Lachie and I planned a little 2 day de-tour via Fiji on the way home from Worlds. We travel a lot, but hardly ever actually stop and have a break. Usually our trips are filled with competing, training and coaching, after which we rush home to our academy and work.

We arrived in Fiji early in the morning and checked in to a beautiful Hilton resort on a picturesque beach in Nadi. We lazed around, swam, walked around and of course ate way too much. The next day we booked a day trip to an tiny deserted island, where we relaxed in the sun, listened to the locals entertain us with their subpar singing, ate coconuts and snorkelled on the reef in the warm ocean. It was a stunning day and it felt great to finally unwind, even just for a day.

At night we got ready to go out for dinner on the marina. It was so nice to enjoy each others company on such a warm and breezy night. I ordered a mud crab, but after a long wait the staff advised that they run out of it and I settled for a seafood hot pot. It consisted of blobs of cream, some sort of seafood chunks, mashed potato and garnished with more cream and cheese slopped on top. It was comparable to aeroplane food, but all we could do was to laugh about it and had a frozen mojito to save the day.

We walked home under the breezy starry night, we prayed that no coconuts would fall down from the palm trees and kill us that night. Alas, we survived to tell the tale.  We de-toured via the beach and found a quiet spot with no other soul in sight. Without going into too much detail, that’s where Lachie asked me to marry him. It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life and I’m beyond happy to be his fiancé.

The next day we woke up smiling, grabbed a coffee, played a round of mini golf with a beer in hand where naturally Lachie smashed my score by a mile. We also tried to find some giant millipedes (and failed) and soaked up the last bit of sun before our flight home.

What about the ring you ask? Since my jiu jitsu fingers resemble that of an arthritic witch, and nothing generic actually fits, we decided to get one made when we got home. We did choose a gorgeous interim ring that will remind me of Fiji and this happy moment forever and I love it so much that I can’t stop looking at it.

Even though 3 weeks have passed now I’m still bursting with giant bubbles of happy and I’m excited that Lachie decided it was a good idea to be stuck with me forever. I can’t wait to be his awful wedded wifey.