Family Fishing Trip

Another lazy Saturday in TONGA and the family awoke to another amazing morning so after a quick breaky it was down to the boat with fishing and swimming gear. We headed out to sea and as we looked back at Tonga we could see the rain clouds moving in but to our amazement it was still sunny where we were and the fish were on the bite! No monsters but we all had a ball and caught our feed! The girls even had a few swims off the back of the boat but us boys had more serious things to do..............fishing and even though they were in the water we still hooked a few. We had a BBQ with friends that night and five fishies came along for the feed too!!!!! Not that they ate much!!!

The kids out on the bow keeping an eye out for the reefs! Look the other way monkies!

Dyl showing Dad the hot spots and he loves driving by the GPS cause he's too small to see out the front, at the moment!!!!

Mum's Spangled emperor "Koango" in Tongan. Not to mention the first fish on Dad's newest rod!!! How rude!!

Dyl and his first "Manga" Red throat emperor
Swim time for the girls! With Tonga off in the background!Em with nemo's cuz Ruby the trout! Who did swim free.

VOEA PANGAI - Life Extension Program

Lyndon and Sam's 8weeks in sunny Townsville were spent preparing the pacific patrol boat VOEA PANGAI for delivery back to the Tongan Defence Service after completing her LEP. It proved to be a great challange noting it was dropped off 6 months before we arrived so we picked it up mid way so to speak. It has given us a new outlook and focus on what we want to achieve on the next vessel due later this year.

It gave us both an opportunity to meet the faces in Oz who support us, get to know 1/4 of the Tongan Navy (18crew) and familiarise ourselves with the boats! That done we also became a shopping market for the wives back home in Tonga...... Every phone call didn't end with a big I love you but can you pick me up some ?????? from the shops! Don't worry we weren't alone the Tongan boys must have got the same because we cleaned out cash converters of TV's and I even saw a queen size bed make it onboard on the last night before we sailed for Vila!! I'll let the piccies tell the story!

Enjoy.

The final product and very new for a 20year old boat!

This is John the BAE rep and the craddle that lifted us back into the water!

Helmut the stoker doing rounds on his new engines!

Super chef, come deckhand, come helmsman, come fire fighter! This was during thier assessment phase!

The 'A' Team after passing workups - including the hairy monster in DPNU's (my uniform)The XO Sblt Telefoni as we left Ross Haven Mariner for the last time and in the last lot of flat weather too!
The view from the bridge for the next 5 days!

That was with the exception of a quick stint through the outer reef! Dinner anyone! 20min in the water trawling then we headed back into the ruff stuff!

Dinner always came in one bowl! I did four days in the galley eye opening and even managed a few Palangi meals for the boys! There now hooked on homemade pizza too! Yep they even made it for breaky some days!

VOEA PANGAI coming alongside HMNB Masefeild.

The big bosses including the Brigader where on hand to welcome her home!

After three days of cleaning the Crew feel in for the Handover ceremony!

The Tongan fleet together again!


The proud TA's

ANZAC DAY - With a Tongan twist

Lyndon has finally returned from his adventures in that far off land of OZ! After being picked up by Jodie, the kids and all in her new Buggy (Pictures to follow later when it's been cleaned!!) Which for those who didn't or don't know is a little Toyota CAMI Q 4wd, white just like the truck back home but a hell of a lot smaller! So after being mugged by the kids for any treats and then bundling them off to bed! I could finally say hi to mum.......!! That done it was on to every sailors second love, yep ironing uniforms!! This was our first ever family ANZAC Day Dawn service although you may notice someone is missing, actually still tucked up in bed at home!!

The Tongan Royal gaurd did a great job! With the Ozzy High Commissioner laying our wreath!

Us with the slouch hat to the left!

Tiny and I at the NZ commissioners residence for the breaky!

Oh yes and this year it was the NZ boys turn to organise the event and Tiny did a great job and all by himself!! Probably didn't help that we were all away at some time or another in the lead up!! But after breaky a 2hr search was conducted for the keys to the Nuku'alofa mens club (yep last "Blokes only" club in the Islands, apparently) but to no luck so we all headed our own ways to meet up again at the fishing club for the afternoon ANZAC session. If you have forgotten or incase we forgot to mention Sunday is a day of rest and church so it made for a quieter day than the last few, but all in the same a great day to reflect!

Em and I at our first dawn service together!

L-R, MSA-Mark Burling, Major Joe Simpson and me the bearded burburler! Sorry, no time for klippers before we left home! Sam was on the high seas still bringing VOEA PANGAI home!

Talisker Bounty Boat 2010 Expedition

On April 28th 1789 William Bligh and 18 men were cast adrift during the Mutiny on HMS Bounty and then set sail from Tonga to Timor, a 4000 mile, 48 day voyage. This April 28, Don McIntyre and his crew of 3 will recreate this epic voyage, launching from Tofua(Ha'apai) on the same day at the same time and in the same place, 221 years after the original mutiny journey. This seven week expedition - in a 25ft long, 7ft wide, open wood vessel will see the crew facing the same deprivations as the original crew and using the same primitive equipment for survival. (i.e. no toilet paper or torches and only minimal food and water).

