What didn’t I do in Cairns this past weekend?

What didn’t I do in Cairns this past weekend?

Things to do in Cairns Queensland

The weather has been so perfect here that I decided to take the chopper out for a spin …

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Oh wait, that’s not mine – I get so easily confused these days. Alas, I was on foot on Friday, headed firstly towards Canopy Arts Space on Grafton Street to find out all about Inkfest initiatives (awesome!)  + Inkmasters as part of Festival Cairns.

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Inkfest is an innovative addition to Cairns Festival showcasing the fascinating and diverse artform of printmaking 17 August – 2 September, 2012. The Inkfest program includes a number of inter-related printmaking activities, for indigenous and non-indigenous artists, emerging and experienced professional artists, and community engagement. It includes two exhibitions, at the Tanks Arts Centre and Canopy Artspace (pictured below), where some of the best local print media artists will be showing works alongside Australia’s most celebrated printmakers.

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Visitors are welcome to drop by the gallery on Grafton Street – it’s huge, interesting and informative. Well worth it!

Next on Friday’s adventure …

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It’s not as scary as it looks. A bunch of travel journalists and I visited James Cook University’s Cairns campus to explore some uniquely ‘Tropical North Queensland’ areas of education.

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Baby Nemo! :-)

We went behind the scenes of a marine research centre that is used to film nature docos including the BBC’s The Great Barrier Reef that aired internationally earlier this year. And we discovered impressive research into the Eliminate Dengue project.

 

It was actually really interesting to hear about this research, and we did learn that mozzies are attracted to those of us who have ‘hotter body temperatures’ or people wearing dark clothes – so be warned.

The aim of the experiment is to breed the dengue gene out of the mozzies that have it, then all these new mozzies are released into the ‘wild’ to hopefully breed with the other evil mozzies. Such amazing stuff – but we don’t envy the poor guys at JCU who are continually getting bitten!

All this talk of mosquitoes made me thirsty, so we decided to nip out for a quiet Friday afternoon drink at The Pier Bar. A few champers later and it was time to dance, so we visited one of my fave clubs in town, The Attic. Even discovered an awesome new mix of Super Bass mixed by Liam Keegan (love it).

Attic DJ you *rock* for sharing Liam’s details with us! Cheers to you :-)

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YUM.

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OMG… empty much?

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Panic over… thank you kind lady. BTW these fab cocktails (think Appletinis, Cosmos, Martinis) are all just $6 at The Attic on Friday nights – they have a new menu and are testing it out. Bargain!

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We’re looking to reno our bathroom soon (too much The Block for us, methinks) so paid a visit to Status Plus‘ fabulous showroom in Cairns on Saturday morning. Good timing too – they were hosting an outdoor broadcast with Zinc FM, there were cook-offs, demonstrations and much more. Big thanks to Shar’ron for all her knowledge and help during the morning. One such delight we discovered was this magic tap – the stream is blue when it’s cold, and red when … you guessed it, hot.

Beer o’clock (actually, we were waiting for Cooper’s mum who got lost among the Cairns shops – as you do), so we decided to take a quick pit stop at The Courthouse, sipping on $4 Coronas under the winter sunshine. .

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On Sunday, after a little morning clean up and walk with the dog, we took a drive to stunning Paradise Palms Resort & Country Club for a catch-up with some friends and family. Nice day for it too.

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There’s a beautiful under cover dining area, and Sunday was blissful here. We ate, drank and were merry.

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Then? Time for a nap!

 

Awesome Vancouver artist Lisa Penz

Awesome Vancouver artist Lisa Penz

One thing we’ve noticed about Vancouver is that there is quite a bit of funky art around. We love the culture that is evident, especially when wandering around Downtown or in Gastown.

There was even art on display when we were at Stanley Park a few weeks back. You can always catch filming going on in the streets here, photography walking tours taking place that anyone can join, creative cocktails and coffee, acting and music workshops, or an art show popping up on one street or another.

It’s brilliant!

Vancouver artist Lisa Penz 

By Lisa PenzEven if you don’t know very much about a certain discipline, it’s always worth stepping outside your realm to learn new things. If something looks interesting, check it out and ask questions about it.

On that note, today we were fortunate enough to catch the end of Vancouver artist Lisa Penz‘s current exhibition in the city.

She is a gorgeous person and her art (which has been internationally exhibited) is contemporary and cool. I don’t know too much about art, but personally I love her use of colour and expression. With over ten years artistic and design experience under her belt, from time living in North America and as far away as Australia, she sparkles with a wealth of inspiration that is apparent in her work. She is consistently adding new work to her collection and I’d say Lisa is definitely one to watch from the North American scene.

Support the talent. You can check out all Lisa’s details online at lisapenz.com, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for news, openings, exhibition details and updates.

Image via Lisa Penz Flickr