Vanimo Surf Lodge PNG – fully revamped, and the waves have been firing

From manager Dave: Well coming back into an operational state after Covid lockdowns proved to be an onerous task in more ways than one.

After having shipped up about $50K in lodge improved infrastructure and building material which were we hoping to complete construction projects in the off-seasons we had to park all our projects and concentrate on surviving the ever draining funds we had left from our last season in 2019-20.

Our off-season costs comprised of never ending financial returns and associated accounting fees along with the lodge grounds maintenance, truck and generators maintenance.

Our poor staff had to find other jobs, and any advertising was parked.

We struggled through until October 2022 without the need for asking for investor funds to keep us going and hopefully open in 2022-23 season November-April which we achieved.

We sent up a couple of maintenance teams comprising of builders, plumbers and electricians from Oz and most of the works were luckily completed in October 2022.

Another hurdle we had to overcome was getting a Work Visa approved for our manager Jake and this relatively simple task you might imagine took 6 months and approx. $6000 but we got there and Jake was able to return to the lodge as a trainer in late November 2022. In the opening weeks of November our interim trainee manager Jeffrey, a talented local lad, jumped at the opportunity to manage the lodge by himself and with relatively low bookings Jeffrey was a success.

The surf to date this season has been non-stop swell and favourable winds for both the Right or Left breaks.

With a limited number of guests at the lodge maximum 16 but averaging 6 per day there have been plenty of waves for everyone and most surfers are pretty well exhausted by dusk every day. There is a good 12 hour window for surfing and tides make a minimal difference to where you surf at Lido.

The Lido village were also extremely pleased to see us re-open as we employ local staff and buy local produce and building materials.

Anyhow let the waves do the talking as they have been excellent!

Lukim Yu !

 - Regards, Dave Ryan - manager Vanimo Surf Lodge

Sydney Office: +61 411 823 500

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