Currumbin Sanctuary

Finally sharing all of the blissful photographs of a winter's day spent exploring Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on Queensland's sunny Gold Coast with my mother & father. After a little over an hour in the car, we arrived at our destination, paid $10 for off-street parking & showed our RACQ admission vouchers (members get a percentage off ticket prices), entering the National Trust of Australia owned sanctuary which has been conserving native & non-native wildlife for over 70 years, educating & entertaining families & tourists from all over the globe after humble beginnings as a bird sanctuary created by bee-keeper & passionate flower-grower Dr Alex Griffiths as a way to protect his prized blooms from local rainbow lorikeets in 1947.

Set across 27 hectares of natural, eucalyptus-rich bushland & rainforest, the sanctuary is home to native mammals, reptiles, bird life & amphibians as well as various exotic species & comprises of specially-built habitats, a free-flight aviary, Lost Valley enclosure featuring non-native species including lemurs & capybaras as well as fibreglass dinosaurs from the Jurassic period, kangaroo feeding & wallaby encounter, daily lorikeet feeding, koala cuddling, full-equipped & accredited animal hospital, tree top high ropes course for the adventurous, original small-gauge railway that loops around the 4 main stations, cafe offering everything from coffee & cake to gourmet meals, Blinky Bill's Treehouse & the newest addition: a Gruffalo trail based on the best-selling books by Julia Donaldson.

Scroll down to see how it all unfolded & find out details about what I wore...

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Dress: Gorman cotton

Cardigan: Taking Shape mesh

Ankle Boots: Renee Loves Frances leather

Tights: Razzamatazz 40 denier nylon

Bag: Nautica nylon, vinyl with silver hardware

Hinged Bangle: Wallace Bishop silver

Bracelet: Thousand Island Dressing wood beads, silver charms

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For this particular trip, I couldn't miss the chance to wear the amazing "Lemur Parade" cotton smock dress from Aussie label Gorman with its vibrant orange background & stylised pictures of Madagascar's most famous monochrome primates, a black mesh longline cardigan from Taking Shape, comfortable-yet-stylish black leather ankle boots with silver zippers from Renee Loves Frances in Bulimba that only seem to get better & softer & more malleable with age & wear, matte black 40 denier nylon tights from Razzamatazz to keep my legs warm (stylist tip: wear a size or two larger than your usual size to ensure that the tights remain opaque rather than "stretched out" & last much longer, particularly if washed by hand... they will also feel much more comfortable in Queensland's tropical climate) & a black vinyl & nylon crossbody bag with silver hardware from Nautica to carry all the essentials while leaving my hands free to experience all that the sanctuary has to offer. When it came to jewellery, less was definitely more - a silver hinged bangle from Wallace Bishop on one wrist & a black wooden beaded bracelet with silver charms from Thousand Island Dressing at Paddington on the other.

Feeling a bit like Mowgli being mesmerised by Kaa in The Jungle Book...

Blink & you'll miss the Spinifex Hopping Mouse!

The stuff that Aussie children's dreams are made of!

Heading up the stairs to Blinky Bill's treehouse...

Intrepid Companions

Forgoing the slide behind me in deference to my clothing choice but still enjoying the view from the treetops...

But first, coffee...

Relaxing with a piping hot Chai Latte

There are three koalas in this picture...

Can you spot them all?

Selfies on the Small (Narrow) Gauge Railway...

Across the wooden bridge at the Wallaby Encounter...

Iguana

Camoflaged Chameleon

Capybaras sunning themselves...

Tamarind Monkeys

Can't stop myself from twirling around in such a beautiful setting...

Tree Kangaroo

Literally THE ONLY lemur that I had the chance to see ALL DAY at Currumbin Sanctuary! Despite having the dress for it, the lemurs were having NONE OF IT, staying up on top of the bird aviary to sun themselves in the cold weather. Oh well, better luck next time...

#neverworkwithanimalsorchildren #showusyourgorman

Roo-topia

Spot the Blue Train...

More selfies on the Small Gauge Railway...

Cape Barren Geese

Bee-Keeping

A nod to founder Dr Alex Griffiths, Currumbin Sanctuary is working hard to help save the precious native bee population of Australia, a cause dear to my own heart. It's great to get tips on how to attract more Native Stingless Bees to my own back garden...

Lorikeet Feeding

Making feathered friends at Sanctuary Cafe...

