And the fun continues.....

Monday night (22Feb) saw us on board the visiting French Frigate "Vendemiaire" and they didn't skimp on the beverages. Jodie asked for a glass of orange juice but instead got a glass full of vodka and a splash of orange, similarly the soda water was actually gin and tonic. Requests for certain drinks were getting lost in translation, so we decided to take full advantage of the generous french hospitality and just drink what ever it was they gave us. Although, the french bubbly didn't come out till dessert which was such a pity.The nights entertainment included a Tongan Tae Kwon Do exhibition and a cultural dance display by the Princess's own dancer.

Ceremonial guard on duty ready for inspection by visiting dignitaries (no, not us though), the Royal Princess and the Tongan Prime Minister along with a few High Commissioners from different Embassay's in Tonga

Us before boarding, our friend Tiny in the foreground in the floral shirt

Note who's wearing the pants out in public nowa-days!!!!

Saturday was spent mainly around the compound as Dyl had his mate Ualala over for a play day! But that night we picked up our favourite pizza and took the compound boat "Satisfaction" out into the harbour for a spot of fishing and to watch the sun go down over the Island. A tad windy, however as usual, Dylan caught the first fish, Emily drew pictures, Jodie admired the view and Lyndon supervised us all. He ended up with the biggest hit of the night although we will never know what it was as it broke the line off around the anchor chain. (we think it must have been a shark) the boys at work were upset as it would have feed the village!! Dyl ate his for dinner Sunday night.

Q's uninteresting Sunset cruise!!

To top off our week we had a phone call at 12.30am (Sun Morn) Tonga time from the Defence Attache in NZ advising us of the Chile earthquake and subsequent tsunami that was most likely heading our way at 7.30am that morning. For the first time the Royal Palace grounds were open to the public to seek refuge (it is on the only hill in Tonga), other than that the people were advised to head to the airport as it is inland. Fortunately, we were spared and nothing came of it and as far as we know no wave action was reported. Our friend Lincoln saw one very well prepared local out at the airport- he was walking around with a life jacket. On the other side of the island on the foreshore Lyndon and Joe (Army Major) had to wake up a guy who was asleep in the water on the boat ramp with only his head sticking out at 0545 while we took our boat out! Don't panic though, our house is a strong two storey building and well placed inland, so we did not have many concerns, but we did bring up the kids life jackets though, just incase.

We know things tend to happen in threes but we are crossing everything to ensure that nothing else in the natural disaster department heads our way. Keep the blog feedback coming and let us know what you are interested in finding out about Tonga so we can include it. Over the next couple of weeks we will include pictures of our house compared to "typical" Tongan homes, some of the many churches here and the classic "only in Tonga" pictures. The type of pictures that really do tell a thousand words.

Dylan's 8th Birthday week

The week of Dylan's birthday started with Cyclone Rene and ended with a fantastic day at Keleti beach with our new family tribes, the Brookers (who came with us from Cairns) and the Grahams (Kiwi Army). The cyclone didn't stop Dylan's pressies, most of which actually arrived on the day itself (17th) which of course made him extremely happy. Thank you to all for the great gifts, a wide variety for the little fella and hard for him to decide which was the best, a gun that shoots bullets that stick to the wall, chocolate ($10 for a 100g block, mind you) or $AUD20 that actually turned into $30TONGAN. After a practice cake -due to a very dodgy gas oven, the actual birthday cake made it to school a day late (the school was closed for 3 days due to the cyclone) for all his friends to sing the happy birthday song (which extends into a happy long life song).

Dylan's shark birthday cake was enjoyed by his teacher and class mates


Some of the birthday stash that arrived on the day

Keleti Beach is about a 10 minute drive from our house and is a great spot whether high or low tide. At the "resort" we had a great lunch then spent the next 3 hours snorkeling in and out of, and over, some very interesting coral and fish. At high tide it is deep enough to put on the scuba gear and check out things of the deep and at low tide you can see the coral is exposed and little water holes remain. Out on the lagoon edges are built up coral sections, we found one that had a white sandy bottom in the hole, (think the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road but with the top cut off and the inside hollowed out- but on a smaller scale) that get pounded by the open ocean on the other side.

