We have been incredibly fortunate to land this house sitting gig in Fiji. We are on the southern coast or Coral Coast, of Viti Levu, the largest of the Fiji islands. It is allowing us to get a taste of living in Fiji, not the expat Fiji, but just the normal day to day Fiji. I thought I would share some of the daily issues and routines of living here.
Utilities here are a bit different than we are accustomed to. The region we are in on the island utilizes a slightly different approach to billing for electricity. It works similar to prepaid cell phones. You go in to an agent and prepurchase your electricity.
The other change of pace for us is the water supply. Our water is rain water collected off the roof of the house.
The single thing I am enjoying most is having some yard work to do. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate cutting the grass but I do enjoy getting back to work with a machete and a saw, trimming trees and harvesting bananas.
Our weekly trips into town are quite an adventure as well. The bus ride takes between 45 and 65 minutes, depending on the volume of school children that we pick up. It is entertaining, and they pick us up and drop us off right at the gate to the property. As we don’t have a lot of other tasks on our agenda I rather look forward to our shopping days.
Other than birds, there is not a lot of wildlife. After dark the lawn becomes a bit of a gathering place for hermit crabs and frogs. Oh, and the bats. Big bloody bats. Watching them swoop about just as it is getting dark is an entertaining activity.
We have settled in nicely and are enjoying our South Pacific lifestyle.
Peter, This is AWESOME! I had no idea you were doing this, what a courageous decision to go against all (or almost all) of what our society has drilled into us. I’m so pleased for you. I’ll keep a watch now that I know about your blog. If your travels ever bring you to BC, you have a home. Warm regards, Jim
Thank you Jim.
Beautiful…what an adventure…
Hello, I have a website about land hermit crab species.
http://www.tonycoenobita.com/species_eng.htm
Can I use your picture on my website?
If it is ok, I will put your name on the pictures.
Absolutely. Feel free to use the images. That would be great if you could give me the photo credit. Thank you for asking.
Thank you.
I posted your picture in here, this hermit crab is coenobita spinosus.
http://www.tonycoenobita.com/coenobita_spinosus_2016_eng.htm
Can you let me know which place you saw this hermit crab? I am planing to go to Fiji to look at this species. As I will not stay very long, if I know which place can see this hermit crab, I will plan one day to go there.
I photographed this one about 30 metres up a hill 400 metres east of the village of Navutulevu on the Coral Coast.