Hi there,

I am visiting Tahiti and Bora Bora in December. I have 32,911 CFP Francs (XPF), all in coins (mostly 100XPF and 50XPF coins). The coins weigh 5kg / 11lb, currently worth $432AUD / $339USD.

I will spend this money during our trip (and more!) but I am looking for some efficiencies on how to handle so much coin. My initial thought was that I could change the coins into bills at a bank but apparently in French Polynesia this cannot be done for non-customers (not even for a fee).

In Australia we have gambling machines called poker machines/slot machines. You can feed them a lot of coins, then just "cash out" to receive bills. Can anyone tell me whether these type of machines exist in French Polynesia? Are there gambling casinos there? (I am not a gambler, this is just an idea I had for changing coins).

Friends have suggested simply spending all the coins. Can anyone tell me how much shop keepers, taxi drivers etc. will accept in coins? Is there a limit?

I am also curious to know whether there are any vending machines in French Polynesia e.g. for Coca-Cola or beer or whatever. That would allow me to get rid of some of the smaller value coins.

Perhaps readers have some other innovative ideas on how I could handle this problem?

Thanks for reading.