Dylan's first ever go on a regulator (thanks to his new mates Tyler and Jayden)

Dylan over one of the swim through caves which Tiny(the Dad Kiwi) was diving through during the day! (who needs a snorkel and mask)

When the waves break over the edge the water gets sucked back through blowholes and caves. Lyndon happened to be in the right place at the right time with the camera to catch this little whirlpool

Jodie and the kids out on the edge in one of the coral spa pools..... before the wave

...and during the wave. Life gets hairy for parents and more so for on lookers! Hang on kids!!!

Cyclone RENE 15 Feb 10

Hi all, late entry this week! From one extreme to another the week started off with our guest from the north dropping in, Cyclone RENE. So she gets her own blog and here it is!

Jodie and the kids were old veterans preparing for the cyclone! The main change was this time round we had our cyclone shelter (kids cubby house) and Dad was staying put!!! Finally!!!!!! Once we were all battened down it was only a case of hurry up and wait but that arvo it went from lovely sunny day to wind and rain then more rain, then finally tree bending, leaf stripping winds. We moved to the shelter about two hours before the eye was due to hit. We did however, do the touristy thing and stood out under the house and snuck a peek (drinking a beer, of course)! During the eye of the cyclone we ventured out, mum and the kids collected all the mangoes and the only thing that broke the silence was the hammering of nails by the locals to secure what little roofing they had left, and local kids collecting mangoes up and down the street to sell at the markets the next day! Cyclone warnings were mainly in Tongan and the radio station played church music throughout the entire ordeal - bless them.

The back yard during the afternoon, all tropical!!

Same shot with three hours to impact!

The kids and all the families goodies packed in our cyclone shelter, ready for a quick exit if needed!

The next day was taken up with all residents in the compound helping in the clean up - chain sawing (great fun), tree lopping, small repairs around the compound and conducting damage assessments. Jodie did a tour around the local area in the arvo and took some amazing photo's sorry we couldn't fit them all in! But in time you may all get to see our slide shows!?! A truck load of local Army boys dropped in to remove a few of the larger trees - they were great as they'd been out all day helping the community clearing roads and repairing houses and were still glad to help us out! We have also now worked out that we live in a swamp as all roads into our place were under water for three or more days. Phones and power were down for nearly three days but we were the lucky ones having a generator (we only lost power for 50 sec).

Looking over the main road from the compound into the local High school!

No more back road into the compound, note the houses amongst the swamp!

Em ready to work and clean up the back yard!!

Dylan the Banana tree slayer and this was the shortest machete around!!

He had a ball, unfortunately nearly all the Banana tree's in the compound were snapped off!

The Tongan Defence Services (Army) helped remove all the rubbish once they had separated the Coconuts, Banana's and fire wood! Hey a free meal - there is always an up side!!!

This is a house a few doors up from us. Spotted the bedrooms yet??

44 houses in total were destroyed, this is not one of them, it was amazing how many places survived!

Tongan roof nails (anything heavy) tyres, bessa blocks, tree stumps and large rocks

It really only took three days and you would not have known there was a cyclone as the whole community just got in and cleaned up without complaining, just plenty of singing. Whole schools cleaning the streets and fore shore, the defence force were everywhere and entire families getting around with the local palm tree brooms (they are the best thing since sliced bread they can clean anything, inside, outside, grass, rocks) But once it is all piled up then they burn it so it is smoke city for a while!

The below video is a short clip taken about two hours before the eye hit, it was shot from the safety of under our house and gives you an idea of the noise and wind gusts. It is about 19.5 Meg so it could take some time!!

Valentines Week

Hi all,

Our first slow week, finally, if you can believe it. Highlights of Valentine's week was dinner on Friday night (not on Sun as everything is closed for church) at Feista Seafood with a lobster so big it did not fit on the plate, nor could all of it be eaten by just one starving lass. I wish I could have captured the look on Jodie's face when it took three girls to bring her meal out.

Valentine's Dinner - Lobster Mornay!!! Like the spear holes in the crays head??

