About me

Hey, I’m Cartier—a writer, small business owner, wife, and mum of two, navigating life one adventure at a time and occasionally documenting it in words.

Born and raised in Greensborough (a suburb northeast of Melbourne), I spent nearly a decade living abroad in Kenya, England, and Austria before returning home to study journalism at Monash. Since then, I’ve worn many hats—personal trainer, entrepreneur, and café owner—but writing has always been my outlet.

I started Kaihora in 2016 as a travel and lifestyle blog, chronicling my adventures partly for me to look back on but also to help other like-minded travellers and to share my personal recommendations. But life evolves, and so has my writing. These days, I’m balancing motherhood, my home fragrance business Grace + Marie, running Two Sisters Cafe in Geelong with my sister, and embracing the chaos that comes with it all.

Mark Twain once said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” While I’d love to jet off on extravagant overseas trips like I did in my early twenties, that’s not the season of life I’m in right now. But what I’ve learned along the way is that travel doesn’t have to mean a big round-the-world adventure—it can be a staycation, a camping trip, or even just a simple day exploring your own backyard.

This isn’t your typical travel blog. You won’t always find posts about luxury hotels or first-class flights (sometimes it might even be weeks or months in between travel-related posts). Instead, expect honest, raw reflections on everything from my birth experiences and parenthood to mental health and navigating grief. You’ll also find café and book reviews, and a sprinkle of travel guides, tips, and tricks — because while I may not be regularly on the move anymore, the wanderlust is always present (oh and because I have a backlog of topics I’ve been meaning to write about for 5+ years!).