Spandex Ballet Fundraising dinner

As previous residents of Cooktown, we often found the trip 'home' from Cairns a little daunting.  Three and half hours of long empty roads, mountains and twists and turns. Chuck in lots of cows on the road, the occasional feral pig and lots of kangaroos and it meant you always had to keep your wits about you.
Now as Cairns residents Sean has teamed up with some other blokes to ride from Cairns to Cooktown at the end of September! Madness I say (I will happily be driving as his support crew) but all in a great cause.

Marcus and Sean in training!

The Cardiac Challenge has been held over the last few years in order to raise much needed funds for the local Cardiac unit at the Cairns base hospital. The ride has taken on a life of its own with over 360 riders taking part annually, raising more than $350,000, so it is great fun to be involved in it, especially for the boys.



So Ben Reeves, Marcus Brady and Sean Gillen decided to form a team and take on the Cardiac Challenge.  With some consternation, Sean agreed to the team name of Spandex Ballet, and by participating, we all commited to raising $1500 for the Cardiac Unit at Cairns Base Hospital.  

They have been training for months - every Sunday morning early they take on the ride up to Copperlode Dam or even take the grueling ride out to Second Beach which is 60km each way. Fairly flat riding but still a decent ride that renders Sean comatose in the afternoon. I know that the Caffiend coffees and chilli eggs at the end of the rides were a large incentive on those cooler mornings.

Chef Marcus

We decided to hold a fundraising dinner in Fiona and Marcus' back garden, all taking on a different role to pull the event together. Marcus offered to cook his renowned Paella , Lizzie offered up Sticky Date Pudding and Caramel Sauce (who could resist) and Fiona and I created salads and canapes with the help of the wonderful Murray (donated by his wife to help our cause). Ben and Sean were on Bar duty and Ben managed to create a golden tipple known as the Cardinals Curse, which for a gold coin donation, went down a treat.

Invitations, designed by Jacqueline Larsen, went out to friends and colleagues and we gathered 34 good souls to join our soiree, armed with lots of cash for the raffle and auction. The garden was a perfect venue for one long table (donated by the local CWA) and we decorated the place with candles, fairy lights and bougainvillea.

Ben and Lizzie Reeves

The kids loved helping lay tables and set up the lights and Toby and Ella cam back to sell raffle tickets for some of the great donated prizes we had received. Even Phoebe and Wren's teacher got into the swing of it by offering his services as a band  called Apple Core and they played all night with some great covers that seemed to get better as the night wore on and the beer went down.

It was a really fun night that was different to anything we had done before. Not a dinner party in the traditional sense and not dinner at a restaurant. Everyone had a ball and after a few vinos, the bidding on the auction items went well and added to the coffers. In all we raised well over $1600 and are ready to ride (or drive in my case).

The boys leave at 5am next Saturday 29th Sept laden with staminade, nappy rash cream and lots of water!! We leave a little later and will be setting up campat Mt Carbine the first night and Lakeland the second. They are due to arrive around lunchtime in Cooktown - that will be a great moment for them I am sure.

Yarrabah....The Opera

Yarrabah is a lovely place, sitting beside the sea with stunning mountains surrounding it. The mountains themselves, known as the Walls of Jerusalem, dominate the landscape from Cairns when you look east, but I have discovered that a lot if people from Cairns have never traveled over those mountains. The drive itself to Yarrabah is stunning, fringed with beaches and a glorious view out to the reef as well as back over Cairns. 

Aunty Polly

Yarrabah's history however is not such a happy one, like so many of the FNQ indigenous communities that were 'removed' and segregated to places like Palm Island or Woorabinda.  'Yarrabah - the Opera' produced by Opera Australia and directed by Rhoda Roberts, deals with this history in a stunning but sensitive style that was even more special as it was staged in the Bishop Malcolm Park at Yarrabah itself.

