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.