Burleigh Heads National Park

What a day we had at Burleigh Heads National Park! My friends and I spent the day taking a hike to a ‘hidden’ beach and then hiked some more to the top of a hill to see the most gorgeous views! I believe we walked about 2 miles total, which was not easy! Most of the hike was uphill, so it was definitely a challenge.

Here is the beginning of the trail. Before entering the park, you walk past Burleigh Heads beach, which is where I still have yet to go to, but it is beautiful and the views of the Gold Coast are amazing! This is also where Burleigh Pavilion is, which is a fancier restaurant/bar that also has amazing views!

Here is another view from walking into the trail. One thing that surprised me when coming to Australia was the palm trees. I don’t know why I didn’t think there would be palm trees, but there are tons which makes everything so much more beautiful and tropical! When we first walked into the park, we kept hearing things drop that would get our feet wet, so we thought it was coconuts or something falling from the trees. However, we figured out it was two young boys throwing water balloons at us!

One of my favorite things about this park was the different ways the trees were formed. There were so many cool twirly branches and unique tree stumps, it felt like I was in the jungle! Here is one of the twirliest tree branches I saw while walking up to the lookout!

This picture is probably one of my top three favorite pictures I have taken! I used 0.5 lens to take this, and I think it just looks so magical. That sounds silly, but the moment I saw this tree was when I realized how lucky I am to be surrounded by all of this unique and beautiful nature. It just made me appreciate where I am at in life more.

When I was growing up, one of my favorite movies was Bridge to Terabithia, and this tree also reminded me about how adventurous I aspired to be after watching that movie a hundred times. It’s just so life-like!

In the middle of our hike, we stopped at the ‘hidden’ beach for a couple of hours. I call it the ‘hidden’ beach because the only way I saw you could get into it was through the walking trail, but there’s most likely other ways. The thing I loved most about this beach was that it was quiet in people and in waves. Every time I have gone to the beach so far, the waves have been crazy, so you only really get to enjoy swimming for so long, but here there were no waves and it was very different!

There were two parts of the water. The first was the shallow part where you could literally lay in the sand that was covered by probably an inch or two of water and relax without getting water in your face. The second part was this hole of water. If you can tell by the image to the right, where all of the sand is is where the shallow water is, but then to the right of me it gets really dark, and that is a drop that goes into deep water. Once you are in that water, you cannot stand, so it is a little scary. I really enjoyed the sandy part, because I do not enjoy the unknown of what’s swimming below me!

Now… the top of the hike! This view was BREATHTAKING! During the hike up, I kept telling myself “this better be worth it this better be worth it” and it was!! It was so amazing to look down on the beaches, the water, the greenery, and everything around! One funny thing I saw that reminded me of home was the excavators and dump trucks working on the dock below, and I just had to send it to Max and his friends!

It was overall such an amazing day that was spent climbing, swimming, taking in the beautiful nature, and spending time with new, amazing friends. We saw lots of iguanas, sea shells, and amazing views. With only being a bus ride away, I cannot wait to come back here!

Keep doing what makes YOU happy!

Jessica