After a string of Sunshine Coast dates my next workshop destination was Yeppoon. We were officially in territory unfamiliar to us and the excitement was real.
New Territory
We left Noosa and spent a couple of days in Hervey Bay before heading to Agnes Waters and 1770. We’d only heard good things and it lived up to the hype. It was one of those places you drive away saying “I could live there” and it’s definitely a spot we wanted to stay longer than planned. (That’s happened more times than I care to admit!)
Next up we hit Yeppoon and were lucky enough to arrive during the back end of the Rocky Nats parade. I can’t even tell you how good the people watching was. Top notch. Could have sat at a corner pub and be quite content for the rest of the day. Alas we had to carry on down the road to Yeppoon.
Slowing Down
Quick little side note: At this point in our travels we really started to notice the effects of the fuel price increases and the interest rate rises. There were hardly any people in the caravan parks and next to no tourists around the usual haunts. This is a bit of a blessing and a curse. We love having space and not worrying about crowds. We also have never had to worry about booking too far in advance and popular spots that are commonly booked out are wide open! On the down side each place lacked a little atmosphere and we didn’t manage to connect with many other traveling families which was something we were really looking forward to.
Further to the side note: We hadn’t hit the worst of it yet but we definitely had to be pretty conscious of our spending habits. We’d gone all in on this trip though, renting our house out for 12 months and I also sold my car. If things got too expensive, going home was not a straight forward option. Instead we aimed to travel slower. That’s the quickest way to reduce costs and made sure we did a bit more free-camping. We each work a little here and there too which helps a lot as well.
Back to Yeppoon! What a town. We loved it here and I held two wonderful workshops at the Fig Tree Gallery workshop space. One of my favourite spots I’ve taught in so far. There's something special about working in a purpose-built creative space. It changes the whole atmosphere.
The morning session was the Intro to Watercolour workshop and there’d been a special request for an Intermediate class in the afternoon. I love this as an option because you can make a whole day of it if you like, or pick and choose your preferred session.
The Great Ayr Bungle
From Yeppoon we kept on trucking up the east coast, stopping in at Notch Point for a couple of nights. Another fun adventure if you’re up for it! And a cool little free camp. This is when we copped our most expensive tank of petrol, an eye watering $3.39 per litre. Then onto Sarina. This is where things get a little sketchy in my planning because I got my wires totally crossed and accidentally scheduled the Ayr workshop a week early. This was a huge blunder! (Speaking of fuel costs).
For those not familiar with this area, Ayr is 4 hours north of Sarina and 1 hour south of Townsville. I thought I’d popped it in the week leading up to Townsville when in fact I’d put it the week before so I left the family in Sarina, took the car and shot up to Ayr for the night so I could teach the workshop, turn around and drive back to Sarina. Ouch.
No shade on Ayr, that was entirely my mistake! By the time I realised it was too late to change anything. I had a full day workshop at the Burdekin Art Society in Ayr where I felt so welcome and there were some fantastic artists in the room! It was really fun stretching everyone to loosen up and get playful with their colours and we had an incredible assortment of flowers for inspiration.
Communities Worth Driving For
After my whirlwind tour of Ayr, I went straight into a class in Sarina in a gorgeous old school house in their Field of Dreams, a collection of heritage buildings in the heart of Sarina. I was again fortunate enough to gather a group of talented students who gave this style of watercolour a red hot go! Everyone was so warm and generous and it was a joy to be there.
By this point I'd realised the tour wasn't all about teaching. Every stop had its own personality, every community welcomed us differently and I was learning as much as I was sharing. It was starting to take on a life of its own.
Fun fact: When I first put up my expression of interest form for the Watercolour Workshop Tour, Sarina were the first group to respond to it. So it felt very special delivering this workshop. It had been a long time in the making and it reminded me so strongly of the early days of planning and all the fears of whether something like this wild tour idea could work.
Wind, Rain and Happy Surprises
Putting my little blunder behind me, it was time to head over to Airlie Beach where we based ourselves for nearly a week. We had envisioned time on the water, maybe a bit of sailing or getting out on the reef but alas the wind and rain that had been plaguing us the whole way struck again. The ocean was all chop, no good for any kind of water activities.
