O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat

One of the best things about being an amateur photographer on the Gold Coast is that our tourism board Visit Gold Coast is so active in promoting our beautiful city and they have tapped into the photography and Instagram scene here and this means we get invited to amazing places to take photos!

Recently I was invited to go up to O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat with a group of other photographers and it truly was an amazing day.  To have a magnificent rainforest so close to the beach is such a bonus for our community and for the people that love to explore and hike.

Our day started at the Canugra Valley Vineyards for some wine tasting and picnic eating and to say the baskets were more than enough for 2 people is an understatement!  Seriously amazing food and wine to be devoured..

My first try at a flat lay!  

Canugra Valley Vineyards is located about 10 minutes from Canugra on the way up to O'Reilly's and is a gorgeous venue for wine tasting, lunch or even a wedding.  The staff are all so friendly and have so much information regarding the beautiful wines they produce.  I am not a wine drinker but have to admit I did enjoy their red wine and would definitely indulge in it more!

One of the beautiful wines at Canungra Valley Vineyard

One of the grapes O'Reillys grow

After we explored the yards at the Vineyard we all piled onto the buses and began our journey up the mountain to O'Reilly's.  I have made this journey a few times now and I would definitely recommend taking a travel sickness tablet before you go as the road is probably one of the windiest roads you will ever travel on and it does take about 45 minutes to arrive to the location.  Once there though you forget all things travel sickness and immerse yourself in all that O'Reilly's has to offer. 

Our first stop is to the famous Bird show to see my favourite flying creatures whom I have fallen in love with many times before.  This time I was lucky enough to hold the Snow Owl and I fell in love all over again! The birds at O'Reilly's have been rescued from one thing or another and live an amazing life with their keepers as they are not able to be returned to the wild due to injury.

My absolute favourite bird.

The amazing resident Eagle at O'Reilly's

Close up of the Snow Owl

After the bird show we were piled onto another 4 wheel drive bus and driven to a beautiful spot not far from O'Reilly's called Luke's Bluff.  This part of the location has scattered properties on it that house members of the O'Reilly's family and also some pretty friendly cows!  As you drive down a very steep hill through some bush land you come to an gorgeous part of the area which looks over the stunning valley, countryside and rainforest below.

Photographers taking over Luke's Bluff with views for days

One of the best things about Luke's Bluff is learning the amazing history of the O'Reilly's family which we were told by our guide, a lovely Scottish Lass telling us an Australian story about how the family came to buy the land at O'Reilly's. We were also spoilt with some home made Damper and hot Billy tea which came in handy as it was very cold up on the mountain and we were dressed in Summer clothes!

The amazing home made damper which we had toasted over the fire with home made jam - YUM

We spent some time here taking it all in, setting up photos and braving the cold and then it was time to get back on the bus and back to O'Reilly's to tackle the Treetop walk.  The Treetop walk is an 800 metre walk which takes you over 9 Suspension bridges that can get to 16 metres above ground.  It's a cute little walk which gets you back to nature and has an awesome climb that takes you 30 metres above ground in a huge Fig tree.  Definitely something fun to do with the smaller kids who may not be able to do the longer hikes.

One of the suspension bridges along the Treetop walk with Marnie posing for us!

After we got back to the resort out guide went to get some food to feed the many birds around the area who came flocking around us without a shy bone in their bodies!  Such a wonderful experience.

Akiko, Larisa and our guide with the friendly birds

After a little rest it was time to go to Moran Falls for sunset and champagne.  The weather had been quite dreary and cold all day but as the bus arrived to take us we noticed the clouds clearing and we got a little bit excited about the prospect of a nice sunset.  It only takes 10 minutes to drive to Moran Falls but you can actually hike here if you like and it is a short work at 4.6km.  Hiking back is obviously a little harder and definitely not recommended at night!  Once we arrived to the location 20 photographers piled out of the bus and started running to the falls to try and find a great spot, the sky was lighting up and we were all excited.  Moran Falls is a simply stunning location to capture the sunrise as it looks down to an amazing valley and when the sunset pops there really is no words to describe what you are witnessing!

