NZ was definitly great times, but landing on Fiji was a kind of relief since I picked up a flu in our last days in the Land of the long white Cloud. We had a couple of relax-days without doing much, having a few surfs on the beachbreaks and visiting town and the local markets.
Last time I was in Fiji we stayed on this tiny Island south of Viti Levu and surfed Frigates every day, a wave I really liked back then. It´s a Open-Ocean Lefthand Reefbreak that packs a punch and there is no land as close as 12 ks, so you really feel that you´re in the middle of the Ocean.
We went there this time again, since it´s a beautiful little Island, staying with the local family having the freshest food (Fish, Coconut, Veggies) every day, so you couldn´t ask for more. The left turned on from Day 1 and so it happened that we never saw it under 6ft. And I had it to myself every single day. That, actually was a bit funny feeling, knowing that the reef drops down straight away to sheer dark blue sea and paddling out there alone in the middle of the ocean. Also, you never see the sets coming, because they come out of such deep water, so every now and then you´d get a teahupoo-shaped freak set on the head. The wave itself is so vicious that I broke every board except one, which was a bit of a bummer, but hey in the end it´s all fun&games. When we discovered that the swell of the year is about to hit Fiji, we had a last look at Frigates, which had turned into a 12ft. No-Back below sea-level monster and was pretty much unsurfable but awesome to watch. Off we were to Cloudbreak, hearing that Kelly and all the Hawaiian Big Wave Crew rocked up for the Swell...
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