In charge of this re-creation is Don McIntyre. An amazing Australian adventurer who has sailed around the world in the 1990 BOC Challenge Solo around the world yacht race, lived with his wife at Sir Douglas Mawson's Hut in the Antarctic for 1 year and the first to fly around Australia in an open cockpit ultra-light Gyro-copter, 13000km in 20 days. He has put together a crew of 3 other crazy like minded men to accompany him and all the while will raise money for The Sheffield Institute Foundation for Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Flying into the Kingdom of Tonga on 12 April, Don and his crew hit the ground running with a press conference at the Tonga Visitors Bureau (Ministry of Tourism) and then 5 hectic days of getting his boat ready and gathering supplies. This expedition has had press coverage all around the world and has certainly brought Tonga into the public eye. Don and his crew reported at their official launch and farewell on April 19 that Tonga is definitely the friendly island and will now hold a special place in his heart for the warm welcome and all the assistance they have received since their arrival. At a special audience with the King of Tonga, George Tupou V, Don presented the King with a bound journal containing a copy of the original transcripts from William Bligh's logbook from his voyage.

Jodie, Emily and Dylan were lucky enough to be part of history in the making when they attended the official launch and farewell of the replica "Mutiny on the Bounty" Expedition. After an official welcome by the Prime Minister and a Blessing by the Chaplain for Seafarers Mission, the crew were entertained by traditional dancers and presented with authentic traditional Tongan fishing implements. The crew are making a documentary of their preparations starting in Tonga and of the voyage itself which will include the launch that we attended. We look forward to tracking their journey and pray they arrive in Timor safely, (especially after seeing first hand what they are sailing in) and will be able to do so by following their blog on www.bountyboat.com So, if you like a bit of history and adventure log on to see what all the fuss is about and make a contribution to a worthy cause whilst you are at it. Additional information and first hand reports by the crew can be found at www.tongaholiday.com which also contains pictures of Emily and Dylan at the launch.

L - R at official launch, front row-Prime Minister of Tonga Hon. Dr Feleti Sevele, HE Ms Christine Bogle, New Zealand High Commissioner, HE Dr Bruce Hunt, Australian High Commissioner

Crew of Talisker Bounty Boat, Don McIntyre second from Left.

Emily and Dylan onboard

Olden day equipment they will use on the voyage to get close to the hardships of the original voyage as possible

Inside the vessel, not very big for 4 men

The rudder

The crew rowing away from Touliki Naval Base with Chris filming the departure for the documentary

Still rowing, with a long way to go, out into the harbour back to Atata to complete their preparations for departure on 28 April

School Holidays in Tonga

The last two weeks have been school holidays for the kids and luckily enough, a school holiday program for 3 days per week, was organised by one of the mums to keep the kids occupied. Held at her home, the kids were supervised by 4 fantastic Tongan teenagers who had them doing everything from cooking, kite making, movie making and swimming/sport competitions. They were exhausted every night and had a ball. In between days, the kids had friends over to play and we also managed to go out for lunch a few days to treat ourselves. (Alas, no shopping centres here). We also participated in the World Health Organisation's "Ride for Life". The 7.5 km ride around the township (with approximately 40 other keen bike riders) took about 30 mins and apart from a stack for Emily and Dylan, we managed to get back in one piece, Jodie even managed not to come in last.

This is Ruhua after the kids got to her in the pool
Some of the kids and their carers Ebony (front in purple shirt) and Mercy (at back with fuzzy hair)

Dylan and his mate Zayne

Tyler, Georgia and Emily getting zombie costumes ready for the movie they were making

Snap shot of those who participated in the bike ride (Emily has the lime green bike in front and Dylan's is the orange bike in front)

Jodie and Emily before the ride

Easter Monday BBQ

Given that the weather had been so bad throughout the week, nobody had planned anything for the holiday except to stay indoors. Forever the optimist, I decided that the weather would be good and organised a BBQ in the fale for the compound residents and a few ring-ins. Off to a dodgy start with cloudy skies, the sun finally came out and we had a scorcher of a day. There were 6 families in all with plenty of kids to keep entertained. We had egg and spoon races, jumping castle, Easter egg hunt, swimming and of course cricket.

The cricket pitch

The kids
The adults

Easter Weekend at White Sands

With Lyndon away in Australia our usual Easter camping trip was just not going to happen so we did the next best thing: a weekend away back to White Sands Beach Resort. The weather in Tonga had been dreadful with plenty of rain threatening to spoil our weekend, we didn't mind though as it beat sitting at home. We were lucky enough that it only rained overnight on the Friday and for 2 hours on the Saturday at lunchtime, apparently back in town it just didn't stop. Again, we had the place to ourselves until the Sat arvo so we made the most of it exploring around the rock faces looking for crabs, having hermit crab races and ghost crab hunting. Dylan tried a spot of fishing but to no avail because at high tide, it was just to rough to do anything, we didn't even snorkel this weekend but had a great time relaxing anyway. The Easter bunny found out where the kids were early Sunday morning and even paid a visit, bless him.

The beach at high tide, a tad windy this particular day

The beach at low tide where you can walk out to the ocean front

Each afternoon at low tide we walked along the rock face on the shore line to either side of the resort until we got to the next beach with plenty of fish, coral, crabs, sea stars, sea cucumbers to be found. Emily was in charge of this days expedition.

Priscilla, the house girl, searches for kina at low tide which they eat raw, Dylan and Emily went along to help, this filled in 2 hours of an afternoon.


Dylan with some of his catch.

Some coral we found along the way.

A beautiful little swimming hole exposed at low tide.

Dylan in swimming hole.