Nadia's family joy: OUR OWN LITTLE PARADISE

THE MASTERCHEF WINNER HAS NO REGRETS ABOUT UPROOTING HER LIFE AND MOVING TO THE COUNTRY

- Nicky Pellegrino

It was love that led Nadia Lim to her new life. If she hadn’t fallen for Carlos Bagrie, then the celebrity foodie might still be leading a very urban existence in the middle of Auckland.

However, 16 years ago, on one of their very first dates, country boy Carlos made it clear that some day he was going back to the land to become a farmer. And now here they are on a beautiful property near Arrowtown in Central Otago, their lives totally transformed.

It may have been Carlos’ dream to begin with, but Nadia couldn’t be happier that it has come to fruition. She shares her husband’s love of the outdoors. In the early days of their relationship, their idea of romance was to disappear together into the middle of nowhere.

“Before we had kids and started a business, when we could take off at the drop of a hat, we used to go camping up at the Karikari Peninsula,” recalls Nadia, 35. “It’s such a beautiful area.”

That became their special place and was where Carlos proposed to the woman he met when they were both students. “My reaction at the time was, ‘Are you sure?’” says Nadia, laughing. “That’s what I said to him and he still teases me about it. But we’d been together for seven years by then, and we knew quite early on that we were compatible and would end up together.”