Landing in Fiji

We left our Waikiki hotel room at 5am yesterday and after a brief layover in Samoa arrived safely in Nadi, Fiji – 3 boys, 3 bags and 7 surfboards all-intact minus the nose of one of my surfboards. Once through customs we were greeted by a lady from our hotel and driven to our accommodation down the diesel clogged and pot hole cover roads of the green Fijian countryside. Dex and Mike sat crammed in the back of the VW van with our gear and I rode shotgun on the left hand side with my camera out the window filming the many people and colourful hand painted advertisements that littered the shop fronts and the sides of the road. All of us giggled with excitement as we bounced along to the grind of the engine and the smell of burning sugar cane in the distance.

Upon arrival at our hotel we squeezed out of our ride and began to unload our bags. Our hotel is one part hostel, one part Malibu beach house and one part bed and breakfast. It is run by a kind lady named Moma and a cast of supporting characters who fill in as needed – our driver also proved to be an excellent chef and whipped us up some sweet and sour chicken with rice at our request.

Over dinner, which included a beautiful sunset and a few stubby bottles of FIJI Gold Beer we were joined by a surfboat operator named Tom. Tom told us that a bump was expected to hit and agreed to take us surfing on his boat the next morning. After Tom left Mike muttered to all of us, “I hope he doesn’t take us to fuckin’ Cloudbreak.”