas. So began a bit of a seesaw, wonderful days and stressful nights.

My hourly obsession

Red is bad, 40 knots, the gust graphic looked even worse…… and what’s with the chicane anyway Captain Richie??

Things took a turn for the worse when Hawken woke in the middle of our 3rd night with croup…. he has been hospitalised with it before, so I knew what it was and how to help him, I rung our dear friend Dr. Kirk in the early hours of the morning to get advice, and managed to keep Hawken calm and breathing steadily. Our extensive offshore medical kit was aboard Moon River, and I was a bit lost.

Queue Grandpa John who rung his good friend Razak, our guardian angel in Tonga. Razak sent someone to pick us up, he showed us round his shop in downtown Tongatapu, gave the boys some homemade local treats, and then lent me a car for the remainder of our stay (all on one of the most important - and busy, cultural days of the year for his family). This was a game changer, I was less nervous in the evenings, and we could mix up our stay with beach play and iconic landmarks.

These boys were amazing, they all did something to help. Knowing I hate bugs, Tas woke up every morning and picked up a whole lot of ugly caterpillar/centipede creepy crawlies that entered our place each night, Jackson did dishes and organised tree climbing lessons for Hawk and Mack, we made a pretty good team!

Happy days exploring the beach, lagoon and gardens

Afternoon naps - Did I mention the TV didn’t work…..

Mckinley Shark, Tasman and Jackson with cameras in hand, entering the lagoon.

I got to snorkel once…. prior to departure I managed to get my hands on two old school underwater cameras which we gifted to Jackson and Tasman, against my better judgement I let them pick their camera based on colour preference, which meant Tas ended up with the faulty wrist strap. Child most likely to lose a treasured possession on any given day - Tasman, hands down, an endearing combination of clumsy, forgetful and one million miles an hour, when I saw him frantically zig zagging around I knew he had dropped his camera. I called all 4 boys in out of the water and sat them on the sand evenly spaced, out of arms reach of each other, and gave them clear instructions not to move. In particular not to enter the water and to YELL if Hawken moved at all. I grabbed a child sized mask and swum out to where Tas had been searching, checking the beach every 5-10 seconds. I was blown away, there was an abundance of the cutest, tropical fish so many colours and shapes, against all odds I found the camera, recovered it, and looked up to see all 4 boys sitting still, little statues in the sand, so I decided to keep snorkeling! It was peaceful, calming, mummy time, refreshing and revitalising, it only lasted a few minutes, but it was unreal!

We made it! 9 days, 1 Mum, 4 boys, 8 watermelons, 6 coconuts, 5 stray dogs, 1 head wound, 0 minutes TV time, maximum of 2 hours uninterrupted sleep, 90 sunscreen applications, 100’s of hermit crabs. Now to pack, return the car, and catch a ferry to Big Mamas yacht club on Pangaimotu Island.

I don’t know if I have ever been quite this excited. Since Richie and I started dating in 2002, we had not been apart for more than a day or two, and there we were, one travelling by plane and the other by boat, across an ocean to undertake the adventure of a lifetime. I left him in Opua with a broken Moon River, no set departure date, and a narrow window that would definitely bring some weather on the voyage, and here we were, he could only be a matter of hours away.

We arrived at Pangiamotu and I checked the tracker to see where he was at, and it hadn’t updated in the last 4 hours….. Tongan Customs and Health arrived on the next ferry (arranged by the Island Cruising NZ), to check Moon River in and we had no idea where she was. Stress levels were starting to rise, I could see a mast in the distance and it had to be Moon River, in 2 hours the officials would all be on the last ferry home, and I would have to decide whether to stay (and risk sleeping on the beach….) or go back with them and find accommodation for the night.

The air horn on Varekai (the lead boat of the rally) blasted to welcome Moon River to the anchorage, the crew had to drop anchor, launch the dinghy and head ashore in record time, and the kids and I were told we had to wait until Richie had cleared customs to greet him. Good luck with that, before anyone could stop them Jackson, Tasman and Mack were swimming out to meet the dinghy. In classic, relaxed Tongan style clearance went smoothly and it was time to celebrate.

IMPROMPTU TROPICAL HOLIDAY, 1a:4c.

How it all unfolded.

CAPTAIN RICHIE - NZ TO TONGA

Chasing moon river