Fence With a View: Cabarita Beach, Nth NSW

One of my favourite beaches in Northern NSW is Cabarita Beach on the Tweed Coast. There is a great boardwalk that takes you right to the top of the headland , which gives you sweeping views both north & south.

As you can see, my husband, Michael loves it too!

Linking with Theresa's meme:

Gratitude - A Way of Life

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

I've posted a few times on Gratitude, including a post titled "Develop an Attitude of Gratitude" which explained the original reason for starting my Gratitude Journal.

I have many reasons to wallow in self pity:
- I have a prodigal son & 3 grandchildren who I (and all my family) never see
- I sustained permanent injuries from a car accident which changed my life & stole my independence
- I have a degenerative autoimmune arthritic disease which affects every joint in my body
- I live daily with chronic joint & nerve pain

BUT... when I find myself heading down the road of self pity, I force myself to look at the positives in my life (because there really are so many)

- I'm alive
- I am blessed with a wonderful, supportive husband to walk this difficult journey with
- I am blessed with 4 beautiful children. Although I only see 3, those 3 are incredibly loving, supportive & caring towards me and one another
- I have a wonderful team of medical professionals looking after me
- I have my photography which allows me to get totally lost in capturing the beauty of creation & life
- I have a roof over my head, clothes to wear & food to eat
- There are so many worse off than I am
- I could go on....



It's easy to be grateful when things are going well. It takes courage & strength to be grateful when life is difficult. When you choose a life of gratitude, you effectively reduce stress & worry, your relationships improve and you discover happiness you never thought possible.

GRATITUDE... Try it! It works!

** Both images taken on the Hastings river, Port Macquarie, NSW during our holiday there last September.**

Linking up with these memes:

          

Wild Bird Wednesday: Eastern Curlew

Recently my husband, Michael, and I took a drive up to Beachmere; a bayside suburb north of Brisbane in Moreton Bay. It was the perfect day to test out my newly acquired Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens.

We met a local birder & photographer up there, who showed us around the area he regularly goes birding. The tide was low and a number of migratory shorebirds were fossicking for food in the sand banks.

I zoomed in on this Eastern Curlew digging for crabs...

Now I am saving for a 1.4x extender to get just a bit closer! I'm loving the new lens though!!

Linking up with Stewart's meme:

South East QLD Coastal Journey - Rainbow Bay beach & Snapper Rocks

I've been a little slack with blogging of late, with literally thousands of images to edit, I have been overwhelmed but I'm back on track and ready to share. I'm going to take you on a little journey along the coast of South East Queensland and share as many beaches as I can over the next little while.

Let's start with one of my favourite beaches, especially at sunset.

Rainbow Bay Beach and adjoining Snapper Rocks Beach are the two southern most beaches on the Gold Coast. Rainbow Bay, one of the most popular beaches on the coast, is well protected & safe for swimming. It is only 300m long and ends at a small rocky area.

It's north facing aspect makes it perfect for sunset reflections, capturing the afternoon beauty of the beach and the activity of local and visiting surfers who seem compelled to enter the waves as the sky begins to shine.

Beyond the rocks (behind me) is the 100m long Snapper Rocks Beach and the rocky outcrop called Snapper Rocks.

On this particular night, the conditions were perfect for photographing sunset looking back across Rainbow Bay beach (as seen above), and then to turn 180 degrees and capture the moon rise over Snapper Rocks.

Sand pumping in the area has created the infamous Superbank, providing one of the longest surf breaks in the world. When the surf is right, it is possible to ride a wave all the way to Kirra Beach, 1 km away.

While compiling this post, I realised that I had no daytime images of Rainbow Bay or Snapper Rocks Beach, so my next visit south will definitely involve capturing exactly that!


Linking up with these memes: