Volcanic Ash - Our very own Groundhog Day - A Little Early

Flying into and around Tonga was "interesting".  We arrived on the main island on January 6th and had a flight to the Ha'apai island group planned the following day.  On Wednesday we each packed a small bag with plans to fly to Ha'apai Wednesday, spend the night, and fly back on Thursday.  When you fly on one of these small planes they not only weigh your bags, they weigh you as well.  We checked in and weighed in for our flight and then went to get some lunch while we waited for our plane to arrive and fly us to Ha'apai.  The plane is a very small plane.  17 seats total.  The space between the aisle is about 6 inches.  You have to enter and exit the plane sideways.  And all the armrests have to be down, otherwise the fit is very tight.

Weighing in

Getting ready to take our first flight to Ha'apai

Hans, Susan, Gary, Sister DeLong, Elder DeLong. and Verna

As we were eating lunch, we started noticing all these emergency vehicles arriving and people trying to unlock the gate to the runways.  It turned out that one of the two engines on "our" arriving plane was not working.

Emergency vehicles

More emergency vehicles 

Unloading the plane with only one engine.

Our flight was cancelled until the following day.  So the next morning we decided that since we were leaving early and coming back the same day, we would not pack any extra clothes.  That was a big mistake!  The purpose of our trip was to  review the project and meet the volunteer/apprentices on the Ha'apai rebuild project.  There was a devotional meeting planned and after the devotional we would fly back to Tongatapu, the main island after participating in the devotional.  Bright and early the next morning we went to the airport, weighed in and flew up to Ha'apai.  We had a wonderful meeting with the men who are learning a trade while they are helping to build homes.  After the devotional we returned to the airport where we learned that all flights in and out of Ha'apai were cancelled due to volcanic dust in the air.  We were in Ha'apai without anything but the clothes on our back.  No toothbrushes, no change of clothes, not anything.  We called and were able to check into a lovely rustic resort called "Sandy Beach".  Then we went to the "china (dollar store) shop" and bought toothbrushes, toothpaste, a comb, two t-shirts - you know, the basics.  After we finished shopping, we went to Sandy Beach Resort and checked in for the evening.  Sandy Beach was empty because their guests couldn't fly in.  It was delightful out-of-the way place with great food.

Arriving in Ha'apai

Susan enjoying the porch of our bungalow.

Gary taking it easy

Our view 30 meters from the ocean

Pretty snazzy suit, eh?

Our china shop clothes

We were able to fly back the next morning, arriving with just barely enough time for Gary and Hans  to shave and change before our meeting with Tongan government officials regarding potential humanitarian projects in support of their efforts to reduce diabetes, a real challenge in the islands.

Checking the plane

Boarding the plane 

View from the front seat  (17 seats on the plane)

Our return

Do you remember the movie Groundhog Day?   Bill Murray keeps waking up and the same thing keeps happening to him every morning?    We had a similar experience in Tonga.   On Monday, January 12th, our New Zealand bound flight was scheduled to depart at 2:25pm.   After checking our bags in we headed to a restaurant near the airport for some lunch. 

Gary, Hans, Elder Murdock, Ana and Susan before our first attempt

Lunch at the Scenic Hotel

After lunch we returned to the airport where we found that the flight had been cancelled due to the volcano ash in the air.  The pilot could not tell volcanic ash clouds from clouds.  So we grabbed our bags and returned to House 1. 

On Tuesday, January 13th,  we again headed to the airport to get the flight home, but again the flight was cancelled due to volcanic ash.  Back again to House 1.  Each time we would drop off our bags and then go to the office so that we could have access to the Internet to do some work.    The Murdocks had an appointment on Tuesday,  so we worked on our reports and made arrangements to go to the temple in the evening. 

The lines at the airport

Wednesday, January 14th, we headed to the airport again.  We were literally checking in when they received word that the flight had been cancelled again.  Every day the scene at the airport was the same. There were lines going everywhere and everyone has been coming back each day trying to go home.  Wednesday the weather was beautiful - we decided to go the end of the island so we could see the volcano.  

What the volcano looked like from the end of the island

Later that night we were having dinner when we received a call from then Country Welfare Manager (Ana) stating that a flight from New Zealand was coming in, so we hurried back to House 1.  We threw all our stuff into our bags and we made a mad dash to the airport only to learn it was a flight for the people who were scheduled on the flight for Wednesday afternoon.  We were very frustrated that we had not been notified of the flight.  We were not allowed to even try and go standby.  We were told that there were 10 standby passengers that did get on the plane.  They then told us that there were three flights scheduled the next day to take care of all the passengers (including us) that were stranded in Tongatapu.  For some reason, we were scheduled on the last flight out on Thursday night even though we had been waiting the longest.  We headed back to House 1, frustrated.  On the way back, we received another call.  This time they told us we were now scheduled on the first flight out in the morning.  By this time,  we had decided that were going to do everything possible to be on the morning flight as a scheduled or at least standby passengers.

Bright and early Thursday morning January 15th, we drove back to the airport - again - to try and get on a flight back to New Zealand.  (Is this sounding familiar?) Each time we made a trip to the airport it was about 35 miles round trip.  There is only one way to the airport and you can only go about 30 miles an hour.  All in all the Murdocks had to drive us to and from the airport 12 times. They really are Saints. Thankfully we finally got to leave Thursday about 11 AM. 

The plane to take us home

Notice the first two to board the plane

And we are off!

Newspaper article about all the trouble with flights

When we got home we received a text stating that the flight we would have been on had been cancelled.   
Oh were we glad that we got on the morning flight.  

All the pictures of us getting off and on the planes were taken by Sister Murdock.  She made a post about our adventures on her blog.  She used this quote from President Uchtdorf -  Pretty good one to end our post as well.  Thanks for the pictures and quote Sister Murdock.  We think you guys are great.

"The lessons we learn from patience will cultivate our character, lift our lives, and heighten our happiness."   Dieter F. Uchtdorf