A child of the ’80s, Kayla was the only child of an engineer father and a mother who worked in PR and events management. As a young child she saw much of Australia with her parents whose work had them flitting around the country. Later, after her father accepted a contract overseas, the family traipsed around much of Europe, spending varying lengths of time in a number of countries. Thanks to this, Kayla became fluent in Italian and French and gained a working knowledge of a couple of other languages.
Sent to England to live with her maternal grandparents and gain a well-rounded education, Kayla stayed to complete secondary studies and a university degree. An autobahn accident claimed the lives of her parents just prior to her graduation. After graduating, Kayla remained in England for a while, working in a variety of jobs, none of which had any relevance to her degree. She tried working in pubs, as a nanny and as a PA to a well-known writer before a stint as a tour guide escorting groups around Paris and Rome. Homesick, she returned to Australia, arriving alone and with no plans for the future. Unsettled, she moved around a lot, taking whatever job was available wherever she happened to be... waiting tables, governess on a cattle station, shearers’ cook… gradually working her way over to and up the Queensland coast. The offer of a job on a charter boat company’s vessel operating out of a small seaside town on the central coast was too good to pass up. That town remains her home base. To fill in her spare time and any quiet time when on charters, she began scribbling down story ideas. A natural disaster that struck the small town provided the inspiration for the Harbour Plaza serial, and provided Kayla with her first material for publication. |