Sunset at Moran Falls

Just had to share 2 cos it was soo good!

So after witnessing this incredible sunset at an beautiful location we walked back up to the look out to be greeted with champagne and the aftermath of the sunset and were entertained with the story of the famous Stinson plane crash that happened back in 1937.  It is an incredible story and you can read it here:http://www.visitscenicrim.com.au/in-the-beginning/very-famous-locals/bernard-oreilly-family/

As darkness settled in we climbed back onto the bus all very weary and made our way back up to the resort to have dinner.  O'Reilly's has a lovely restaurant with a private dining room that fits more than 20 people and the food is delicious.  Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take photos of the main course as we all dug in very quickly, but I did capture this one of Dessert just before we all devoured them!!

By 9.30pm we had finished dinner and were ready to pile back onto our busses to take us back down the mountain to the Vineyard and our cars.  The day had been awesome and we had crammed so much into it, experiencing so much of what O'Reilly's can offer and still not getting to do it all.  It is such an gorgeous resort with so much to offer people of all ages.  I would highly recommend visiting for a day trip or even better getting away for a holiday here.  You will not be disappointed!

You can check out all of the information here: and they also have a competition going on so make sure you enter for a chance to win an O'Reilly's getaway!!!  

https://oreillys.com.au

Katie xx

A special thank you to Marnie from Visit Gold Coast and Courtney from O'Reilly's for providing such a fabulous day for all of us.

Tropical Fruit world adventuring

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a Visit Gold Coast instameet which took in sunrise at Currumbin and then a trip to Tropical Fruit World which is just over the border in the Tweed Valley. The instameet was originally planned for September during the Swell Festival but unfortunately bad weather postponed the meet and yesterday we were lucky enough to get some good weather.

Waking up at 3.30am is really not my idea of fun but when you are greeted with a sunrise like this you forget all about the early morning wake up and thank Mother Nature for making it all worthwhile..

After the sunrise blew all of our minds we were all loaded onto a bus and took the 20 minute trip to Tropical Fruit World which is located just over the border in Duranbah. The farm doesn't open till 10am so we were treated to a private tour of the property and boy was it a gorgeous place!
I had heard many different opinions of the farm over the years, some had said it was run down and boring, others had said it was a cute place to take the kids and to be honest I really didn't know what to expect but once we arrived I was not disappointed. We were greeted by our hosts, Kate, Max and Aymon the General Manager and we were all piled onto the tractor to drive around the farm.

Checking out all the crops

Akiko just chilling in the tyre...

The problem with being a photographer is that you are always looking for something to take photos of and this ended up with many of us yelling to our driver Kate to STOP as we wanted to keep jumping off the tractor to explore and take photos of things we were seeing!

Tropical Fruit world was purchased by Bob and Val Brinsmead in 1972. It was then a run down small crop farm with beans, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.  The Brinsmeads decided to build a life and raise their young family on the farm. Bob knew the land was perfect for growing tropical fruit as he had visited a research station in Tweed that was growing fruit successfully and a new fruit called the Avocado. Bob and his wife both became addicted to Avocado's and decided to grow them themselves on the farm.   

Bob started planting lots of avocados and many other fruits including custard apples, mangoes, lychees, guavas, macadamias, citrus and papaya.  His collection grew and over the years the garden became a fascination for his family and friends.

After 11 years of growing fruit the birth of Avocado Land happened in 1983 which was the first part of the farms Tourist attraction and which became hugely popular, then in 1995 the name changed to Tropical Fruit World to encompass all of the different fruits found on the farm. 

Courtesy of www.tropicalfruitworld.com.au

There really is nothing more peaceful than wandering through the orchards, checking out all the different fruits, taking photos and learning about the history of the property.  The staff were so accommodating and the atmosphere was so relaxing, I just loved soaking it all in and enjoyed the whole experience.