Chicken & Chips with Pesto & Side Salad

Homemade Meat Pie with Mashed Potato, Peas & Gravy

Roast Pumpkin Arancini Balls with Cheese & Rocket

Washing it all down with a traditional Vanilla Milkshake...

Following the Gruffalo trail...

Finishing the day in the presence of THE GRUFFALO!

Kettle

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Dress: Taking Shape jacquard

Puffer Vest: Rockmans polyblend

Sneakers: Wittner neoprene, rubber, sequins

Bag: French Connection vinyl, pompoms with silver hardware

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Playground but make it far-shion.

Some little snippets from a cloudless wintertime afternoon at the playground (affectionately known as the "Ma & Pa Kettle Park" owing to the hayseed-shack-style, hillbilly-looking cubby houses) with my cousin & her two rambunctious munchkins. I'm posing in the rope ladder cylinder wearing a gorgeous, vibrant floral jacquard fit-to-flare dress from Taking Shape with a matching neon yellow puffer vest from Rockmans (yup, I'm from Queensland & yet I own a selection of puffer items in a variety of hues but the bigger question here is probably why I'm wearing a voluminous "event" dress to a playground... you know, fashion blogger life...), navy neoprene & sequinned sneakers with thick rubber soles from Wittner which were, in all honestly, woefully inadequate for doing any ACTUAL exercise/climbing due to their weight & "chunkiness" but looked awesome regardless & finally, a navy vinyl crossbody bag with pompom strap & silver hardware from French Connection to carry all the essentials while keeping my hands free for child-wrangling & exploration & scooter-ing on the new path by the manmade lake (sadly not pictured).

Scroll down to see more...

Monkeeing Around

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Dress: Anthea Crawford embroidered tulle

Jacket: Mano boucle

Ankle Boots: Midas calf hair, metallic leather

Bag: Pigeonhole leather

Belt: Hell Bunny via That Shop patent leather, elastic

Bangles: Gift, mixed metal, sparkles (from India)

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Sharing a few snaps of the retro-inspired outfit that I styled up to attend a recent concert featuring the surviving members of 1960s pop group The Monkees, whom I dearly loved when I was much younger & still do to this very day, particularly the songs "Listen to the Band" (1969) & their biggest & possibly best-known hit, "Daydream Believer" (1967). 

Despite the fact that many critics write them off as just a manufactured-for-television "fake" group who couldn't even play their instruments when the show debuted in 1966, I absolutely love the joy, frivolity & sheer lightness their music (particularly the earlier incarnations) brought/brings to the listener in/from an era where things could get pretty darn heavy with protest & folk music constantly intoning about societies ills, including the Vietnam War. Don't misunderstand me, I am utterly obsessed with Bob Dylan, Donovan Leitch & Creedence Clearwater Revival & play their records on heavy rotation but sometimes it's nice to just put on a song that makes you smile as you sing your little heart out... you know, the way the early stuff from The Beatles makes you feel... Yup, you read that correctly, I just equated the music of The Monkees with the music of The Beatles & I'm not sorry. I know, I know, Paul & John (& sometimes George & Ringo if I'm being absolutely pedantic) wrote absolutely EVERYTHING - with the exclusion of "Twist & Shout" - that The Beatles ever released but although The Monkees relied on the songwriting talents of others (including Neil Diamond in point of fact) the tunes still elicit that same bubbling up of joy when I hear the opening refrains to little ditty that I dearly know & love... & sometimes, that's exactly what music is all about...

But I digress. 

I could quite literally go on for hours & hours about 1960s/1970s music & bands & lyrics & songs & folk music & protests & Woodstock but that's not really the intended focus of this blog, so I'll describe the fashion. Early on, I decided on a palette of predominantly black & blush pink, wearing a gorgeous little embroidered tulle number from Anthea Crawford with a shiny black patent belt to cinch in the waist, a pattern-mixed boucle coat with fluted three-quarter-sleeves from a little boutique called Mano in Brisbane's Myer Centre, ankle boots made from blush calf hair with rose gold metallic leather accents from Midas & a black leather shoulder bag from Pigeonhole to carry all the essentials. When it came to jewellery, I mixed metals with a trio of gold & silver beaded bracelets on one arm & a single, pink beaded bracelet on the other; all purchased by a dear friend on a trip to India & brought back as a gift for my 30th birthday.