Living in Suva

Hello,

My husband and I are moving to Suva in January and will be there for one year. Can anyone give us some advice on finding an apartment, neighborhoods to live in, etc? Anything we should be aware of as we try to settle in? I see there are many apartments listed on FijiTimes online, but the prices range quite a bit and I don't have any ideas about the different areas. We will not have a car.

Many thanks!

It all depends how much you want to pay for rent. Tamavua is regarded as one of the better places to stay but is quite expensive. Nasese or anywhere close to Suva city but I think your best bet is to go into the LJ hooker fiji website and make contact with somebody that handles rentals.I lived in Toorak for a number of years and that was a short walk down to town and a $1.50 taxi ride back up. I enjoyed my time there, many good times and miss it very much somedays. Good luck and I am sure you will enjoy your time there.

When you look at houses you should definately make sure it is secure, this means bars on the windows, solid locks on solid doors etc. You will notice when you arrive that almost all houses have these bars but some are more sturdy than others. breakins are quite common, especially if white people are seen living in the house, as they often have better gadgets.

Check the mesh flyscreens over the windows, if there is no aircon you will definately have the windows open most of the time and you dont want to be swimming in mosquitoes.

Get a place with a water tank if you can, water cuts are common (in some areas more than others, the real estate agent will know (though that doesn't mean he'll tell you!)). our place has a tank that fills up when the water us on and feeds the taps when the water is off.

Hot water is not a given.

Some places have little granny flat rooms attached to the house, often there will be a local family living there and they do household chores such as laundry and housecleaning for a very reasonable rate. They will also be able to watch the house if you are away from home for a few days.

For a decent, partly furnished 1 bedroom flat I would suggest that $100 FJD per week would be about par, though I am not certain as I live in Lautoka. You will pay less for unfurnished.

Check if the neighbours have chickens! You won't escape the barking dogs, learn to love it.

Haha, thanks! Both of you gave some very useful advice. The specifics on housing in Suva sound pretty similar to what you should look for when renting in Caracas, where we are living right now. I guess the only difference is, instead of chickens, you have to deal with loud traffic and car alarms! Thanks again.