The Passion fruit archway

After we had spent about an hour checking out all the amazing fruit crops, tasting them and learning about them we headed back up to the main area to be greeted by the staff with this:

Fruit platter with all the fruits we had seen growing on the farm - So good!!

Chocolate fruit which tastes like Chocolate mousse! Yummy

As you can imagine so many photos were being taken of these delicious fruit platters but all we really wanted to do was start digging in and eating all the goodies!  Such a wonderful way to end our little tour.

Tropical fruit land is definitely on my list to take my kids to one day, it really is so much fun wandering around the farm and checking out all their different orchards and other attractions which include things like the Fauna Park which has lots of farm animals for the kids to get up close and personal too, the wildlife boat cruise and the miniature train which is fun for the kids.  It's a great day out and only 40 minutes drive from Robina.  You can check out all of the info here: http://www.tropicalfruitworld.com.au/ 

And for those of you who are keen to check it out for photography @igersgoldcoast will be holding an instameet there at some stage in the new year so make sure you are following our Facebook and Instagram pages for the details to be posted later in the year.

Some of the goodies found around the farm!

Finding a passion (and how it can change your life)

When I first started photography nearly 3 years ago I had no idea how much I would love it and how much of a passion it would turn into for me.

Having a hobby is something that everyone should strive to have in their lives. Of course it can be difficult to find the time to do a hobby, especially when life has so many other demands on your time. You're working,  you're running the kids around, you're organising a household you're already juggling so many things but when you have something for yourself, it can really make you a more fulfilled person which can only be better for you and for those around you.

When my children were younger, I felt my whole life revolved around them, they always came first and sometimes I felt I had lost myself.  I wondered if I would only ever just be a mum, working part time in a boring job and just existing instead of truly living.  As my kids got older I started to find a little bit of myself again and getting into photography opened up a world I never knew existed.

Instagram has changed my life in so many ways, not only has it introduced me to people who I consider some of my best friends, but it has helped me grow and learn (for free) it has challenged me, it has taught me not to care about what other people think and it has given me an opportunity to share my passion with so many people that I will never meet in real life but who I love knowing via social media.  It has totally given me the shits at times and it has even made me cry on occasion but at the end of the day, my life is better for being on social media.

Photo courtesy of Sue Whiteman

Being involved in a community group called @igersgoldcoast has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life.  A group of passionate photographers meeting and sharing our knowledge at beautiful locations all over the Coast and even further afield, brings me so much joy.  Recently we hosted an instameet at Snapper Rocks with Canon and we had a massive turn out, we had incredible photographers spinning Steel Wool for us which is an amazing sight and the photos that have come from this meet have blown me away!  (check out the hashtag #igersgoldcoast on Instagram to see them)

Steel Wool Spinning at Snapper Rocks 15/10/16

Each month we host an instameet at a different location around the coast or below the border and we have had some pretty epic fun.  The people that come along to these events have become close friends and colleagues and the knowledge that people bring and share at the meets is priceless.  The community vibe is amazing and the positive outcome from each meet makes me beam for days.

 Go Ballooning Instameet July 2016

We have teamed up with some awesome companies like Go Ballooning, Mt Warning Tours and Spirit of the Gold Coast and we have mixed up our meets so we ensure we never get bored. We have had 40 people traipsing around a undeveloped housing estate in Maudsland chasing the Milky Way and we have taken over Currumbin rock catching a sunset and doing more Steel Wool Spinning. We have captured the Koala's at Currumbin Sanctuary and we have trekked to waterfalls in Mt Tamborine and O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat.  We are forever thinking of new places to visit and tossing around ideas for fun and cool instameets, its a challenge but a hugely rewarding one when we have a successful meet. (so far we have never had an unsuccessful meet!)

