Sally Tagg
Everyone told them it was definitely the right time to go – that if you’re going to uproot your children and immerse them in a completely different culture on the other side of the world, do it while they’re young.
So that is exactly what former Newshub Live At 6pm presenter Tom McRae and his wife of seven years, Rachel Jackson-Lees, are doing. The Auckland couple is moving their whānau to the Middle East, where Tom has scored a job at the Al Jazeera English news network, based in Qatar.
“When I first told Rachel about the opportunity, she was immediately supportive and said I had to go for it,” Tom tells Woman’s Day.
It’s now or never: Tom and Rachel want their kids to grow up experiencing different cultures.
Rachel is also a journalist – the pair met reporting on the David Bain retrial – so she understood how significant the job offer is and encouraged him from the get-go.
“I’m so proud of Tom and this is also an adventure we can give our kids,” she says. “The unknown doesn’t scare either of us. We are both very optimistic people. We always make it work.”
Tom adds, “We’re incredibly excited about the opportunity and about diving into the unknown. It really didn’t take us long to say, ‘Why not?’ You have to back yourselves that it’ll all work out.”
Tom will miss having a laugh with Samantha Hayes
After ending his 10-year tenure at Three last week, Tom will fly to Doha this month and, two weeks later, Rachel – a breakfast newsreader for NZME radio stations The Hits, ZM, Coast and Radio Hauraki – will follow with their adorable children.
Both kids will have their birthdays in the weeks before they depart, with Leo turning six and Ruby turning four.
Tom smiles, “We’re really lucky that Leo and Ruby are best mates, and really love being with each other and playing together. If there was anything good to come out of lockdown, it’s how close
our kids have become.”
As soon as she arrives, Rachel will start looking for their new home. Accommodation options range from high-rise apartments through to sprawling villas in expat compounds. Qatar has a population of approximately three million people, with two-thirds of those people based in Doha, but only 20% of those are locals and the rest are migrants from around the world.
“We think we’ll get a villa – the kids would struggle with an apartment,” Tom shares. “But for now, they’re just excited about going on a big plane with their own TVs and that when they get there, they’re going to have a pool.”
With Melissa Chan-Green
The couple, both 39, have good friends who have been based in Doha for many years, although Tom is aware that even lots of calls, Google searches and YouTube videos cannot truly prepare them for this adventure.
But neither he nor Rachel is worried for their safety, even though Tom accepted the job before Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was assassinated while reporting from Israel.
With Tom being based in the Doha studios, he won’t be reporting from the frontline – their biggest worry, they say, is coping with 40-degree heat when they arrive.
Future newsreaders Leo and Ruby.
There are cultural differences too. They’re giving up Auckland’s beautiful North Shore beaches to be on the Persian Gulf coastline, where Arab women wear abaya robes. While Rachel is non-Qatari, out of respect, she’ll wear modest clothes that do not reveal her shoulders, with shorts and skirts that are below the knee.
Luckily, neither of the couple is a big fan of pork, a meat source that is not encouraged in the mainly Muslim country. And they have already learned there is only one liquor outlet in the whole country, but that might ease when the Football World Cup is held there in November.
Tom will be on a rolling roster – some weeks, he’ll do breakfast shifts, while others will see him presenting throughout the day or on overnight slots. This makes it harder for Rachel to be able to commit to working.
“Since we’ve had the children, my focus has been to fit around the kids,” she says. “I wanted to raise my children and I’m lucky that, in the radio industry, I’ve been able to have work that lets me do both. But when we move, my focus will be to keep everybody calm and get us settled. Then I might see if there’s a radio job I can do.”
At this point, Tom interrupts to insist that Rachel is being too humble – after all, she’s been nominated for best newsreader at the New Zealand Radio Awards!
As he looks back on 10 years at Newshub, Tom has had many memorable experiences in the field, including the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015, the Pike River Mines disaster, the disappearance of flight MH370 and the Lindt Cafe seige in Sydney in 2014, when he was Three’s Australian correspondent.
“I’ve loved my time at Newshub, but this is an opportunity too good to miss,” he explains.
During our chat at the couple’s Devonport home, Tom and Rachel are starting to pack up, and finding things they want to take to make their new place feel like home – including Ruby’s night light and a map of New Zealand for Leo’s wall so he can remember home.
Rachel notes that she will miss Vogel’s bread the most – well, apart from family. She hopes that all the training they had in keeping in touch with friends and wha-nau during lockdown will help them stay connected. Fortunately, Tom’s job includes annual trips back home.
Holding back the tears on his last shift with Laura Tupou, Mike Puru and Andrew Gourdie.
The family plans to be away for at least three years and possibly up to five. But they’ll have been there less than a year when both Tom and Rachel celebrate their 40th birthdays – his is in January and hers in April.
“The idea of moving still feels a bit surreal at this stage, but I know it will come around quite quickly,” says Tom. “I’m excited to see what this next chapter brings.
“Our children don’t know how lucky they are – that they get to go on such a big adventure at such a young age and learn all about a new culture. Plus, with the proximity to Europe, we hope to take them to places that we could only ever dream of from New Zealand. Hopefully, we’ll experience a white Christmas.”
