Hi everyone! July was a super busy month for us….we had visitors, did some traveling and had some heartfelt moments throughout the month. I was able to take a ton of pics so this post will be heavy on the pics and light on my words.
Enjoy.
Aunty Inbal and Uncle Matt arrive in Fiji!
This past month we were lucky enough to have visits from two of Abby’s dearest friends in the world. Uncle Matt….
…and Aunty Inbal.
Uncle Matt arrived from Thailand and Aunty Inbal from California and we took them directly to Leleuvia (Inbal didn’t get even a nap before she was on the boat again)….
We arrived in time to thoroughly enjoy a sunset:
While Will can dig in the sand for hours, Lucy loves to hang with the adults…
The kids really seem to be at home on these remote islands in the South Pacific…..
The kids getting the feel for the outrigger and windsurfing board….and holy crap, the weather was amazing.
William napping with his new bestie, Indai….
Daddy at low tide:
Jaabi’s Memorial. Over the past few visits to Leluevia, Abby really connected with Jaabi who was an artist who ran the art studio on the island and displayed much of own work. He was an amazing artist with a gentile soul. Their connection was sparked by Abby’s interest and connection to the amazing piece pictured below. Sadly he passed away, but Abby was able to be part of the beautiful and emotional celebration of his life as all of his friends and family traveled to the island.
Jaabi’s point.
Abby’s 40th Bday Celebration in Tonga. Abby had spent the first part of her birthday week working with her colleagues in Nuku’alofa.
As she wrapped up her work in Tonga, Aunty Inbal, the kids and I boarded a flight to meet her the day before her Bday.
We had quite the arrival to Tonga. Unlike the mountainous island where we live, the main island of Tongatapu is flat and as we descended to the airport, the incredible amount of palm trees made the landscape look like a field of dandelions. As we stepped off the plane at sunset, we were gifted this glorious ‘welcome to Tonga’ scene….
Tonga has a pace about it that makes Suva feel like New York City. The traffic moves slow and there is a warmth to the people that is felt immediately. Like every nation in the S. Pacific it has its very own fascinating history and culture and we couldn’t possibly scratch the surface in 3 days….but, we will do our best to come back and continue to learn.
We stayed at Holty’s Hideway about 50m up the road from Ha’atafu Beach. Here is Will being Will at Ha’atafu Beach. Man….this kid.
…and the rest of us:
The main attraction of Tonga this time of year is the whales. The annual migration of humpback whales from their summer feeding grounds in Antarctica, 6,000 kms to their winter breeding grounds is one of the largest and longest animal movements in the world. The ‘Tonga Tribe” are part of one of 6 main humpback populations in the southern Pacific and consist of around 1,000 whales…which is down from the pre-whaling peak of about 10,000…but, up from 250 when New Zealand ended their whaling industry in 1964.
We set out at 8:30 in the morning on the boat to the left….while it looks like I am comforting Will, the reality is that I am probably trying to keep him from running down the ramp at full on Willspeed.
We ‘hung out’ with these gentile, yet frisky giants for close to 6 hours and were able to jump in the water a few times to get a closer look.
You have to quickly work through all the rational fears in the world before you jump in the first time, but we were all immediately smitten (which might sound odd, but once you jumped in the water and after a brief moment of panic, you were quickly disarmed and yes….smitten) and desperately wanted more time with these amazing creatures.
This is the view straight down above a couple of humpbacks trying to have a quiet moment…
The kids were amazing…Will slept for 3 hours in the bow of the boat and Lucy stayed with us the entire time and aside from throwing up once (daddy hurled over the side as well), she was such a trooper.
After we decided enough was enough, we stopped by Big Mamma’s Yacht Club for a end of day swim, drink, dive. Beer of choice: Ikale….The first beer in the world everyday.
While the kids played and mommy and Inbal enjoyed landfall, Daddy decided it was a good idea to swim out to the half sunk ship and jump off the top. Here is what I imagined I looked like:
Unfortunately for me, those days are long gone……
Meanwhile, back at Big Mamma’s, our kids had a cute moment:
…followed by some Aunty Time.
Hopefully with Tonga as a backdrop, Abby enjoyed a memorable 40th Birthday reading everyone’s emails, watching their video tributes, jumping in the ocean with the humpback whales and of course being around her loving family and dear friend Aunty Inbal!
Meanwhile, back in Suva. Will spends some time with Alice and Charlie’s new chicken.
Rest in peace Oosa. Lasarusa was a kind, gentile man who was one of our original guards when we arrived. At first he was 100% by the book…there were times where we wouldn’t let even friends in without an approval.
Slowly, Lucy and Will broke him down and soon, they would get up at 6am wanting to go see Oosa! Regardless of the activity, you could see Oosa trying hard because he cared and loved the kids, but you could always tell that he was looking out for them. Sadly, he passed away last week.
It was always comforting to know that Ooosa was out there looking after us…we know he still is.
Until next time, bye from rainy Suva!
Love, Lucy, Will, Abby and me.
