The Biggest Storm In Fiji History   

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Well the adventure to Fiji started before even landing.  The pilot comes on the microphone to announce that we were about to land, however, if we hear the engines rev up again it is nothing to worry about.  He stated that if the wind became too strong he would take off and land from a different alternate direction.  Not the kind of news anyone wants to hear just before landing. LOL.  Apparently, a cyclone was on its way.  When the plane was coming in I looked out the window, just before touching down, it felt like we were coming in slightly sideways.  Well, the pilot was excellent and landed the plane as smoothly as was possible. 

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After getting my bags I took a taxi to my hotel which was very close to the airport and located on the beach.  After getting checked in and dropping off my bags, I took a short walk on the beach.  There was hardly a soul to be seen. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Returning to the hotel, I enjoyed a lovely dinner and then observed the

management boarding up the windows.  I went upstairs to my room and

sent an email to all my family and friends to let them know that I may not be

able to communicate with them for a few days due to Cyclone Winston

arriving shortly … category 5 Cyclone! 

Not too long after I sent my messages, internet failed as did the power.  The hotel put on their generator, allowing some light in the rooms, and having a television in their main dining area.  When I proceeded down the stairs, most of the guests were sitting in the dining area watching the news and weather update to the storm.  The news was all about the pending storm. 

After about an hour, I returned to my room to get some rest.  The winds were just starting to pick up.  Some time through the night, I woke up to the howling of the wind and turned on the lamp.  The sliding deck to the door was rattling loudly and felt like it was about to fly through the room.  It took quite some time for me to fall asleep, but finally did. 

The next morning, I woke up and went into the bathroom to find the floor full of water and leaves everywhere.  After breakfast. I took a walk into the neighbourhood and saw the devastation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stopped in a local market to buy some water and as usual check out the chocolate bars to see what kinds they have and if I should buy one.  Seeing that it would cost me $7.50 US dollars for one bar, I opted to go without … guess I really didn’t want one LOL.  After walking about 4 blocks it started to downpour again and I ran back to the hotel.   At lunch, hunger was

setting in and after going downstairs found that their kitchen was not

operational.  The front desk informed me of a restaurant a few blocks

away.  The rain had stopped and I headed out to get something to eat. 

At the restaurant, they had minimal choices due to the lack of electricity

and were cooking specific meals on a barbecue.  While I was eating. I

was talking to some locals sitting at a nearby table about how the

cyclone and they indicated that they heard it was turning around coming

back over Fiji again.  Just about finished eating, it started to downpour

again.   I quickly finished eating and ran 3 blocks back to the hotel …

needless to say, I got soaked, but my phone survived. 

The next day, I walked over 15km around the community of Nadi, to see

how things were.  There were branches and leaves all over the place,

trees down, power lines leaning over, and some trees landed on homes

and businesses. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stopped in a local store and bought some juice to continue walking. 

I was going to head back to the hotel a different way by cutting through a couple communities, then walk back up the beach to the hotel.  When I was going through one community, there were three men and a young lady sitting on their porch.  As I walked by, they said hello and I responded the same.  They invited me to come over to their home and offered me a seat.  We talked about an hour and they told me about the damage in their area and, also that they had some damage but had repaired it.  The father talked about his community, the Cyclone and how it has affected all of Fiji … especially northern part and some history of the area.  After a little while I indicated I had to return to my hotel.  The father asked me which way I was heading and I informed him I was going to the beach then back up.  He told me that it was not wise to go down that road, that it was a dangerous area.  He suggested a different road for me to take, which I did.  They were such nice people and so welcoming even with all the devastation.   On my walk back to the hotel I ran into so many people, smiling and saying, “Ola!” such a wonderful community … you would never know by their attitude that they were hit by such an awful storm.

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The next couple of days were very sunny and temperatures at 33 degrees.  Things were getting back to some form of routine.  Power was back, internet was working again and the airport was open.  During the sunny days, I took advantage of the beaches and walked to each end.  In the future I will have to return to Fiji to see other parts of the island as it was not possible to travel around on this trip.