Pure Shores - Thailand.

In August this year I took my very first solo holiday overseas. I went to the south of Thailand for a week, which isn't a long time to others but I like to mark milestones whether big or small! The trip was everything I thought it would be; fun, challenging, hot, absolutely stunning and the perfect backdrop to All Saint's song Pure Shores.

I split the seven days in to seeing Phuket, the Phi Phi Islands, Krabi and a day trip to the James Bond Island. Thailand was the tropical paradise I had been hoping for and so much more. The people were so kind, friendly and tolerant despite the humidity and heat. The food, the food was next level! It was like eating your favourite Thai takeaway twice a day. I ate a lot of pineapple fried rice, pad thai and green curry. And the scenery, well it was just magical. The limestone cliffs, the green/blue water look just like the photos, but to be standing in front of it, being in the presence of such natural beauty, was very special. I feel like the photos are there to not just capture the scene but also the moment and the feeling, so that when you look back on them you remember exactly what it was like and how you felt.

Even though my Thailand stay was very short, I was determined to make the most of my week. I committed myself to being mindful and present in every moment of the holiday. I revelled in every new/different/exciting experience and soaked up the moments when it was just me, the sun, the ocean and a good book. 

Whilst I won't be excitedly hoping on the next plane to Phuket itself, I highly recommend going to Phi Phi Island and Krabi. Phi Phi was every part the backpacker friendly, party town island which I really enjoyed despite not being much of a party-goer. Krabi had a more relaxed, blissed out, quiet vibe that was a pleasant change from the aforementioned Phi Phi. Phuket, well, I found it a bit 'meh' after spending time elsewhere. I can't wait to go back and explore further north in Thailand. Everyone I spoke to on the trip asked if I had been to Koh Phangan which I haven't so it's top of the list for my next Thailand visit! 

Getting out and about in your active wear.

Last Sunday I was active in my activewear. Just for the record, I usually am active when wearing my gym clothes. This time I took activewear to where it is most at home, the great outdoors, or more specifically, Royal Sydney National Park. The RSNP is an hour (with no traffic) drive south of Sydney. You can actually see the headland when you're coming in to land at Sydney Airport! We set out on our 7km walk from a nondescript car park. The thing about this walk, and the car park, is that there aren't many signs confirming exactly where you are. Luckily, we had Google Maps! We walked, and walked and walked through similar looking track and bush for what felt like forever. Until we came out to some cliffs that look over the ocean and revealed a secret beach. From there, we were about 900m from the Wedding Cake Rock - a geometric cliff-side that is made from naturally occurring white sandstone - bound to fall in to the ocean at any time. There is a fence warning you not to go on the rock because it is so unstable. I fear these words and these images will come back to haunt me when the rock finally does depart in to the sea. I was a nervous wreck for most of the time whilst standing both on the rock and off it, watching brave tourists get adventurous photos. Facing my fears of following the rock off the side of the cliff and in to the ocean I crawled on my hands and knees to the magic Insta-photo-opportunity spot. With my hands in the air, a smile on my face I confronted my fears of heights and cliff edges, and now have a photo to prove it. After we left the rock, and the adrenaline subsided, I felt a little proud of overcoming a fear and was able to relate it to different areas of my life. Fear can be a fickle beast, but when you meet it head on and work your way through it, it's not so bad. In someways I think we feel fear to remind ourselves of how much we are capable of once we get to the other side of it. I'll be the first to admit that getting out of my comfort zone isn't one of my natural talents, but when I do, boy, do I feel so much better for it!

When was the last time you were in nature and out of your comfort zone?

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Into the Blue: Airlie Beach, Queensland.

My first adventure of 2016 was a five day trip to Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach is located in North Queensland and is the gateway to The Whitsunday Islands, aka blue heaven. The Whitsundays are made up of over 70 islands but the ones you are most likely to know are Daydream, Hamilton and Hayman. These islands are developed with luxury resorts are a familiar to the rich and famous. 

I had high expectations of crystal clear skies and waters and our trip did not disappoint. Every day was perfectly sunny, hot and humid. Our first day included a day trip out to Daydream Island and Hamilton Island. Daydream Island was practically just the resort. The resort have incorporated their surroundings in to the resort through their very incredible "living reef" which is an artificial reef with stingrays, reef sharks, coral and fish that pans throughout most of the property. As it was stinger  (jellyfish) season you needed to borrow a stinger suit to swim in the ocean water so we just stuck to sun baking by the pool - this was meant to be a more relaxing day trip after all. The next stop was Hamilton Island which was much the same, resorts and not much else. We had a quick lunch and then headed straight to see Catseye Beach. It was the same situation of needing stinger suits to swim in the water so we just stuck to swimming close by the shore. The water was crystal clear but very warm as it was so hot and 100% humidity. We had a quick swim at the Beach Club before heading back to Airlie. To be honest I had higher expectations of Hamilton Island and was a bit disappointed. I'm not sure exactly why. I know that I wouldn't spend the money it would cost to stay there when there are so many other places to see with more things to do.

