Author(s): Jennifer Barrie

Literature

"It all ended with a shipwreck. Ten years of planning, dreaming, plotting and scheming - gone in one night. Who even heard of shipwrecks these days? This is the 21st century, not the 1800s. But, happen it did, to a modern, mostly normal family from Western Australia. Now, home is a remote island in Micronesia that Lonely Planet states is inhabited by some of the world's most remote people - and us. Our beloved boat, Windrider, is now seated indecorously on the coral beach with her bum ripped out, rudders bent through ninety degrees, engines out and systems largely rendered useless. The morning after, we sat on the beach looking at our boat. Was this the end? Could something be salvaged? Andrew has a saying - actually he has lots - but this one is that it is possible to eat an elephant as long as you do it one bite at a time. So we set about our elephant, hoping we weren't going to get stomped on." With a combined boating experience of 65 years, Jennifer Barrie and her husband, Andrew, were confident that they were unlikely to hit any major snags after setting out on their dream voyage - sailing their beloved Windrider around the Pacific. In early 2010, Jennifer and Andrew, along with their two young daughters, washed up - literally - on the tiny island of Mogmog in Micronesia. Fortunately for the Barrie family, Mogmog is inhabited by a bunch of very friendly locals...or at least that's what they initially thought! This is the true story of a modern-day Swiss Family Robinson who lived to tell the tale of surviving a shipwreck and months stranded on one of the world's most remote islands. In Marooned on Mogmog, you'll see that paradise isn't always what it seems...