A winter getaway

We recently returned from a little Winter getaway to Fiji which was a lovely little spur of the moment decision that was affordable and seemed perfect for what we were looking for to recharge our batteries.

I have now been to Fiji 5 times which seems quite ridiculous but 2 of those times where with my family as a kid and 3 times as a grown up over the past 15 years so the trips have been spread out.  Fiji is the kind of place that you absolutely can't wait to get there when you are in Australia and then you absolutely can't wait to come home at the end of your holiday!  The Fijian's are wonderful people, very friendly and polite but their ability to do stuff at the slowest of paces can drive you insane.  "Fiji time" is the the way everything works over there and if you try to rush them they just tend to go slower.

This holiday started off with a tiny annoyance of being given the wrong room, instead of having 2 double beds in the room, we had 1 double and 1 single.  I explained to the porter we had booked a double room and he shrugged and walked off.  10 minutes later he came back with a fold out bed which I told him we didn't want and that we wanted what we had booked which was a room with 2 double beds. I didn't want to have to put up with constant arguments from my kids of who was sleeping in the foldout.  I went to reception to advise them of the mistake and the receptionist who had been extremely friendly to me an hour ago was now rather rude and unhelpful.  She explained there were none available and that we could move into a double room in 2 days.  I told her I was unhappy in a very polite way and went back to our room.  By this stage we were all exhausted so made ourselves comfortable and tried to get some rest.  Within an hour they had called to say they were moving us to a double room.  I'm not sure where this room came from because an hour ago there was none but we threw all our crap back into our bags and moved upstairs to a double room.

The best thing about Fiji is the kids club, of course it takes a day for your kids to warm up to the idea of playing with a bunch of strangers but after that day when they realise there really isn't much else to do they give in and have the time of their lives. Crab and frog racing, dodge ball, island exploring, the disco and musical statues keeps them happy and when they meet other kids that they click with it's a parents dream.  It also helps if those kids parents are nice too because then you can have another couple to hang with and you haven't even had to make an effort to make friends, the kids have done all the hard work for you!

The only thing that you can't control is the weather and unfortunately when it's miserable the whole place is miserable.  There is a lot of reading going on, a lot of hanging in the hotel room and a lot of eating!  Speaking of eating the novelty of the buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner wears off after about the 3rd day and you are just absolutely dying for a ham and salad roll.  Not to mention the coffee! Oh god I could have killed for a decent cup of coffee.  We really are so spoilt in Australia.

The other thing I missed from my normal life was Twitter, I missed commenting on things that amused me or pissed me off and having 20 comments back from my friends laughing with me and bagging people with me.  I missed it so much I started writing tweets I would have sent it if I had my phone so I have documented these tweets below and feel free to comment back on any of them.

Day 1

• The kids r fascinated 2 know what time it is, at home all the time, why? I do not know.
• Fijian people are super friendly, except when you want something from them that they don't want to give you
• If you get pissed off, they just look at you blankly

Day 2

• Things are so much better when its sunny
• The smell of coconut oil is my favourite
• Getting your hair braided is painful, so miss 8 tells me, suck it up I say, you wanted to look like a freak

Day 3

• Kiwis are overtaking this resort
• Wear shoes whilst walking on coral cos that shit hurts
• free soft drinks to kids is like free alcohol to adults, very addictive

Day 4

• Middle aged women who get their hair braided & think it looks good are delusional
• It is very easy to get sick of an all your can eat smorgasbord 
• Why didn't I bring the 5 books @bokkii sent me instead of 3, stupid stupid bitch I am
• Magazines r fucking expensive in Fiji
• I need another drink

Day 5

• Things are so much better when its sunny, yep I know I've already said it but its so true
• Remember to bring Uno and board games next time, if there is a next time

Day 6

• Kids get holiday depression when their new best friends leave *sigh*
• There are a LOT of tattooed people in this world
• I'm going into tattoo removal when I get home

Day 7

• Ok I have really had enuf of this fucking buffet
• Fijian souvenirs are the biggest rip off known to man
• No I don't want to spend $20 on a Marie Claire magazine from April
• The kids are peeing red lemonade

Day 8

• OMG is this a cyclone?
• Fuck I just wanna come home
• What do you mean I have to get up at 3.30am to go the airport?
• Waaaaaaaaa, call the wambulance

So there you have it, the holiday in a tweetshell.  To be honest, it was very relaxing and worth the trip but I think 5 times to Fiji is this girls limit and we have now decided to save for the ultimate holiday in a few years the big on US of A! 

Love ya guts

Letter to my 16 year old self.

