We woke today to the sound of heavy rain. This didn’t stop Andy who headed out for his customary 10km run along the Casuarina Esplanade to Kingscliff.

Fortunately after breakfast the rain clouds were replaced by blue skies and we decided to venture out and walk to Kingscliff, a 3 mile jaunt past the great and the good of the residential godliness of Casuarina.

We arrived at Cudgen Creek, on the outskirts of Kingscliff and walked along the promenade that then took us to the beachfront.

As we walked the humidity levels increased and off came the shirt – our decision not to bring swim gear started to feel a little foolish.

The beach and ocean looked beautiful although the waters remained choppy and the currents challenging after the rain and winds earlier in the day.

We fortunately persuaded a local to take our photo on the Heads and the vista across to Kingscliff beach.

Once we made it to the main beach we stopped for lunch at Cudgen Headland Surf Club, a place we last visited as a family in 2016.

After coffee then lunch in Kingscliff, we spent a little time on the beach before starting our return walk back to our hotel.

By early afternoon the temperatures had risen to 30c so we were pleased to make it back to the Oaks pool and an opportunity for a cooling dip.

Returning to this wonderful hotel, we had a relaxing afternoon reading and made the most of the complex’s facilities.

In truth this feels like a true ‘holiday’ such is the welcoming feel of the hotel complex – we like it so much we have decided to stay for 2 extra days over Valentines weekend.

This evening we treated ourselves to a bottle of rose, an early Valentines present to each other and made plans to repeat for tomorrow, assuming the weather is as kind.