Hey guys and welcome back. So, it has now been almost 18 months living isolated on a tropical
island during the COVID 19 pandemic [Katie] In this episode we're going to talk you through our
experiences - the COVID rollercoaster - since we closed our resort in March 2020 up until today
"that COVID 19 can be characterized as a pandemic" We'd actually already been closed for two months
for renovation prior to this and just as COVID was really bubbling away and starting to ramp up
we actually reopened the resort uh for five days essentially we had a small group of guests fly in
which was really disconcerting for us because they flew through international airports which
were obviously COVID hot spots, had to turn around straight away and fly back to Australia
as international borders closed. They were super lucky actually they were the last people to get
out of the country on that commercial flight before the country closed completely.
We had to send home 50 plus staff members for an indefinite period of time until tourism was going to resume
and we basically isolated the entire island so no one in no fishermen no market nothing until we
could kind of get a gauge on what was happening. It was just going to be the six of us my mother and
father Katie myself and our two children and two local staff members on the island. Bunkered down.
Sending all of our staff members home meant that they had to go back to a subsistent style of life
which is possible but it's really stressful for them they are heavily dependent on the resort for
all of their income and this was going to seriously affect the well-being of
hundreds of people in the lagoon
We kind of began to realize that this this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to be here on the island, just us, this sort of thing wasn't going to come by very often and so
we really embraced the opportunity to start appreciating the environment and where we were together here safe on the island and just start exploring
so we got out with the kids a lot more we started going on paddle trips and swimming with the sharks
and going out to manta rays and doing that all the beautiful things that Uepi has to offer while we
could while we felt like we had this chance to really enjoy it just all to ourselves
All right, so three months in. Although we were definitely making the most of every opportunity we had
we were also working extremely hard so as a family we were trying to maintain the island
complete all the renovation work that we had underway and we were just getting utterly
exhausted. Luckily there was no circulating COVID in the community so we were still relatively safe
here but a few things started to mount up our family runs a charity which works in health
and education and usually we run medical tours which is a big responsibility for Jase and I
and we had missed a tour so our patients within the community had been unable to
receive the normal level of care that we provide so we had started to see patients here on the
island showing up asking for assistance we were trying to get medicines out to the local clinics
we managed to get some some medicines across into the country and and distribute them around
the lagoon but it wasn't enough and people were struggling and and we really felt that burden
I think at that point in time. Then we had the added drama of some really rough weather there
was a few cyclones or low pressure systems around the island completely copped it we were beginning
to run really low on supplies including fuel and food. So we are officially out of diesel
it's moments like this when particularly the weather when the weather closes in and you're
on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere like this - with limited food and fuel - the island starts
to feel much much much smaller than it really is and I think this is when we really started to feel
the pressure and feel truly isolated. Somehow a few more months go by and we decide that it's time to
to really make the most of this closure period and the fact that the resort was empty and so
we started working on more redevelopment plans. This also meant it gave us a chance to employ a
small number of people from the local community to come and assist with the building and we had some
new people back on the island so this was a real up for us because we started to make progress we
had other people to talk to yeah the vibe on the island really started to lift again. Yeah for me it
was really uplifting to start that project to be yep okay we're moving forward even though it was
going to be an insane amount of work. All right over six months and we have not left the island
this is when it started to get really really tough for me personally um but for everyone I think
we just had this string of medical emergencies that happened - Arlo smashed his front teeth on
a big lump of concrete falling down Filly we thought she broke her arm when I tumbled down the
steps with her and my arms. We had to evacuate and fly to the provincial hospital yeah that was the
first time we left the island. There was a series of other things that happened around the same time
really unfortunate medical situations. It was hard to deal with. I really started to experience this
level of anxiety I've never been an anxious person I've always lived in semi-isolation I've always
lived a remote life and been independent resilient and it was just getting way too much for me and
I was like breaking down i couldn't handle it I was feeling like I couldn't protect provide and
be there for my family the way I should so it's a horribly confronting emotion to deal with yeah
something that if you know anyone who's dealing with us out there make sure you reach out and
be there for them. I think for us at this point in time we were really feeling constrained in terms
of we didn't know whether we could get out of the country if we really had to but also we had been
quite disconnected from our friends and family for a long period of time and we were really beginning
to question whether we were in the right place. If we should still be here? If we should, perhaps you
know get out and get back to Australia where we're closer to medical services but I think
we were quite lucky to be here with your mum and dad and have their support throughout and and feel
like on the other hand we were still very safe to to stay here but it was a confusing time.
Bouncing back from everything that had been going on we started to reach out a lot more to our friends
and family connecting on facetime and making sure we were staying in contact fairly regularly
I mean we talked to my mum every day anyway but we also during this time found that um connecting
on social media was a huge benefit to us and we'd created our family account the island life of us
I'll link it in the description below it had really become a way for us to stay motivated to
keep doing lots of fun enjoyable things with the family but also connecting with people all around
the world who are having similar experiences to us and making these real friendships that
we will meet those people one day and going through this this level of extreme isolation
seeing other people around the world going through it i think is sort of what made us realize that
you know it was the other piece to the puzzle to make this life so amazing to be isolated be here
enjoy the environment but then also share it with people and be connected as well.
