I was recently scheduling some travel plans and daydreaming about International travel again. I started to remember some of the things I did well and not so well on our trip to Australia in 2019. I didn't get a chance to write about all of the adventures there and thought I should! About time right?! After the trip my world became hectic - then it totally shut down, and I found myself back in the IT world again helping with a mask conversion project for hospital workers who were working around Covid-19 patients on ventilators...with a lot less thought on clay.

But, now I am back to clay and daydreaming again and thinking about travel. I think a lot about travel and love to revisit my pictures while I'm in the mindset of cohesively describing my own art practices as well as inspirations.

In October of 2019 - Spring in Australia, I started my clay exploration journey to Perth meeting many awesome clay people! You can read all about my travels in Perth here:

Potter's of Perth and Western Australia Part 1 - The Village Potters of Swan Care

Meet Carmelo "Mal" Capone and Naked Raku - Potters of Perth Part 2

Pottery Supplies in Perth Part 3 of my Adventures in Perth Australia

The mystery of the missing "Bella" Part 4 - Greg James Sculpture in Perth

Visiting Claymake Studio Part 5 - A Community Studio in Perth

Annemieke Mulders of Studio Mulders Part 6

Graham Hay "Guru of Paper Clay!" - Perth Part 7

Part 8 - More Ceramics of Perth and Western Australia

After Perth it was off to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast

...on the other side of the country! I thought it would be a brilliant (and less-expensive) way to travel by red-eye flight where we might sleep and receive accommodations for the night in an airplane seat at the same time. No such luck on the sleeping part. We landed at 5:30am and I totally forgot - oh yes, that distance also comes with a time change so it felt like 3:30am Perth-time on our body clocks. 

In true pack-in-the-fun "Amy style" travel - I had plans for this day despite our tired eyes! Just so happened on our travel arrival day - the Buderim Ceramics show was happening at the Buderim Craft Cottage just north of Brisbane a bit over an hour's drive. We hopped in a rental car and north we went along the Sunshine Coast arriving far to early for the ceramics show, so we plopped our tired bums on the sand for a bit in Mooloolaba Beach with the intent to relax a bit and find some breakfast before the show. The water and waves were so relaxing we had to sit back to back to not fall over asleep on the sand. As the town awakened it felt like everyone was arriving at the beach for sports events, exercise, and just enjoying the gorgeous sunshine coast despite a slight chill in the air. Big barrel waves were getting ready for all of the surfers!

The Buderim Ceramics Show was just lovely. So many inspirations from the flora and fauna of the gorgeous Sunshine Coast of Australia. Perfectly timed with the blooming of the purple Jacaranda's from Brazil and large Schizolobium trees with their incredible tall trunks and yellow flowers along with the red hot poker cactus with their yellow orange and red tops. 

"Isabella Sea Lion" - by Pam Thomas

"Mother and Child Dugong" - By Pam Thomas

I didn't actually get to see a Dugong in Australia as much as I would have liked to. These sculptures were a way to see some wildlife up close and personal!

I just loved the gum-trees and the shape of the gum flowers in Perth - it was nice to see them represented on this intricately textured sculpture "Gum Flower" by Karel Beech:

And c'mon - how adorable are "Nellie the Emu" on the right and "Beatrice the Emu" on left by Enid Wilkinson!

My favorite travel day always involves these items: water, something geologic, marine animals if possible, and something artistic, being outside, flowers, and birds, so this day easily was chalked up as a perfect travel day in my book!

"The Triffids" by Judy Kindness

"All a Girl Needs" by Deidre Phipps

"Princess Makeda" and "Prince Menelik" - by Rosanna Simonetti

"Tribal by Gerda Straub"

"Nesting Birds" (left) and "Big Sky" (right" by Karel Beech

Boy - if I had a suitcase large enough some of these would have been sure to find their way home into my collection - the showing of support for these fine ceramic artists warmed my heart though. Most of the sculptures on display had already been sold!

On our way back to the hotel in Brisbane - Ming just HAD to catch a ride with the OG Crocodile Hunter - Steve Erwin (may he be resting with the crocodiles he so loved and protected)

They have such furry little bums! And their pee smells like the Eucalyptus leaves - sort of a "spa treatment cuddle" those little Koala's are!

We would never attempt to pet a wild one - nor a large Kangaroo or Wallaby, but with the guidance of the keepers at Australia Zoo - Home of the Crocodile Hunter - we were allowed to get quite close.

It was a great close out to a long day without a lot of sleep to see ocean, beautiful flowers, incredibly colorful birds, native wildlife up close and personal as well as some fantastic ceramics!