While we were in Airlie I did a day trip over to Bowen to teach an intermediate workshop with the wonderful people at the Bowen Art Society. It was such a perfect space, an open fronted shed full to the brim with old fashioned desks and drawing tables and a few modern ones too. It’s one of those places that really stuck in my mind because it was so distinct. We had a lot of laughs, some big rambling conversations and a beaut morning tea, alongside some loose contemporary watercolour florals of course.
Bowen itself was such a cool town. We totally underestimated it and have had that conversation several times with other travelers since. It’s a town full of natural wonders, it’s exquisitely situated and has a robust, generous community. I definitely wanted to stay longer and explore further.
We did have the most magical, fun and adventurous day trip over to Hamilton Island and somehow escaped most of the wind and rain (it was a mighty bumpy journey over on the ferry though!) I really didn’t think Hamilton Island would be my scene, but an old friend who had moved to Airlie suggested it and we thought why not. It turned into one of our favourite days on the whole trip! There’s no cars there, everyone gets around on golf carts so we hired one of them and zipped around the island. The kids thought it was the best. We beach-and-pool-hopped, ate like kings then jumped on the ferry home with big silly smiles on our faces.
Tropical North
After our windy time in Airlie Beach, it was time to head up to Townsville. Skipping through Ayr on the way through (whoops!) we did stop into a deli in Ayr for lunch that had the BEST Italian sandwiches.
We stayed just outside of Townsville as we’d had a series of caravan parks in a row and we really wanted to spread out and relax a bit. So opted for a HipCamp style situation instead which we really enjoyed.
I picked up some gorgeous native flowers at Sunday Jungle (thank you for sorting me out on the spot ladies!) in preparation for my workshop at the Townsville Art Society. This art society had the most incredible set up, it’s situated at the old Jezzine barracks right on the coast. One barracks was a dedicated work space and they had a second one next door set up as a gallery! It was amazing!
I had a week's break between Townsville and Cairns (can you tell I was keeping a pretty tight schedule!) so we stopped in at Etty Bay, this campground was recommended to me by one of my studio neighbours at Ashmore Arts. It was a little pocket of heaven, we even had a cassowary wander through our campsite. It’s 10 minutes south of Innisfail so I’d go up there to their excellent library to do some work while the kids lapped it up at the campground. I’d stop at road side stalls to collect fruit and veg. It was the beginning of a new chapter and such a nice little break after a very busy time.
Cairns felt like the big smoke compared to many of the places we’d been in the previous weeks. We stayed at a big flashy caravan park that the kids loved. If you know you know. And I got settled in ready for my workshop at the Cairns Botanic Gardens Visitors Centre. The Botanic Gardens were so beautiful, I especially loved the conservatory filled with exotic ferns, orchids and tropical plants. I had been hoping to take the students into the gardens to gather inspiration but yet another day of wind and rain was forecast! So instead we stayed in the visitors centre and painted up a storm.
Into the Rainforest
Our plans after Cairns stalled a little as we really had to get our caravan serviced before we took it on the next big adventure and we left it quite late to book. Instead we went up to Cape Tribulation, a coastal area where the Daintree rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. We spent a week there and soaked up the most incredible nature, it’s hard to even explain without imagery. Plants on plants on plants. Dense canopies and saturated green. Butterflies you could barely believe to be real. It was an incredible experience.
After our rainforest immersion returning to civilization felt like popping out of the dark back into the light. We headed back to Cairns to get the car and caravan prepped for Cape York. Next stop Cooktown, baby!
First Leg Complete
Looking back, this first leg of the tour taught me so much. About teaching, about travelling as a family, about adapting when things don't go to plan and about the generosity of regional communities. Every workshop, every campsite and every conversation added something unexpected. By the time we left Cairns, I felt like we'd already lived a dozen little adventures—and somehow the biggest one was still to come.
Looking Back
Victoria → Cairns
17 workshop stops
23 workshop events
257 students
Thousands of kilometres travelled
Countless cups of coffee
One accidental 8-hour round trip to Ayr 😅