One thing that I've struggled with is that you know at the time you feel like you're you're making the right
decision you can't travel right now it's not safe to travel there's reasons why we should stay put
where we are but then a few more months go by and nothing's changed nothing's changed and then
you sort of have this feeling it's like a sense of it's it's like a regret almost like I wish
now I had made a different decision back then but now you know six more months have gone by
and here we are and we still haven't seen our friends and family it's like a regret it's a
it's a shifting goal post. Yeah. Approaching Christmas 2020 was a really really hard time
for me in particular I think you could kind of come back up a little and I was really missing
my mum you know she hasn't seen the kids in a really long time and they're growing quickly and
never gonna make this without crying um Katie's mum hadn't held Filly since she was six months
old she was well over a year now and just not knowing when you were going to be able to see
your family again was just so tricky and so tough at that time and wanting to make the
right decisions for your family to be safe and amazingly actually during this period Katie's mum
gave us so much strength she had just handled this time which she had a lot of stuff going
on back in Australia and we wanted to be there to support her through that and we couldn't and she
was being so strong and so confident and rational about everything that was going on it she gave us
so much strength to be like okay if she's doing this on her own and handling this so well then you
know where we can be okay too. And I think a lot of people obviously relate to missing family during
this whole COVID thing and around this time like we were sort of seeing some restrictions ease and
people getting to see their family and like you know we always have a plan when we're going to see
each other again and it just yeah we did we still didn't know and it was just going on and on and
yes that was a shitty time.
All right 12 months in and we're really starting to hit our stride now. I think we had come to grips with the fact that there was just so much in this
life we couldn't control at that point in time and we just started to focus on what we could
we did some amazing trips we went and saw these incredibly rare endangered species of
leatherback turtle laying eggs on a beach in an area that we'd never been to before
but we just got out and did everything we could yeah we even had we had more challenges
we had things going on but we were handling it better we ended up evacuating to Honiara with um
with Filly again hurting herself - and we'll link that episode - yeah but we turned that whole trip
into this really positive experience and i think that was you know that time between 12 months and
now we've really grown in terms of just coping and being resilient with all these ridiculous
struggles that we've got but also making the most of life and realizing like we're not going to get
this time again let's just enjoy it and explore adventure and share as much as we possibly can
work insanely hard in between. Another really big influence on how we've been feeling and feeling so
positive is actually this you know talking to our little gopro there creating our youtube channel
sharing this world that we have here with the world you know we can we can tell our story
and share our passions about the environment and everything that we've got going on here
This is what we would do every single night at the Uepi dinner table really so that's what
we're doing that's what this channel is it's just sharing the experiences we would normally share
with our guests with you online and yeah I think it's just made life feel a bit more normal to us
in a very abnormal way. It's been a really really positive thing and I think right
now we're on this like we're riding the up and it's been the longest up we've had definitely
yeah so because everything's perfect not perfect but everything's great. We're now planning a trip
back to Australia um we just can't put this off any longer our kids need to have their
medical reviews we need skin checks we need to see the normal stuff i need my teeth clean
we need to hug my mum and she needs to see her grandbabies we need to meet my new nephew and see
my brother and his beautiful family and and Katie's brother and sister-in-law and just see
these people who are and our friends and family who are so special it's time. But. In saying that -
now there's an outbreak of COVID in Australia and people are protesting lockdowns
and it's a little bit crazy so we don't know we don't know what's gonna happen i think we've
reverted to our status quo which is just don't expect anything to happen the way you plan it
no so we're booked and we're ready to go and if we can go we will but we just have to face
the reality that things are changing and a lot of things are out of our control.
It's quite a complicated process for us because of having to get approvals to re-enter the Solomons and
also wanting to get vaccinated while we're in Australia head back to Uepi
as planned and not get caught out and not being able to come home.
So we're really thinking of everyone who's in lockdown at the moment we're sure that you're all going through this roller
coaster as well. If you're feeling anxious or need to talk to someone reach out if you know
someone who you think is struggling please be that person who reaches out even if it's
just over face time it makes such a difference to know that it's that someone else is going
through the same thing as you are. We're really thinking of everybody doing the right thing and
just it just feels like it's never gonna end but, maybe it'll end who knows. We hope you've enjoyed
this episode guys I know it's been a little different to what we've created so far but we
did feel like it was the right time to talk about our experience because some of you can probably
relate to some aspects of what we've been through but also maybe you can't relate at all and that's
the point is that people all over the world are having unique experiences because of COVID
and whatever's going on for you we do hope that you're okay. Drop us a comment below and let us
know how you're feeling about things where you are in the world and what's going on for you right now
know that we're always available you can reach out to us in the comments or DM us on instagram
and make sure you give this video a like if you've enjoyed it and yeah subscribe subscribe subscribe
um, growing our little island tribe has been a real highlight for us and we appreciate everybody who's here watching
so far. And, yeah we look forward to delivering more fun, interesting content for you soon
See you guys! Bye! See you next week. We'll do this. No we're not that cool. Ha ha. Turn it off.