going north

Muddy's play area, Cairns waterfront

This time last week I was in Cairns in North Queensland. I had the internet connected for about 15 minutes, when I started to write this post, and then it crashed, due to a problem with my PayPal account. This annoyed me for an hour or two and then I realised it didn't matter - I could have used my I-Phone but I couldn't be bothered. It was more important to focus on being in an amazing place, with time to explore!

I ran two very different art therapy workshops whilst I was there. One was for the Qld. Rural Doctors' Network Families Program, and had a Flood Recovery focus, and the other one was a training workshop for the Child and Youth Mental Health Remote Team. 

In between, over the long weekend (Queen's birthday)  I had 2 1/2 days off on my own, which was a rare experience, and which I planned to make the most of. I went to the Regional gallery, which had an excellent exhibition, now finished in Cairns but going on tour...called Twelve Degrees of Latitude. It has artworks by many well known Australian artists and is curated from the Qld. regional gallery collections.

Mossman Gorge and Barron Falls

I hired a car and drove to Mossman Gorge, Daintree Village, and (the following day) to Kuranda and Barron Falls, up in the mountains west of Cairns. 

I did lots of rainforest walks, visited the Botanic Gardens (exotic tropical flowers) and even ran along the waterfront (I rarely run outside, but Cairns waterfront boardwalk is a wonderful place to run).

I also ate lots of barramundi. It was a good experience and a time to reflect on being grateful for staying in such a beautiful place, and for being paid to go there.

 

I'm back home now, back to marking and back to the cold. In fact its freezing here at the moment, almost. 

More later.