The Broken Nose Story

After a particularly cold, winter weekend spent poaching pears in vanilla and baking vanilla meringues, Fiona struck on the idea of growing vanilla. She and Matt had been considering a change of pace and a move back to Australia - it all seemed to fall into place. So began several years of research into how and where to grow vanilla in Australia.

In 2006, one week before cyclone Larry hit them square on the nose, Fiona and Matt purchased their five-hectare property in a lush valley one hour south of Cairns under Queensland’s highest peak, Mt Bartle Frere, and its offshoot, Broken Nose. This was to become Broken Nose Vanilla.

They bring a mix of skills and experience to the business: Matt started his working life in the hospitality trade but soon gravitated back to university and continues to work half of the year as a professor of anthropology, specialising in Japanese social history and popular culture. Fiona first worked as a flight attendant, retrained in Japan as a landscape gardener and, until moving to Far North Queensland, ran her own business in Japanese landscape design and garden construction.

A love of people and good food, as well as respect for the nurturing qualities of the natural environment, drives them to produce sustainable high quality food. Their environmental and ethical charter based on the principles of sustainability guides not only the way they produce vanilla, but also the way they do business.

Living in Australia’s wettest town presents its challenges, although the vanilla thrives on the 4-6-metre per year rainfall and high humidity of the wet tropics.

While there is time for a leisurely chat at the local store or a cool beer with cane-farming neighbours overlooking the stunning view, life is never dull – both Fiona and Matt balance off-farm jobs with their burgeoning business.

Every day is a learning experience - sweetened  by the pervasive, distinctive aroma of pure vanilla.