Caves Beach NSW North Coast

Paul and I recently took a short escape up north to Caves Beach in Lake Macquarie. It was such a beautiful time away thanks to my lovely parents. It's about an hour and 20/30 min drive from Sydney on a good day - quite close and super easy to access.

Caves Beach is spectacular and as the name suggests it has a handful of sea caves that you can explore during low tide. It is an unspoilt, gorgeous part of our coastline and worth even a day trip to enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

We stayed at Rafferty's Resort about 5 mins from Caves Beach. The accommodation facilities are all Villa style rentals, 2 storey, complete with everything you could possibly need should you decide to cook at home. There are 4 pools with the main pool over looking the lake plus the area is a wildlife refuge, the bird life here is so healthy - great place to take overseas guests. We also discovered some very impressive restaurants on the grounds.

There is a Thai Restaurant that would compete quite nicely with some of the top Thai restaurants in Sydney. We ate here almost every day.

And then there is an Italian restaurant right on the lake, the pasta and pizza portions were enormous but not without quality - we were really impressed by the standard of food and service at this resort.

Other than Caves Beach, there are some excellent hidden spots to discover including Catherine Hill Bay. There is something quite magical about this beach, you can tell the locals adore living there and are very proud of it's natural untouched landscape.

There's the quaint Catho Pub, which unfortunately we didn't have time to visit.

I also discovered a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/catherinehillbay?sk=notes everyone should visit this page and support the "Save Catho Now" cause. The locals have done really well in stopping development in the area, apparently one of the largest ever proposed on this coastline, but time is running out and they need more support. This town will never be the same if the developers get their way.

And as for the surf, unfortunately it was pretty small whilst we there but pumps when the tides are right...

We finish off with what I would call a very impressive addition to Cave Beach. The Caves Beach Hotel, they have spent quite a bit of money on this hotel / community complex. Breakfast is awesome and they have Yoga every day plus the Margaritas also rocked, so I'll be back. This development unlike the one for Catherine Hill Bay was wanted and supported by the community and is a third of the size planned for Catherine Hills Bay.

ST GEORGE OPEN AIR CINEMA 2012

The St George OPEN AIR Cinema has just announced the line-up for Jan 11 - Feb 18 2012.

Official program guide will be available in this weeks Sydney Morning Herald on Friday 9 December, with advance ticket sales on Thurs 15 December.

Line-up includes: The Artist, J. Edgar, Goodbye First Love, Moneyball, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and more.

Visit http://www.stgeorgeopenair.com.au/

WWW.FLEUX.COM PARIS

The last time we were in magnificent Paris, my Sis and I discovered the most amazing shop in Le Marais called FLEUX.

It's located in the heart of the Marais shopping district at 39 + 52 Rue Saint Croix De La Bretonnerie

These are only a small sample of the very unique and uber cool products they sell and of course they now deliver to Australia hooray!

Visit them at www.fleux.com for your daily inspiration...

FUTURE SOUND OF YOGA SYDNEY

I had a wonderful experience with my friend Marcey. She introduced me to "Future Sounds of Yoga". To be honest I've never been a fan of Yoga, my ADD doesn't allow me to sit still long enough to enjoy the Zen of it all - however it's now my understanding that I just had not found the RIGHT Yoga.

Future Sound of Yoga is run by a gorgeous husband and wife team. Angel is the most (as her name suggests) angelic instructor and she combines her talent with her husbands love of music as a professsional DJ.

As you can imagine it becomes a very unique experience combining the essence of Yoga with the art of music and dance.

I can't recommend this enough to anyone who just wants to FEEL GOOD! You leave the 2 hour session on a complete natural high, everyone is so happy and friendly. Proceed with caution: highly addictive. Next session is Dec 22 and I'm booked in already!

Visit their website for more dates and information: http://www.futuresoundofyoga.com/

BARRIO CHINO KINGS CROSS

My divine friend Anyo and I went on a girls night out recently 'twas truly beyond fun! Before our exciting adventures through the city we stopped in at Barrio Chino for a tasty bite of Mexicana.

I heard the ques were long here, but we didn't experience this at all. If you are there to eat, eat you shall. They were super fast in seating us (as long as you are not picky about where you eat).

We shared the BBQ Corn (with chipotle may and lime juice), one of the best Quinoa salads I've had next to Mamasita in Melbourne and an extremely generous portion of Ceviche - so fresh, so yum so spicy - love it!! They are not light on the chilli heat here so if you can't handle it best to let them know in advance.

Excellent Tequila menu and the Margaritas rocked! Essentially this to me is the best Mexican next to Mamasita, its fun, loud, spicy and tasty... for more information visit http://barriochino.com.au/

FRATELLI FRESH CAFE SOPRA NEW STORE

WOOHOOO!!! Hubond just sent me an email that Cafe Sopra are opening another location right near my work - now that is dangerous!!! Tomorrow Thurs 10 Nov new store opens at 11 Bridge Street in the CBD. Trading hours M-F only at present (Saturday coming in 2 weeks) the usual: 12 - 3pm for lunch and 6 - 10pm for dinner. Pizzeria, Mozarella Bar open 12noon - 10pm.

MAMASITA MELBOURNE TAKE 2

I love Melbourne. I was there yesterday on a magazine pitch which we won (hooray!) and thought to treat myself to possibly my favourite restaurant in Australia - MAMASITA.

Mamasita is located at 1/11 Collins Street in the CBD, it's upstairs and since normally Melbournians don't que for anything and there was a long line, it has to be good right? Well it is, it's sensational. It should be noted that their entire menu is also gluten free which is so hard to find for my fellow coeliacs so they should be very happy. It has the best tequila menu of any restaurant I have ever been to.

I started with their signature margarita on the rocks, made with Agavero then ordered to accompany the Prawn Taco (de Camarones: marinated prawns, red chilli and chipolte almond salsa) and Ceviche de Yucutan (market fish, green tomato, chilli, mint and coconut milk)... perfect Then finished off with Quinoa Salad (Quinoa, chilli, salsa, corn, coriander and pico de salsa) and the Grilled Prawns with toasted garlic and green almond sauce) love it! Visit them next time your in Melbourne or check out the rest of the amazing menu at http://www.mamasita.com.au/

CENTRAL MARKET ADELAIDE

I had such a lovely weekend in Adelaide with the beautiful Olivia and Stackey! We went for a quick visit to celebrate Stackey's 30th and I'm so glad we went. You can't visit Adelaide and not go to the Central Markets in the CBD, it has the most amazing fresh produce from mainly the local area. The cheese, wine, small goods, bread, fruit, veggies are all so fresh and so tasty. The last time we visited we came here first, filled a picnic bag full of goodies then headed straight to the Barossa for our own food & wine adventure. I love that Adelaide and South Australians are so very proud of their state and what they produce, and so they should be, it is first class.

The markets also hold special events like the above Great Sustainable Spencer Gulf King prawn BBQ. Fri 11 November you can join Simon Bryant as he presents the first ever sustainable prawn BBQ. This event celebrates the Spencer Gulf King prawns becoming the first in the WORLD to be certified sustainable by the MSC www.msc.org matched with some equally amazing and sustainable wine - you can't miss out, I'm sad to not be there!!!

Visit http://www.adelaidecentralmarket.com.au for more information

SYDNEY FESTIVAL LINE-UP

Hooray, it's that time of year again when Sydney comes alive!! I always say to any tourists wanting to visit Australia and Sydney in particular you must come during Jan/Feb - yes yes it's hot but Sydney is the most vibrant and exciting it will ever be all year. They've just announced Sydney Festival Line-up visit http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2012/ get your tickets early to avoid sell out.