Nanuku Auberge Resort Fiji general manager, Mark Stanford has advised while his resort is “a bit of a mess right now” with the resort’s gardens and beachfront bearing the brunt of TC Winston over the weekend, the resort has not suffered structural damage and is aiming to be ready to resume full operations as early as 01 March 2016.
Mr Stanford said his first inspection of the resort on Sunday morning with his engineering team revealed extensive damage to the resort’s foreshore by huge wind-driven waves and several trees had been uprooted and general foliage and plants flattened.
The bure at the resort’s nearby private airstrip was also damaged in the storm
“But apart from some bamboo fencing on the resort, it appears our club house and villas have all escaped structural damage which makes us very lucky indeed,” Mr Stanford said.
Having been given advance notice by the Fijian government’s meteorological services, Mr Stanford and his well-rehearsed management team took swift action to evacuate guests and ensure all staff were safely with their families before putting the resort under protective wraps as the cyclone bore down on the Pacific Harbour region.
“We are in already in full clean-up mode and we doing all in our power to hopefully be ready to accept our guests and resume full service by 01 March,” Mr Stanford said.
Mr Stanford cautioned that while his team is pulling out all the stops, several factors still need to be taken into account.
“Our staffing levels have been impacted with many of our team having gone home to be with their families and locally sourced supplies will definitely be affected in the short term,” he said.
“Most importantly of all, we need to ensure we are able to operate in a completely safe and comfortable environment.
‘While this was cyclone was one of the biggest, if not the biggest to ever hit Fiji, the Fijian people are extremely resilient and very used to this type of situation – and no more so than at Nanuku where our staff are once again demonstrating their wonderful spirit in the face of adversary.”
For more information visit http://nanuku.aubergeresorts.com.