An adorable Koala at Currumbin Sanctuary

When you have a hobby and a passion your life is better, with photography you are expanding your mind, learning and challenging yourself, you are socialising and meeting new people, you are getting out into nature and exploring and adventuring.  These things all help in being a better human, an interesting and enjoyable individual who others want to spend time with.  In this crazy world that can only be a good thing for you.

We are always happy for new and interesting humans to come and join our group so if you have an interest in photography, make sure you check out our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/igersGoldCoast/  or our instagram account @igersgoldcoast and come along to our next meet, we would love to meet you!

Katie xx

Thailand adventures

A month ago I took my kids to Thailand for 8 days to reward them for being such troupers for the past 8 months whilst our family went through a separation.  We had had so much going on and we were all worn down and I knew we needed a break and time to refresh and relax.
I had seen a package deal with Luxury Escapes which was $999 for 8 nights including lots of different things and the resort looked like a lovely place, my friend had been on a Luxury Escapes deal before so I knew they were legitimate.  I wish now, looking back that I had done a bit more research of where the hotel was actually located because getting there was a major effort!

We left on a Friday night and flew with Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur which was a 10 hour flight.  Our stopover at KL airport was for 3 hours and then we flew to Phuket from there which is an hour flight. I found Air Asia to be awesome to fly with but the experiences I had with them before actually taking my flight left a lot to be desired.  (that is a whole different blog altogether).

Plane selfies

After arriving in Phuket we were picked up by a driver who then took us on an hour and a half drive to Mai Khao Lak Resort which seemed like the longest drive of my life!  We were absolutely exhausted by the time we arrived at our hotel which was about 12pm our time so 14 hours travelling with hardly any sleep!
And of course our room wasn't ready so they offered for us to go and have breakfast which was still open and to my relief they had drinkable coffee!  They eventually came and took us to our room which was very nice and comfortable, finally our long awaited holiday had started!

View from our room on the first day

Khao Lak is a small town 2 hours north from Phuket and was totally wiped out back when the Tsunami hit in 2004, in fact it was the worst hit province as they didn't have many concrete high rises as they did in Phuket which helped saved many people there, here they only had low lying bungalows so over 4000 people were reported dead from this area.  They have slowly built the area back up and have many beautiful resorts built along the beach now and have a warning system in place in case of another Tsunami. The town is far less busy than Phuket and this was one of the reasons I wanted to come here rather than going to Phuket as it was the first time I was travelling by myself with my kids and I wanted to feel safe which I certainly did at the resort.

The beach right out the front of the resort

After we got changed we went to check out the resort and headed straight to the beach, the view which greeted us was gorgeous and I immediately felt relaxed - holiday mode!

In general our resort was a lovely place but as always with 3rd world countries and cheaper resorts there were a few things that needed attention.  The room had a very mouldy and musty smell which we couldn't get rid of and maybe that was because it was the wet season so nothing seemed to dry completely out.  And, because it was rainy season, it did rain quite a lot and they had no activity room for kids of my age with a pool table or table tennis table so there was a little bit of boredom when it was raining. Thankfully they did have Wifi though so that was a relief.  Another thing I thought was strange was they had no water activities, nothing to take out on the water and have fun with like paddle boards or canoes.  Just a few things I wrote on my trip advisor review! LOL

After the first few days of settling in and trying to get the kids into 'Relax' mode which was interesting (who knew kids didn't know how to relax?) we decided to go on an adventure to some waterfalls we had heard about.  We booked a driver through reception and he picked us up at 10am. We were dressed in singlets and thongs as we weren't sure of what the trek would be like and to be honest the thought of wearing sneakers in the 35 degree heat wasn't appealing, perhaps we should have thought about that a little harder as walking up steep muddy mountains isn't easy in thongs!
Our driver was a lovely guy who didn't speak much English but extremely pleasant and happy and we arrived at the first waterfall about 20 minutes after leaving.