So a lovely blogger I follow on twitter told me I should write a letter to my 16 year old self. She told me it makes you think about what you've learned and what you still need to learn so I thought, yep gonna to do, so here it is.

A much younger you totally airbrushed!

Dear Katrina, yep that's your birth name, yes you hate it but don't worry, as soon as you leave school you call yourself Katie and that will stick pretty well. The only people that call you Katrina are Banks and Drs! Thank god!

So the first thing you need to know is that your boyfriend that you lost your virginity to is screwing your best friend.  Yep sorry for the bad news and yep your heart is going to be broken into tiny little pieces but you will get over it because he is an arsehole anyway so it's time to move on.

The thing is and unfortunately it's too late to stop you, but you don't need to sleep with loads of men to prove that you deserve a faithful man.  I know it's fun and makes you feel good for a night but it will not make a man fall in love with you if he is not the right one.  You will go slightly crazy for a few years and you will meet heaps of wonderful men but you shouldn't rush into things so quickly.  You will eventually learn this in a few years time.

So you travel to Europe and you have an absolute blast, you drink lots of Cider, you eat lots of carbs and you put on 15 kilos in 2 years! Whoopsie.  It's an amazing trip and you meet wonderful people but you really should take more time to see the history of Europe because you will regret this later in life.  At 19 years old it's hard to imagine appreciating history but you hopefully will get the chance to go back and do it all over again without gaining the 15 kilos when your retired. (fingers crossed)

When you return home you are slightly lost and you have a big debt.  Luckily you are daddy's girl and he lets you pay him off at $50 bucks a week for awhile until he gets sick of it and says not to worry anymore.  What an amazing man.

So you are still lost and at this time you start wishing you had of paid more attention at school and maybe tried to go to Uni and be a journalist. Unfortunately you get sidetracked by another charismatic man and this time you get into some crazy shit, Ecstasy, Speed, lots of bad stuff that takes over your life for awhile and makes you make silly decisions like get engaged to this charismatic man at the age of 24!  Now I'm not sure what you were thinking cos he breaks your heart at least 3 times before you get engaged but I guess you think he is the one for some fucked up reason.  Thank god you wake up one day and realise he is not the one and you move on which is a awesome.  Hallelujah

At this stage in your life you need a change and you get offered a great position at the casino opening in Sydney and you jump at the chance for a new opportunity and a new town.  Sydney is crazy and you love it.  You meet some gorgeous gay men and you fall in love many times over with lots of straight men but this time you have better relationships and you are maturing.  You do go slightly crazy with the drug scene here again but you are always in control and you know when to stop and you make better decisions. You decide the Casino life is not for you and you take a redundancy package which you squander in 6 months.  How I wish you had of invested it but you had no clue about finances and you live week to week. 

You get an amazing opportunity for a job at the Australian Stock Exchange and here is where your career really takes off.  You have some weird confidence in this job and you are successful and you buy some fabulous power suits and amazing shoes.  Your crazy brown curly hair is dyed blonde and you feel like you have really hit your stride.  Having this confidence in your life brings great things and it is now you meet your future hubby.  He is not the normal type of guy you go out with but look what that has done for you in the past, nothing but heart ache!  You need to take it slowly and not rush into it but of course you can't.  You are on the fast track to marrige and babies and nothing is going to stop you. 

I wish I could tell you that everything goes smoothly from here but nothing in life ever goes completely bump free. You will have 2 gorgeous kids, eventually, after lots of heartache and you will struggle a little bit financially while the kids are babies but you will get by. You will be shocked after a few years about how unfulfilled you fill and you don't absolutely LOVE motherhood. You become lost and sad at times and it's hard to understand why. Don't worry though because you are a strong women with great friends and you will survive these ups and downs as best you can. I'm not sure how your story continues but I know you will go forward drinking lots of vodka & Margarita's, enjoying your friends & family, stumbling every day with the parenting thing and just doing the best you can because you are a seriously top chick! To finish off I would like to tell you some things that you will be happy about;


1. The hair straightener is invented and you will never be able to live without it again.
2. You will never lose your sense of humour and crazy personality and this will get you through some hard times.
3. Your kids are healthy, happy little buggars who drive you insane but also keep you entertained on a daily basis
4. You discover that alcohol makes everything better after 5pm
5. You get to go on some good holidays and drink exotic cocktails.
6. Your friends are the best thing you could ever ask for!
7. Getting old might be scary but it's only getting you closer to retirement & that Twitter Road trip you keep talking about!

BRING IT ON BITCHES!!