
Your life... your story - Blogs, Videos & Podcasts!
As a kid did you ever want to just 'run away' and join the circus? - Well that's pretty much what Gai Weaber-Buchal did.
But this was no ordinary circus. This was the famous 'Ashton's Circus' !
We met Gai in Hervey Bay QLD on one of her stopovers while she's travelling Australia by herself in a mobile home, Gai is not only funny, she has a unique way of telling her story we know you'll enjoy.
Read more: PODCAST: From Rebel Runaway... To Circus Star! - Gai Weaber-Buchal
“WOW!... so for 2 years now you’re travelling full-time… awesome! So where have you been?”
– is a question we get asked often.
So we usually answer… “Well we checked out a bunch of towns heading north from Sydney to Cairns over about 4 weeks thinking we’d stay in Cairns maybe a week at most then head off to ‘somewhere else’….
Four months later we finally headed south again to a pre-booked caravan event in Henty NSW. Due to COVID this was cancelled at the start of March 2020 while we ‘overnighted’ in Toowoomba.
Six months after that we finally headed north again towards Bundaberg to see some friends. Hervey Bay was another overnighter… been here now the best part of seven months as I write!”
Read more: BLOG: Why We Prefer To 'Stick Around!' - Brian & Kaye
May is a very special month dedicated to bringing awareness and hopefully an end to Domestic and Family Violence.
This year, May 2021 the Hervey Bay Community in Queensland chose to honour their much-missed campaigner Michelle Howden a leader and advocate for Domestic and Family Violence awareness within the community with a get-together involving a walk, smoking ceremony and 1st Nations dance and songs.
Food-Wine-Pets-Travel was very honoured to be invited to help video the event – ‘Walk The Talk Shell’s Way’ – by Wa’pa Kir’a-ba Ah kit (Whisper By The Fire) better known as Aunty Shantel who explains why this issue affects all of us.
Read more: VIDEO: Walk The Talk, Shell’s Way! - with 'Aunty Shantel'
Ok let's get one thing straight... Please stop saying you're 'retiring'... and resist ageist terms such as 'Grey Nomads!'
For many people aged 60+, 'retiring' means to stop the day to day routine of that often dreaded four letter word - W-O-R-K. But are you simply giving up the daily grind or are you actively looking for the next 'adventure'.
After all - life really is an adventure right? Think of it like a movie - Beginning, Middle and End.
In fact most people reading this would remember the TV series Ben Casey and the opening phrase "Man.. Woman... Birth... Death... Infinity"
We all have different family up-bringings - some good - some great - some not so good.
Read more: BLOG: Where Are You Going?... ANYWHERE WE WANT!!! - Brian Pickering
It’s pretty well agreed that music – the right kind of music – can help soothe the soul and make people feel better…
But what about art? Whether you’re looking at it or getting involved in making it, Robyn Robinson – who we met in the Cairns Cool Waters Caravan Park has proof positive anyone and everyone is innately creative and once they connect with that inner artist they feel better and more inspired to focus and create a better future. Rob’s particular focus – the local indigenous communities in FNQ.
In this short podcast we managed to have a quick chat with Robyn to discover more about how they got on the road and WHY she is now off to Aurukun and what she'll be doing there with the local indigenous population - something she is very passionate about.Read more: PODCAST: Art Therapy For Indigenous Kids - Robyn Robinson
Recently we mentioned we accidentally allowed some little mice into the caravan.
Well - it seems we’re not the only ones with mouse problems at the moment – and we're not even talking about the poor people in regional NSW suffering a mouse plague in the hundreds of thousands!!
Nope – fellow traveller/lifestyle/storytellers Vantastic Aus have been doing a bit of farm-stay work – and got an interesting surprise while checking a bale of freshly shorn wool. Have a listen & check out their video too!... :-)
Read more: PODCAST: Mouse In The House (Caravan!) Follow Up... Brian & Kaye
Yep - the title says it all...
When Brian was a kid he often wondered why there was so much fuss over insects that his mum used to call ‘bloody bugs’.
At the time there was Bugs Bunny, Balmain Bugs and Moreton Bay Bugs… you know those lobster like delicacies drizzled with oil/butter, seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked on the barbeque in their shell.
Well The only bugs we’ve had lately have been in our caravan… and yes I’d have to agree with his mum Lucy... ‘BLOODY BUGS' and while we’re at it Bloody Mice ARGGGH!!!
Read more: PODCAST: Bloody Mice! - Our Story... Brian & Kaye
Most of us have seen the dances and heard the songs of aboriginal people around Australia complete with didgeridoos, clapsticks and fire.
But what does it all mean?
Well recently Brian was out riding his bike in a local park and managed to bump into Carl Fourmile - literally! - Carl is a Yidinji man from the land of Gimuy. Gimuy in case you didn't know is Cairns in Far North QLD :-)
Carl's passion is for his people and their history and through regular performances of indigenous dance and story telling in Cairns he's creating a greater connection and understanding of Aboriginal culture for all Australians and international tourists alike.
Last Friday Brian caught up with Carl again at one of the Minjil Dance Group's regular performances at the Hilton Hotel Cairns to see and hear first hand what they do.
Read more: PODCAST + PICTURES: Cairns' Most Interesting Dance Group! - Carl Fourmile
If you’re a true-blue, ridgy didge, dinky di Aussie with a love of Aussie humour… there’s a possibility you might already have come across Rockhampton’s best known bush poet – Bob Pacey.
He has a Facebook page called Australian Bush Poetry With a Passion – performs at the drop of a hat and apparently he can write a poem for any occasion. Be warned – he does have a wicked sense of humour.
Here’s one of his brilliant tales.
Most of us already know sport or hobbies like art or craft are 'good for the soul'... but what about music?
Not just any music of course - it has to 'sing to you'... (no pun intended!) - And we all have a story to tell - good bad or indifferent, but when your life's story turns your early love of music into 'self healing' - that's something very special.
At our caravan park in Hervey Bay QLD, we woke one morning to the most beautiful sounds - a flute - almost next door.
This HAD to be a professional getting ready for a gig somewhere right?,,, Wrong! as you'll hear in this lovely chat we had with Judy Lattas.
Read more: PODCAST: How Music Soothes The Soul - Judy Lattas
Do you use soap?... not everyone does for many reasons – including Kaye!
Although we should say she used to be a 'soap-free' product fan – but as you’re about to hear, a very talented lady we met in Hervey Bay in QLD is on a one-woman mission to make us all devotees of her hand-made designer soaps.
As she says on her website 'Soap Doesn't Have to be Boring! '
And you might just be surprised at Elisha's background... just shows when you follow a passion and put your mind to it, good things come of it...
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