- Katie Kelly was 27 when she travelled to the remote Island of Uepi, in the western province of the Solomon Islands, where she would meet the love of her life, Jase
- In 2015, she was working on the island as a pharmacist pro bono while the couple together ran medical tours
- The pair married in 2016 and had three children in Australia before they returned to their little slice of haven where they are now raising their family in complete harmony with life on the Solomon Islands
Here Katie tells her story in her own words
As we dived under the crystal blue water, a squadron of manta rays glided above me and my family.
How magical, I smiled, as they danced around.
Floating back to the surface, my hubby Jase, then 37, and our kids Arlo, five, and Ophelia, four, were in awe of the chance encounter.
It was June 2023, and I was 23 weeks pregnant with my third child.
Living on the remote island of Uepi, a 2.5km long and 600m wide haven in the western province of the Solomon Islands, every day is like an adventure.
I’d fallen in love with the secluded spot in November 2013 when, aged 27, I’d volunteered as a pharmacist on a two-week medical tour. After stepping off the plane in the town of Seghe, on the island of New Georgia, I locked eyes with Jase, then 28, who lived in the Solomons with his parents, Jill and Grant.
They coordinated the medical tours and ran the only accommodation on nearby Uepi island, Uepi Island Resort.
Jase and I travelled to different villages on neighbouring islands each day, where I gave healthcare and medical advice to patients, while Jase’s parents stayed back on the island keeping everything else running.
After a long first day, Jase and I chatted over dinner. We discovered we had grown up just a few streets away from each other in Townsville, Qld, had gone to schools close by and shared many friends. Incredibly, we’d never met until now.
While Jase and his family had lived on the island since the ’80s, he’d come with his parents to Townsville during school terms, then return to the island during holidays.
Once my two-week stint was up, I was sad to leave the island, and Jase, behind.
We’d grown quite close during my time there.
A month later Jase was in town for work, and we reconnected. This time, sparks flew between us, and we began a long distance relationship.
When our work permitted, we travelled to the US together, visiting New York, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
At the time, Jase was working in sustainable forest management.
‘Will you marry me?’
In March 2015, I decided to relocate to Uepi Island for a year, but I loved it so much I’ve never left.
Together Jase and I ran the medical tours, and I continued practising as a pharmacist pro bono.
And when we weren’t working in the field, we spent every moment in the water, snorkelling the reef, diving with whales, stand-up paddleboarding and spearfishing.
Then in July that year, Jase and I were dancing on the jetty as the sun set when he dropped to one knee. ‘Will you marry me?’ he asked.
‘Of course I will,’ I beamed.
Tying the knot in September 2016, we had a small wedding on the island, joined by 50 of our loved ones.
Our son, Arlo, was born 17 months later in February 2018, followed by Ophelia in August 2019, and Darwin arrived in September 2023.
While there is a medical clinic in the area, we chose to travel back to Australia to give birth before returning to our tiny sanctuary.
It’s so special to know that island life is the only life our kids have ever known. Waking each morning to the sound of waves crashing against the shoreline, a typical day starts with a swim.
Then the kids meet with their teacher, Mollie, who also lives on the island.
Arlo and Ophelia are enrolled in a distance education program from Australia and classes are delivered online.
While the kids are at school, Jase and I work with his parents to coordinate the resort, with 12 to 16 guests and 20 to 25 staff at any one time.
With no vehicles or local shops, there’s no last-minute shopping for ingredients for our guests’ meals. Groceries are ordered up to three months in advance and delivered via cargo ships.
Supplies like flour, seeds, nuts, oils, eco-friendly soaps, cleaning products, linen, building tools and even toilet paper are bought in bulk. We also import pantry goods by sea from Australia – including coffee beans, tea, long-life milk, oil, nuts, dried fruit, herbs, grains and cereals.
We can grow some vegies here on the island, hydroponically and in small gardens, and we buy fresh vegetables such as sweet potato, eggplant and capsicum from local markets on the mainland 20km away by boat.
‘While it’s been a dream to call the island my home for over 10 years, it’s also opened my eyes to the impacts of climate change.’
For more variety, we freight groceries from the capital, around 250km away. And our main source of protein, fish, is caught fresh daily.
I’ve also mastered the art of baking bread, to ensure we’ve always got a fresh loaf on hand, as we can’t just duck to a bakery!
While it’s been a dream to call the island my home for over 10 years, it’s also opened my eyes to the impacts of climate change.
We see rubbish floating in the ocean at times, and see the coral dying as a result of water getting hotter.
To help teach the kids the importance of looking after the environment, we have them assist us with planting countless coral fragments, which can lead to a more robust and resilient coral reef.
And as a family we collect rubbish on Uepi and neighbouring islands.
Though it’s hard yakka juggling running the resort, being a parent and sharing our life on social media @theislandlifeofus, we’re so grateful for our little slice of paradise.
It’s every bit as beautiful as you could imagine!