Tahlia checking out Sai Rung Waterfall, doing her best pose for me

He held all of our gear for us, my bag filled with towels, water, sunscreen and everything else we jammed into it but once we got to the falls we realised it really wasn't the type of fall you can swim at and laze around on the rocks looking pretty for photo ops so after a few photos we headed back to the car and he told us in his broken English that the next falls were much better for swimming which is exactly what we wanted.
About an hour later we arrived to a National Park and had to pay 500 Thai Baht for entry which was $20 Australian dollars for all of us.  For some reason I was blowing up about this as I instantly thought they were trying to rip us off but on the way back we saw the sign and yes it was written there that it was 150 Baht for kids and 200 for adults so I did feel a little bit silly for blowing up! I guess because we don't pay to enter National Parks on the Gold Coast I thought it was a bit odd.
Anyway this waterfall was a huge hike up a mountain and it had different levels so you could do all of the levels which went to 5 or less and as I had my 2 lovely children with me, wearing thongs, sweating in the 35 degree heat we decided that maybe the upper levels of the waterfall maybe just a little out of our reach!  We did manage to make it to the 4th level and my goodness what a hike that was.  As I mentioned before it was the rainy season so the tracks were very muddy and slippery and at some stages you are climbing on a very steep incline holding onto tree branches to keep you safe, so pretty challenging.  And the whole time our guide who was wearing jeans and thongs too did not complain once, he held all of our crap including my camera tripod and just kept going!  Well worth the payment of 1800 Baht for the day which is $70.00.
We eventually made it to the 4th level of Ton Chong Fa Waterfall and we could finally get in the water for a swim, but as we quickly discovered the little fish in the waterfall like to nibble at your skin and feet and for some reason my kids weren't having a bar of this!  I was dying to have a swim so just jumped in and the fish started at me immediately but I thought, Hell some people pay good money for this and I'm getting in and getting it for free!  And of course eventually the heat won over and both the kids jumped in the water screaming their heads off the whole time!

We made it to the top! Well the 4th level anyway :-) Not sure who that random guy is in my picture though!

Even though the waterfall day was a huge effort I was so glad we did it, to go and see some waterfalls in another country and experience the beautiful rain forest was something we probably wont ever do again in Thailand and we slept so well that night!

Some of the other things we received through our Luxury Escapes package was 8 free massage sessions, a cooking class and a cocktail making class.  Both of my children had never had massages before so I booked us all in for a 30 minute back massage one day and off we went to the Spa which was so relaxing and calming.  Unfortunately they didn't have 3 beds in one room so my son was carted off by himself to have a massage whilst my daughter and I shared a room.  For someone who hasn't had a Thai massage before I guess it could be quite confronting taking off your clothes and stripping down to your undies and both my kids reported back to me after the session that they hated it and that I could have the last 5 sessions to myself!  I was absolutely rapt as I love massages and made sure I got a massage every day for the last 5 days!

The cooking class was also a funny experience which we all enjoyed. The Thai people really love getting you involved and both my son and I got a chance to cook a dish.  After cooking 4 dishes we all then got to sit down and enjoy the food cooked by their chefs so we didn't have to eat our own cooking!!

I cooked Tom Yum Goon soup

Flyn cooked a Duck Curry

The cocktail class was also a fun experience which I didn't take the kids to for obvious reasons and it was really just an excuse to get sloshed at 1pm in the afternoon (considering I already know how to make cocktails!)

One of the things I did notice about our resort is that the Europeans, other than being extremely unfriendly, have no idea about using sunscreen, so many of them were walking around the resort red raw and still sun-baking more! The kids and I tried not to laugh but when you see a huge man with the biggest tummy, in dick togs and burnt to a crisp looking like a Lobster it is really hard to stop yourself from laughing!