With a simple stage, clever lighting and the use of large screens showing old images from the early days, there would have been a crowd of 500 with lots of people arriving from Cairns, many for the first time. The Park is on the edge of the beach and surrounded by large trees. Local groups set up food stalls and we had our Arts Centre stall, selling quite a bit of art to the 'foreigners'.  It was a stunning night with a large moon, not a wisp of wind and the gentle sound of the sea in the distance.

Mixing stars like Casey Donovan and her glorious voice and other OA singers with the local school kids and some of the 'aunties' made it a really moving experience. Sitting with Aunty Polly and come others, I was intrigued by how real it all was to them. They recalled the real issue of the the forced marriages, they roared with laughter at the exercise regime in the girls dormitory as they remembered it well and were moved to tears by much of the story.

The rule of the church

I suspect the highlight for them however was watching the aunties, their friends, dance and perform on stage. While the local kids ran races and played around the dusty park, the older generation roared with laughter at their friends and began muttering about whether there would be a Yarrabah - Part 2 which they could all be in.

Exercise in the girls dorm

I felt so pleased to be there and share this moment with them all. A fabulous project, beautifully staged in a perfect environment. The drive home late that night with the twinkling lights of Cairns in the distance...I was tired by happy.

The finale

Ghost nets

I had never heard of a Ghost net before moving to FNQ. They are however an important part of life up here - having both negative and also now positive impacts on local life. If you look up the definition under Ghost Nets Australia, this is what you get.....

Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been abandoned at sea, lost accidentally, or deliberately discarded. They travel the oceans of the world with the currents and tides, continually fishing as they progress through the waters. As they are unattended and roaming they fish indiscriminately, not only catching threatened species but undersized and protected fish as well.

What is GhostNets Australia?

Northern Australia supports an array of marine and coastal species, including six of the worlds seven marine turtle species and four sawfish species, many of whose populations have declined elsewhere. Ghost nets are part of vast rafts of marine debris arriving from south east Asia that are fouling this otherwise pristine coastline, which is mostly owned and occupied by Indigenous peoples of Australia.

GhostNets Australia is an alliance of over 22 indigenous communities from coastal northern Australia across the three states of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland.  The programme was established in 2004 with funding from the Australian Government. Since its inception, the programme has supported Indigenous Rangers to remove over 7,500 ghost nets of varying sizes.  This has resulted in the recovery of a proportion of the trapped wildlife, particularly marine turtles (52%), and the prevention of the ghost nets from returning to the sea to continue their destructive life-cycle. Less than 10% of these nets have been attributed to Australian fisheries.

This project is also enabling Aboriginal communities to fulfil their aspirations of having stewardship of their customary lands and adjacent marine environment, known as "caring for country."

The positive spin on this is the wonderful work the people of Ghost Nets Australia do in recovering the nets, helping the animals and then turning the nets into wonderful pieces of art.
Set up under a beautiful tree, Ghost Nets Australia were an integral part of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair 2012 and provided a soothing space to retreat from the madness of wheeling and dealing at the Art Fair. The work they do helping and mentoring people to create a little piece of magic from a ghost net is fabulous but the best part of it is the creations they produce. Absolute works of art and I am in awe of how they produce them!

Here is a taste of some of the pieces.

the king!

Squid

Shark

Indigenous Art in Cairns

The Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (now in its 4 year) was an experience I was lucky enough to enjoy from the 'inside'. Three weeks before it began I found myself agreeing to help the artists from the Yarrabah Arts Centre prepare for and attend the art fair for the very first time. They had been working hard for months and had a large number of paintings, pots and weaving ready for the fair.

We loaded up my new ute and headed into Cairns for a whirlwind introduction to the world of art fair, galleries, collectors and the all important arts bodies and funding people.

Our stand was colourful and the four artists spent most of their time there which was a great bonus. People were so pleased to meet them, hear the story behind the painting and also get a photo of them with the artist when they purchased one. The paintings literally flew out of the door.