The absolute highlight of the trip was an overnight sail cruise we did on the SV Whitehaven. We had a full day snorkelling on the reef in the clearest of waters seeing the most spectacular coral and fish. When snorkelling it wasn't hard to get lost in imagining how cool it would be to be a mermaid and live under the sea, just like Ariel in 'The Little Mermaid'. And the the coral, the coral! I can't tell you enough how much of an amazing natural wonder it is! The shapes! The colours! The texture! The gorgeous yellows, greens and pinks that line the ocean floor in which the multi-coloured fish swim over the top to create a most wonderful contrast is just like magic to the wanna-be-mermaid soul. The photos don't do this incredible environment any justice. You need to see it with you're own eyes to be truly touched.

After the day of next-level snorkelling we anchored to watch the sunset and carry on with dinner, drinks and forging new friendships. The next morning started at the crack of sunrise with us setting off to explore world famous Whitehaven Beach. Did you know that Whitehaven Beach has some of the purest, whitest sand in the world?! I didn't. The sand is so pure in fact that NASA are the only organisation to have permission to remove sand to use in their satellite dish reflectors....! Walking through Hill Inlet, to make another movie reference, is similar to Leo walking through the jungle and finding the beach in 'The Beach'. Queue Moby's Porcelain. And there you are, standing on a wooden look out, starring straight into the bluest of blue water that is met with the whitest of white sand surrounded by an untouched tropical island. After taking it all in, 'being in the moment' and getting a few pics for Insta it was time to hit the beach. The sand felt like powder under your feet, the softest sand I have ever felt, and the water, was warm and clear as day. Spending three hours frolicking on Whitehaven Beach was no hard task. It was by far and beyond the most spectacular beach I have ever been to. 

After setting sail back to port in Airlie Beach it was time to shower, nap, get ready and go out and cement the great friendships already made on the boat. The shenanigans wrapped up in the early morning hours like all great backpacker-cheap unexpected nights do. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. 

I would encourage anyone and everyone to visit the Great Barrier Reef/The Whitsundays. This was my second Great Barrier Reef experience and I can't wait to go back and do it all over again. I would also encourage you to invest your money on getting out and exploring the reef rather than spending it on sterile hotel experiences. You won't regret it! 

Amsterdam.

The last stop of our whirlwind two week Europe taste tester was beautiful Amsterdam. The first thing my mind thinks of remembering Amsterdam was just how lost we got every.single.time we went to go somewhere... and it was not because of happy herbs, I promise! After navigating London and Paris without too many problems we were a little dumbfounded at how we kept messing up the streets and directions we were meant to be walking in! If anyone else has experienced this or has a reason why we might have been getting so lost I would appreciate hearing it!

After having an amazing run of sunny weather we arrived to a cold and wet day for our first full day in Amsterdam. As days like this are best spent indoors we made our way up to the Rijksmuseum. The Rijksmuseum is the museum of the Netherlands and houses artworks and artefacts from the Middle Ages to present day. We ended up spending half a day inside the Rijk as there was so much to see. As we were making our way out my sister Ruby found an exhibition called 'New for Now' - the origins of fashion magazines. To say I was enthralled would be an understatement. I often wonder how things begin but it never really crossed my mind that magazines had to start from somewhere. Now I know that magazines started, of course, in Paris. Women of the upper echelons would wear their finest items to a park in Paris on a Sunday afternoon and artists would draw what they saw which would be distributed in to a fortnightly magazine. I might have to do a whole post on this because I have some really amazing photos of the illustrations that continue to inspire me to this day. 

Other 'things to do and see' on our list for our two-ish days in Amsterdam were the flower markets, Vondelpark, Rembrandt Square, Spuirstraat 199 (street art area) and De 9 Straatjes (vintage shopping, cool cafes). Riding bikes has never been a strong suit for us Paton girls (we grew up on a hill so we never bothered with bikes!) so we went without hiring bikes and getting in the way of all of the Dutch bike rider extraordinaires. However we did eat magnificent Dutch pancakes and cheese croquettes that I will remember fondly until next time. There was a calmness about Amsterdam that I quite enjoyed compared to the hustle and bustle of the other cities we visited. Maybe this is because everything is surrounded by water. Maybe it's because all of the people need to be active to ride around from A to B. Or maybe it's because of how they unwind? It was really pleasant to have some sort of calmness before returning home to the race of every day life.