Of course you always tend to gravitate toward the other Aussies and we met some lovely people from Western Australia who had an 18 month old daughter both my kids loved to play with.  These were the people who told us about a cool restaurant down on the beach called Boom Boom and we ended up going there a few nights as it was so cheap! $40 for so much food and absolutely delicious. They also had 2 very cool swings over the ocean which we loved and we tended to take a walk down here on a regular basis just to chill out and go for a swing.

Our favourite way to past the time

And of course the sunsets were what I waited for each night and we did get some amazing ones there. The first few nights did not disappoint and my breath was taken away by the beauty of them.

No editing required

Most of the nights the kids didn't want to come down to the beach with me so I ventured down with the rest of the tourists to take it all in and I would go back to the room and say to the kids OH MY GOD, tonight was mind blowing, you kids missed out...and they would say That's cool mum, and get back onto their iPad!

No description required!

Of course these dream runs could not continue and eventually the rain came and set in. Unfortunately at this time we also got news that one of our dogs was very unwell and the grey clouds seem to fit our mood as we worried about our dog.

Grey skies for grey moods

The last few days of our holiday were spent stressing about our poor dog who unfortunately did need to be put down before we made it home so this really put a dampener on the last part of our trip.  Our boy Harley was 13 and had a heart condition which got very bad while we were away so the decision had to be made which was absolutely heart breaking for us not being there and also to my poor parents who were looking after him for us.  Not sure why he decided to go while we were away but I think maybe it was because he knew we couldn't handle it being there.

Our Harley boy

So after 8 days of being in Khai Lak we were ready to go home and see our other dog.  We had another big trip home but this time we had made sure we booked a day in Kuala Lumpur shopping to break it up and also I had booked 3 seats in a row for each of us on Air Asia so we could all have a good sleep on the way home.  This cost me an extra $180 but it was so worth it!  One crazy thing that did happen at Phuket airport before we had even checked in, I lost my passport!  I opened up our travel wallet and only the kids passports were there.  I went straight into panic mode as I was exhausted and stressed and could not imagine what would happen if I had left my passport back at the hotel which was 90 minutes away.  My beautiful kids calmed me down and we eventually found it in a side pocket of my handbag where I had put it when we went shopping into town one day.  The relief that rushed over made me burst into tears and we knew that it really was time to come home!

So all in all I would say that our trip to Thailand was a lovely trip with some ups and downs.
Would I go back to Khao Lak? No.  It's too far to travel for a resort that isn't mind blowing.  I would definitely go back to Thailand though, maybe Phuket or Koh Samui where its not as far to travel, the people are so beautiful and you can definitely explore and relax there so the best of both worlds.  I also loved that my kids got out of their comfort zones and off their Ipads for a lot of the time which is such a great thing to do.

Family sunset

I would definitely look out for a Luxury Escapes package deal again and most of the people at the resort were on that same deal so its a popular web site.  

Thanks for reading!

Katie xx

White's beach paradise

Hello everyone!

I am starting this blog as I miss writing and I wanted to combine my 2 passions, writing and photography.  I have been taking photos for nearly 3 years now and I truly love it.  I have finally discovered my passion and I have loved creating my social media presence and learning so much about photography.  I have met some amazing friends through photography and have built up my Instagram account to nearly 10K followers and I have also been an integral part in creating a social photography group account called @igersgoldcoast which hosts regular instameets all over the Gold Coast and has a following of over 12K people.

One of the best things about photography is exploring and discovering places which you have never been to before.  A few weeks ago and close friend of mine, Amanda and I decided to do a mini road trip together and go somewhere we had not been before. We had heard of a beautiful beach called White's Beach which was south of Byron and just north of Lennox Head so we did some research and made plans to venture here on a Saturday together.  We had heard of some very cool caves at White's Beach so we checked out the tide times and planned to head to the caves to get some cool photos on the day.

At 4.15am my alarm went off and to be honest I had second thoughts about our idea of heading down to catch sunrise but once I was up I was excited and looking forward to the day. Amanda picked me up and off we went with all of our gear packed in her car and Siri telling us where to go.

