Life’s a barge while friends holiday in Fiji

Nelson’s Meg Parfitt is stuck at sea in Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour while her three best mates live it up in Fiji.

The wind howls down the phone line. The 19-year-old hides from the elements inside a tent floating on a barge with artificial turf, a generator and a port-a-loo. Her pillow has been a casualty of the gusts, snatched away into the water.

At least it has stopped raining. For now.

‘‘I mean I’m only two days in,’’ Parfitt said on Tuesday.

As the winners of NZ’s Best Best Mate by Vodafone Mates competition run by The Edge radio station, Parfitt ’’drew the short straw’’ to live rough on the barge.

She has little else to do but watch the Snapchats from her friends Jayden Walker, Jesse White and Kirsty Fern in Fiji.

She is trying to stay positive, despite knowing her friends are working on their tans, adventuring and eating anything other than the dehydrated food found on Parfitt’s small floating island.

Already she craves a home cooked meal and a coffee.

The longer Parfitt sticks it out, the longer her friends can soak up their island vacation for a maximum of six days.

‘‘I want to do the best I can for them so they have an amazing trip because at the end of the day that’s what the competition is all about. It’s about what you would do for your mates and I would do almost anything for them.’’

Parfitt has so far endured having cockroaches poured over her face for a minute and eating a hot chili to win extra prizes for her friends. ’’They do owe me big time.’’

The entire ordeal is streamed live, which Parfitt said was ‘‘kind of weird’’. ‘‘I talk to myself. I’m a bit weird. I potter around and I do little things and then I remember that I’m on camera all the time and there’s people watching me and it’s really funny. It’s a little bit embarrassing but I’m starting to get used to it.’’