College basketball tour to Fiji

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 45, 28 April 1987, Page 13

College basketball tour to Fiji

Having recently returned from their trip to Fiji the Ruapehu College Girls Basketball team have compiled this report. DAILY DIARY Friday 10 April 1987 Our departure day dawned with everyone arriving at Pinetree Motors by 1.45am. The bus was due in at 2am, but arrived about 2.30. It had a broken front passenger window, needless to say that the remainder of the trip to Auckland was a cold and very slow trip, arriving at the Airport at about 1 1.15am. Our three hour flight to Nadi was uneventful with no one having problems. We arrived at the beautiful Tanoa Hotel at 6pm to enjoy a swim in the hotel pool, naturally to cool down — a wise choice as the heat was unbearable.

Saturday 11 April 1987 With one day on the western side of the island a shopping trip to the largest city — Lautoka was arranged where we found things very cheap. A Basketball game was organised against the Lautoka ladies team, but unfortunately the game was called off due to the weather. Later that evening we experienced a Fijian Meke — a traditional Fijian ceremonial dance show. Sunday 12 April 1987 An early start found us all boarding the Island Ferry from the Regency complex — the biggest hotel in Nadi. The Ferry called at Mana, Club Naitasi and then Plantation — 'Here we come'! Kenny, a friend of Mrs Hibbard's was there to greet us. It certainly was a lovely Island, with lots for us to do Monday 13 April The day dawned another lovely but hot day, however

we made the most of the very relaxed way of life. Tuesday 14 April Our accommodation on the Island was a dormitory of 17 beds with our own facilities, very spacious and once our fans were working properly (we worked it out that No. I was for fast and No. 5 was slow) and with a mosquito coil going, life wasn't so bad. The group were invited to another complex just down from ours called Musket Cove (managed by a New Zealander). A much cheaper place. Wednesday 15 April Day dawned to find our dream had now come to an end, and MJ played some funny games as she had suffered from the Fiji tummy bug and a little sunstroke. After the nurse examined her it was agreed that we fly MJ, Mrs Brown and Sue Hardwidge to Suva, taking them only a couple of hours

compared to our 8 hour ferry/bus trip. The remainder of the group were very fortunate to have called in to the flashest hotel complex on the Island — the Hyatt Hotel — what a place!! Huge and very, very expensive — at least we can say "been there - done that", even if it was only for 10 minutes or so. We arrived at Tropic Towers to find MJ much improved and Mrs Brown relieved to see us. Thursday 16 April Our only full day of shopping because of the Easter Weekend holiday, everyone was up with the birds to make the most of the bargains, so we were too early for the craft market. The basketball tournament was on our doorstep, and it was at this stage that Mrs Hibbard had chosen Tania Hibbard to Captain the team. Friday 17, Saturday 18, Sunday 19 and Monday 20 April Thursday night Mum and I attended the Coaches Meeting. There were 22 mens and 12 womens teams competing with three ladies and one mens team from New Zealand and a mens and womens team from Nauru Island. The draw was arranged on the same lines as a tennis draw, giving all teams 4 games each in the section play-off. Our first game was against the Latter Day Saints College Team, so we started the tournament off on a par. We ended up giving them a good game and beat them 27-2 1 . The player of the match award went to Melissa and myself. The next game wasn't too good, as it was against a very experienced team who ended up playing in the semi finals. The game score was 47-21 to them — a fine