After an hour of driving we headed toward where we thought we were supposed to go and found the car park and loaded up our camera gear in the dark. We headed down a walking track toward the beach and got excited as we heard the waves crashing and as it started to get light.  The views we saw as we came out of the rainforest were absolutely gorgeous.

We wanted to try and find the caves that we had heard about but we knew the tide was too high and we would have to come back at 9am when it was at its lowest so we just enjoyed exploring the deserted beach and watched the sun come up with some incredible cloud action.

Being a photographer on the Gold Coast, you rarely get to experience a completely deserted beach at sunrise so we really just lapped it up for a few hours.

Amanda enjoying the deserted beach

After a few hours we realised the urge for coffee was outweighing the need to explore the beach more so we headed back up the mountain to the car and headed for Lennox Head which was about 20 minutes south.

Arriving in Lennox on a beautiful Saturday morning was a new experience for Amanda who had never been there before. The town is super cute with loads of coffee shops and we found a nice place to stop for breakfast and get that much needed caffeine hit!  If you haven't been to Lennox before I highly recommend it.  I hadn't been for a long time but its just such a lovely little town so close to Bryon but yet so far away from the chaos that Byron has become on the weekends.  The views from the top of the hill looking back down to Lennox are spectacular and we saw so many Dolphins enjoying the perfect conditions.

Had to do a selfie of course!

I was so excited to see the Dolphins!

After our little Lennox tour we decided to head back to White's Beach to find the caves and get some cool shots.  It was already past 9am so we knew we were on a time frame to be able to access the caves before it was too late.  Getting back to the carpark we loaded ourselves up again with our camera gear but this time we took more stuff like our swimmers and towels so we could get in the water as the day was so gorgeous.
Upon arriving back to the beach we noticed a lot more people had arrived and we saw some guys up in the dunes who seemed to be naked!  Amanda:  Oh my god are those dudes nude?  Me: Um, holy crap YES!  Where the hell had we come to?  We tried to be calm and kept walking over to the right side of the beach where we had been told the caves were.  After 20 minutes of rock climbing in thongs that kept having a blow out we started to get a bit over it and frustrated wondering why we couldn't find these damn caves!  A very tanned looking local man was walking toward us and I decided to ask him if he knew about the caves (thank god he had dick togs on).  He said he didn't know about any caves and I then asked if we were at Whites Beach?  He said no, this is King's Beach, Whites Beach is another 15 minutes away down south!  Amanda and I looked at each other and just started laughing, no wonder we couldn't find these stupid caves!!

So we packed up all of our stuff, walked back along the nudey beach and back up  the huge mountain to our car to so we could drive to White's Beach!

After a 15 minute windy drive and messages back and forward to our friend who laughed his head off when we said we were at the nudey beach, we eventually found the pristine White's Beach.  Once again we packed all of our stuff and headed down the mountain to be greeted by such a magnificent scene.

The view from half way down the mountain

We tore down that mountain intent on finding the cave and as we walked around to the right we saw it, a huge big cave which would have been so awesome to explore and take photos in but unfortunately the tide had come up too far and we couldn't access it!!  We looked at each other and just shook our heads, all we could do was laugh and take in the beautiful scenery and the magnificent day and of course take more photos of each other!

Me, striking my best pose!

So our venture to explore and find White's Beach and take photos in the cave was a bit of a failure but we had the most amazing day, discovering the nudey beach, checking out Lennox Head and then taking in the stunning beauty of Whites Beach it was definitely worth the effort.  I would highly recommend taking the kids to White's Beach as it is so protected and when the tide is low you can check out the caves and really do some exploring.  Prepare yourself for the journey back up the mountain which we ended up doing 3 times, twice at Kings Beach and then once here but so worth the effort.
Thank you to my gorgeous friend Amanda for being my partner in crime and we can't wait to go on our next day trip exploring more of this beautiful country!

Katie xx