Our Life in the Tropics

Living the dream in Fiji

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Taste Fiji Cafe

Before you start pining for your Auckland cafes and their delectable menu’s (Or your country’s equivalent) head to ‘Taste Fiji’ in Martintar. The Chef here, Lee Acreman, has created an oasis for the fresh salad and cafe-culture hungry expats and locals.  

All the cuisine shows off the local produce, commonly featuring pineapple, papaya or coconut. The menu has a range of breakfast items from pancakes to eggs benedict and lunch items like the tasty Ota Fern or green Papaya salad. The counter is always full of delicious sweets, the Gluten free brownie being my favourite and the chocolate filled donut Jono’s.  Prices are very reasonable and affordable and the staff are lovely.

The cafe turns into an evening destination on Friday nights when it extends it’s offerings to include a three course dinner. You can make sure you don’t miss out on the latest happenings at Taste by befriending them on Facebook.

It’s not far from the airport if you have a bit of layover time. When our friends are heading back to NZ, we occasionally take them here after they check in for their flight and get them back in time to depart.

The aircon is always cranking so go and check out Taste Fiji at Lot 1 Cawa Road, Martintar, Nadi. They’re open 6:30am - 6:00pm Monday to Sunday. (Later on Fridays)

Taste Fiji website.

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Nadi Bay Herbs

You’ll begin to notice that the Fresh herbs and range of lettuce on offer at the supermarkets or markets is a bit limited. Yes, they both have lettuce, but there’s often only one type and it always seems a bit wilted. They don’t have fridges at the markets.  

I often buy coriander or even mint at the markets but only if I’m going to use it that day. 

Introducing: Nadi Bay herbs. 

Nadi Bay Herbs is situated near the airport on Sanasana Road off Naisoso Road. Be prepared for a dirt road and keep making your way until you come to a sign for Nadi Bay Herbs on your right. 

The farmers have a delicious range of goods like Rocket (Roqutte), mesculine mixes, Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Lemongrass, mint, Dill and many more. There is no shop as such but wait nicely outside the packing room and someone will ask you what you would like. 

The greens and herbs are incredible and certainly well priced.  Nadi Bay Herbs is a weekly if not twice weekly visit for me. 

Vinaka!

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Bula First things first you'll need a supermarket for the essentials, Fresh Fruit and Veges and a Butcher. The best supermarket in Nadi (in my opinion) is the New World IGA Supermarket  by the Nadi Airport roundabout. Coming from Nadi town, instead of turning left to go to the airport, drive straight through the roundabout and take the first left. This supermarket supplies pretty much anything you need, including a lot of international brands so you can get some home comforts. The prices are reasonable for most things but as expected a few things are quite expensive. It stocks a lot of organic goods as well as Gluten free foods (not bread), health foods such as chia seeds and a lot of baking ingredients. Needless to say I was very happy to find this supermarket. Other supermarkets in Nadi are good too but this one tops it. My favourite find was Virgin Coconut oil for around FJD8.00.

In this same complex is Courts mega. This is where I first learnt that Fiji is quite old school and formal when purchasing items. They will create an invoice for you and take a wee while to officiate the sale of a drying rack. Once you've filled in your name and address, taken the invoice to the cashier, paid for it and then had the security guard at the door sign it off, you're free to take your item. They did carry it out to my car though.

Namaka markets is the place to go for your Fruit and Veges. If you're living in Denarau as we do, this is further to go than Nadi markets but worth it. The market seems cleaner, brighter and fresher than its counterparts in Nadi. You can get a large range of fruit and veges from there as well as a few herbs such as mint and coriander.  The lovely ladies outside the market do beautiful flowers too. 

For your meats, South Pacific Butchering Company is the destination. This is the butcher that supplies most of the hotels and resorts in Denarau and in the islands. It has a fantastic range of meats as well as a large range of condiments and even pizzas. It is a very popular little spot and the staff are very friendly.  Price wise: Chicken breasts are around FJD29.90/kilo and a Sirloin steak is around FJD42.90/kilo. SPBC is at the beginning of Denarau Road, so hard to miss.

These are my shopping spots! 

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It’s not everyday that you get the opportunity to move to Fiji. But my husband and I did. Henceforth my blog on living in Fiji.

Jono is the structural engineer on a major resort and housing development in the islands. His company needed him to be “onsite” so over we came. It was a reasonably quick decision as we were both ready for a little change and this sounded perfect. Not too far from home (New Zealand), nice and warm all year round and a slower pace of life. I will not be working (for now) so was looking forward to having much more time to exercise, bake and do things I never had time for at home.

We rented out our house, put most of our earthly goods in storage, got travel insurance, prepared ourselves for “Fiji time” and said our goodbyes. We moved over in January 2015 and at this stage think we will stay at least a year but probably more.

I’m starting this blog to help others who are considering moving to Fiji with some advice and tips (It’s what I sought before we moved here), but also just for tourists heading to the tropics.

Enjoy!