Jodie's flowers from the only florist on the island - Lyndon scored brownie points for this effort

Early Saturday morning Lyndon took off on his cross the Island cycle out to the airport and back then the construction crew began on the tree house again!! The kids are over the moon as they have a pulley system set up now to send their treasures and food over to them from the veranda! They just need to train mum and Dad! The afternoon was our first Du-athlon, Lyndon did a 1km run, Jodie swam 200m (true) and then Lyndon ran another 1km - we make a good team.

Tongan's know how to warm up!!

Jodie at the interchange station (exhausted) after her ocean swim with legs of jelly!

Competitors lining up for the first "Friendly Island Triathlon" event!

A quiet Sunday morning getting prepared for the windy weather which we now know is Cyclone Rene (currently Cat 4)!! Our first official one for our Tongan posting and she is due to hit Nuku'alofa early tonight (15Feb10). The kids are all prepared you could say even excited as only kids can be about cyclones and flooding. They also bring out our local creepy crawlies! See below Lyndon found this one in our ensuite this morning. Jodie was walking over it all night they have a really nasty bite!!! So the local tell us!

No snakes or poisonous spiders but we do have Moliki's!!!! Friendly fello's NOT! Bought out by all the rain!

We appreciate that you are all concerned but No need to worry as we are well prepared! Jodie and the kids are veterans after cyclone Larry in Cairns. It is a first for Lyndon as he has no boat to sail off into the sunset on!! We will see you all on the other side and will surely have an interesting Blog for next week!!

Back to Skool - Tongan style

The start of a big week for all the family and the kids had an interesting time for their first day at "Ocean of Light" with 30 minutes of singing hymns every morning both in English and Tongan! Em has Mr Nick (Young Ozzy bloke) who doesn't wear shoes! Dyl on the other hand has Mrs Lavie (Tongan) who will be having one month off soon for the birth of her child. They are both making friends and driving us up the wall with their reluctance to do home work so everything is back to usual!

To the left Primary school to the right we have High School, playground in the middle!

Dylan and the crew in the playground! Shoes are optional!

Wednesday saw us invited to a cocktail party on a visiting US Coast Gaurd - Bouy Tender, USCG WALNUT. The food was devine, the beer was cold and not local so all parties invited had a great time. Their port call was to assist in combined fisheries patrols in Tongan waters, to lend a hand with local charities whilst in port and assist with professional training within the Tongan defence force. Not to mention hit the local club and pub!! We also scored a tour through the vessel, very impressive and very modern! The girls were getting a little sea sick due to strong winds and rocking of the boat (yes even alongside) so we had to drop into the fishing club for a night cap "steady"on the way home! We forgot our camera so we've posted a friends shot of the boat!

USCG WALNUT (Bouy Tender) They were designed as Ice breaker's but sadly the CO can't find any ice in the pacific!

Friday was another big one!! For all you Kiwi's you would be glad to hear we got tickets to Waitangi Day celebrations at the NZ High Commissioners house! The views from the Commissioners verandha are to die for - straight out into the bay. The Tongan defence force band played all arvo too. Once that was done it was off to pick up the kids and head off to the monthly expat community gathering at the Ozzy High Commission. By the end of this session Lyndon had been signed up for a 40 odd km ride out to the airport and back leaving at 6am the next morning and we'd also been invited as a family to the local Du-atholon (run/ocean swim/run).

Our new friends Bec and Tiny at the NZ High Commission on Waitangi Day

Saturday was a quiet one recovering from Friday night and the early morning ride for Lyndon, no hills they said and my arse............. I still can't feel it either! The Du-atholon was called off due to bad weather but that didn't stop everyone going for a swim with the locals at the end of the rock wall! On Sunday we did a Tiki Tour of the eastern end of the Is, we travelled just over 90km and it took nearly 4 hrs but it could have something to do with the maximum 40 km/hr speed limit. Not that many people drive that fast - why rush, you may miss something like pigs, dogs, a cow, smiling locals or one of the million coconut trees!!! We found some pretty beaches which we are really looking forward to revisiting on a less windier and not so rough day!

Jodie and Dyl on a beach we found out the back of the Is during our 4hr (90km) tour on Sunday!

Saturday bath time at the local wharf, Emily and Georgia with the locals!


Dad finally starts the tree house!! Keep watching, they already want lights and power???