Hawke's Bay musician Connan Mockasin and family stranded in 'best place to be in the world'

Hawke's Bay musician Connan Mockasin and his family are stranded in paradise after travelling from Japan to visit family before the Covid 19 lockdown.

Mockasin and wife Hiromi Oshima, along with their daughter, were left stranded in Te Awanga after the nationwide lockdown commenced.

Originally from Hawke's Bay, Mockasin travels from his Tokyo apartment to his home region once a year to visit his parents. He has built an international reputation in the past decade as a musician, composer and producer.

Oshima said although they are enjoying their stay in the Bay, it has been tricky being away from Japan for so long.

"We come to Hawke's Bay every year, normally around Christmas time, and this year arrived to visit his parents in January," she said.

"We were going to be travelling back in mid-March, but ended up having to stay way longer than I expected and cancelled our flights because of Covid-19."

Oshima added: "But our 19-month-year-old daughter gets to hang out with her grandparents a whole lot more, which has been great."

Mockasin, a former Havelock North intermediate school pupil, has collaborated with James Blake, MGMT and a member of Fleetwood Mac, as well as touring with Radiohead.

Connan Mockasin and wife Hiromi Oshima have passed the time by walking and surfing in recent days. Photo / Warren Buckland

But Oshima said long walks, gardening and now surfing have been top of their family to-do list during lockdown.

"We've been out walking every day and have been surfing the last couple of days as we're right down at the beach.

"We're right by the wineries so can walk along there and look at cows, sheep and so on, as my daughter loves animals.

"Our apartment in Tokyo is small, so it's nice to have so much outdoor space and a big yard to do outdoor activities in to pass the days."

The family were planning on heading home to Japan for Oshima's father's 70th birthday.

"We are so bummed to have missed it, but there's no other place we'd rather be in lockdown than Te Awanga, and New Zealand as a whole, even if Con wasn't from here," she said.

"Jacinda [Ardern] did an amazing job in reacting right away and we feel safe and looked after because of that."

Oshima added: "We will head back when we can as our apartment is sitting empty, but this is the best place to be in the world."