Jerra RAWCS Tonga Trip 2015

Friday 16 October 2015

But Wait!!! There' More!!

Here are a group of photos which we just needed to share with you.

Free Facebook. This totally cracked me up. Who pays for Facebook? Of course it is free when you sign up with a plan.

and then there was the Coronation in Jul of this year. Everywhere you went you saw businesses posting photos and good wishes to the King and Queen of Tonga.

and then there were the cars....

Bits hanging off...

No drivers door!

Glad Wrap was very handy

as was gaffa tape

and not to mention the emergency wheel...

and then there was just the bizarre....

Friends Cafe was a popular haunt, but there was some unusual aspects...

These were on every table in the Cafe

and this photo was taken from where I was sitting.

The Long Journey Home

6 Oct 15

We came, we saw, we conquered and we went home...

Up and packed and ready to go. There was some swapping around of luggage for those who were over the limit and then off to the airport. We all booked in and would you believe that Chilly was 1 kg over the limit and had to find someone with the space to take his toiletry bag? Michelle and Ed to the rescue!
We had to wait around for immigration to arrive before we could go through to the departure lounge. The staff kept apologizing to us, but we just laughed and said we were on Tonga time.
Finally we moved through and sat and had a coffee and a bite to eat. Chilly had warned us about the meals on Virgin. Just as an aside, he forgot to warn us about the crap service on Virgin as well. Given they are the only airline to fly in and out of Tonga, beggars cannot be choosers.
There was a group at the table next to us and one of the guys came over and had a chat about what we were doing in Tonga as many of us were wearing our purple shirts and name tags. Steve asked him if the girl sitting at their table was from the channel 7 Sunday Show. He said no, they were from 60 Minutes and doing a story on swimming with the whales! Watch out for the show.
Finally we boarded the plane and had a quiet and relaxed trip home. When we arrived in Sydney, Mez was standing in front of her seat waiting for the passengers to start moving and the guy sitting behind her looked at her and said "Mr Mucka"! He said... "you were in the dance competition". Mez said yes and he said that he had clapped the loudest for her and thought she was the best and should have won. Well said that man....
The customs process was painless and we were through before 4pm. Mind you we did get in 40mins early. And no-one was arrested or filmed for Border Security!
We congregated outside the arrivals and waited for everyone to come through, only to discover that Gerry and Kathryn had cleared customs and cleared off, to fly back to Melbourne. Fond farewells were had with Grant and Geoff and they headed off to catch the train to Goulburn. Chilly thanked us all again and headed off to catch a plane to Canberra as he had an early start the following day and work to complete before his start.
Michelle and Ed, Phil, Stephen and Diane, and Mez, Liz and Keith headed down to Maccas to await their bus departure back to Canberra. Michelle, Ed and Phil were on the 5.15, so it was more farewells, and then the remainder of us awaited our 6.15 departure.
We arrived at the Jolimont Center at 9.30pm and the prebooked maxi cab was waiting to take us back to Jerrabomberra.
Shirley and Geoff remained in Tonga for another week or so to do a bit of sight seeing.
Thank you Chilly for the most satisfying and rewarding experience of a lifetime. I know I have taken the mickey out of you on more than one occasion, but you did a wonderful job as Project Leader.. not Superintendent! and I would bet my last dollar that not one person on the team would have willingly swapped their jobs for yours. Again... thanks the Chil Man....

THE END

Thursday 15 October 2015

Our Sad Farewell

5 Oct 15

The Program for the day

All dressed in our purple T-Shirts, Tauvala's and Tupenu's ready for our last day at the School.

A bit of graft and corruption. They thought they could bribe the blog master....

But she showed her true colors.... mwhahaha....

The teachers are all dressed in their finest set up the tables with the school supplies Michelle had so generously sourced in Australia and have lay the grass mats for the children to sit on. Whilst we waited for the representative from the Ministry of Education and the Minister to arrive, the staff put on some music and offered to teach the girls some traditional dancing.

It was just great fun and then they put on some groovy music and we got our dance on!
Then the formalities started. Unfortunately no photos of the dignitaries, but they did speak for some time.
Then we were entertained by the children. They were 'absolutely' fabulous. The expressions on their faces, in particular the little girl in the middle who danced with two others was just amazing.

The formal activities unfortunately resulted in few photos, however the headmistress is sitting in the first photo while one of the teachers MC's the proceedings. She did very well with the pronunciation of our names! Chilly did what he did best and got up and talked about 'his' team.

We had the presentation of gifts from the school, how nice was that?

Michelle

Mez

Diane

Liz

Kathryn

Shirley

Chilly

Gerry

Grant

Steve

Phil

Geoff

Keith

John

We then had the usual group photos

The Dream Team

Such patient little poppets

Children, Teachers, Aussies and Officials

And then it was time to dance! The music was bumped up, the teachers and children jumped up to dance and invited the Aussies to join in. An absolute wonderful experience.