On the few moments we were able to take time off the stand, there was so much else to see. The day was filled with various traditional dance groups including the winners of last years Laura Dance Festival, The Lockhart River Dancers. Their lead dancer, Josiah Oomeenyo, is the artist of several paintings we bought in Lockhart River last year so it was great to see him in action. I was even able to give him a photo I took last year at the Laura Dance Festival.

The other amazing dancers were the Taureg dancers from Torres Strait and they were thrilling with their dramatic island warrior style. There just wasnt enough time to see it all - its was fabulous.

Cairns indigenous art fair- what a weekend...

It's been a crazy few days as I found myself managing the yarrabah arts centre and helping the artists with their exhibition! It's been a lot of wheeling and dealing and making contacts.....and learning on the go. It's a thrill and seeing so much great art, music, dancing and glorious weather is just a treat.

Life's a beach......

Dare I say it as friends and family in NSW are freezing, but this place continues to amaze me with its beauty. It has been perfect 26 clear blue days so not too hot and cool nights which means we can enjoy sleeping under sheets and blankets.

View from Yorkeys Knob Boat Club

The last three weekends we have been introduced to some of the favourite local haunts like Kewarra Beach Resort, Yorkeys Knob boat club and Paradise Palms - all great places for an early evening drink and dinner, complete with playgrounds and entertainment for the kids. Its bliss and the sunsets have been amazing.

Double Island from Kewarra Beach

The best so far has to be the Kewarra Beach Resort which we went to last night. Wow! Sitting on a beach watching the sun go down, sand between your toes with a nice glass of champagne and a decent table and chairs, pizzas all round and a disco for the kids. 

Doesnt get much better than that and its only 10 mins from home.

It was 3.5 years ago that I came up here to FNQ for the very first time. Cairns and Cape York and been of great interest and I had been intrigued by the lesser known Cape York area for many years. Northern Territory and the Kimberlies etc had always been the focus of much tourism but I wanted to know what the wilds of Cape York might offer.

Dogs paradise

I have discovered this amazing park where you can walk your dogs off the lead. A hard thing to find even here in Cairns. However it is an extraordinarily beautiful place with massive rainforest trees, tropical fruit of all colours lying on the ground, wild figs growing everywhere and the pretty Freshwater Creek running through the middle of it. 


It is dog heaven as it usually involves a run around the grass area and then a race down the riverside tracks ending in a plunge into the creek. You of-course you end up with a muddy dog but a very happy one!

Other times I have been there I have seen the stunning Ulysses butterfly floating about and the cute willy wagtails but today I was lucky enough to see the stunning Wompoo pigeon that sat imperiously for me and talked with its unusual silken but gutteral call, while I took some photos . I feel lucky to have got so close and the colours are amazing.

Cane fields on the doorstep

Moving from Cooktown to Cairns in January 2012 after 2.5 years in the 'wilds' was a worry for me. After leaving Sydney in 2009 we had adjusted to the beauty and simple ways of Cooktown and country or remote living. One supermarket, 2 petrol stations, one newsagent and a couple of pubs etc meant that moving back to a 'city' where abundance of choice was everywhere meant I was worried about losing our sense of country living.

Well I can report that Cairns is an ideal middle ground between Sydney and Cooktown! It is incredibly beautiful and ringed with glorious mountains of rainforest, lined by sandy beaches and still a mix of small farms and residential living. The birds and butterflies are abundant and we even had an echidna in our garden the other night!

But the views I love best are the canefields, which lie in their rustling glory, just below where we live. And at the moment, with the best season in years, the cane is in full flower and a stunning vision, especially as the sun goes down. For anyone ( like me) who hasnt seen sugar cane grow over vast acres, the pretty cream flowers floating in the wind are a real treat. 

I have also been amused by the notes coming home from my daughters school which is the local primary and close to the cane fields too. They urge caution with the arrival of the cane trains,  for the 2012 Crushing Season, that will be busy carrying the cane when it is harvested. The narrow cane train lines are something we have become used to, as they are everywhere, so we will now be treated to the bustling diesel cane trains and their cages. More photographic fodder!