Dancing in the dark

10/02/201713/03/20174 Comments

*** UPDATED – SADLY THIS CLASS HAS NOW BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO LOW ATTENDANCE NUMBERS ***

A few weeks ago I was thumbing through my phone’s Facebook feed as I am wont to do when wasting time and came across something called… ‘Dancing in the dark’.

dancin-in-the-dark-maryborough

I shared it to my own feed, wondering what it was and friends from other places in Australia immediately responded – explaining it’s essentially an ‘exercise’ class which involves freestyle dancing around a darkened room.

So… kinda like clubbing back in the 1990s. Or maybe even now, for all I know?!

Before moving to Hervey Bay I was addicted to a class at my gym I called faux Zumba. I adored this class and my instructor Nikki. So much so I’d head into the city to go if I had a day off work. Les Mills gym-goers might recognise it as something akin to Body Jam or Sh’bam.

On moving to the Fraser Coast I checked for similar classes but could only find the usual Zumba options.

So… the notion of ‘dancing in the dark’ was kinda alluring. Not to mention scary.

I kept harping on at my learned friends. (Control-freak that I am!)

“So we just dance however we want?”

“For an entire hour?”

Yes. And yes. In case you were wondering. Apparently it’s also sometimes called ‘no-lights no-lycra’.

Friends I went dancing with in the 1990s attested to its fun-ness…. so I figured I might as well give it a go. I’ve been trying to work on my fitness and while I’m now going to Ocean Tree Yoga Studio twice most weeks, I’m struggling with cardiovascular exercise.

The classes kicked off on Thursday 9 February at The Studio in Maryborough – which also plays host to yoga, pilates and now barre classes.

I have to admit I changed my mind 20 times the day I was due to go. I felt unwell. I wasn’t in the mood. I couldn’t be arsed driving from Hervey Bay to Maryborough. And (in all honesty) I had no bloody idea what to expect and was a tad nervous.

However… I compromised and decided to go to my mother’s (in Maryborough) for the night. And, of course once there guilt kicked in, so about 30mins before the class was due to start I threw on some gym gear and headed off.

Chelsie – one of the yoga instructors greeted me and explained the person who had organised the classes was no longer involved, but they decided go ahead nonetheless.

I was thankful to see some other nervous faces arrive… all excited but unsure what to expect.

There were 6 of us in total in the end and IT WAS INCREDIBLE!

I thought I’d feel self-conscious and I might have for a minute or so, but it’s a bit like being at a club. Unless you go bounding into someone’s space you mostly ignore each other and do your own thing.

It’s dark so while you can kinda ‘see’ each other amidst the darkness and disco lights you don’t feel as if you’re on show.

And you really CAN dance however you bloody want. I thought I’d just do some do side-to-side naff shoo-bop-type movements…. given I’ve been ‘out’ dancing once in the last decade and it’s over 4 years since my faux Zumba classes but before I knew it I was bouncing about to the Black Eyed Peas… (And yes, even without alcohol to lubricate my funky moves!)

A bit of Madonna and I would have had some flashbacks to Maryborough’s Royal Hotel (aka Muck-hole) circa 1980s and 1990s.

Chelsie said she’s still working on the music and asked what those of us there liked. I said I was partial to some 80s and 90s stuff and top 40. I should have mentioned some of my old faves from faux Zumba, like Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga and so forth. But last night we had a bit of everything from 1D to Oasis to hip-hop etc…

dancin-in-the-dark

As we’re in the middle of a heatwave in Queensland and the room’s not airconditioned it was pretty bloody hot. But that was okay. We were all ready for it and felt like we’d had a good workout after.

Shoes are optional, but as there are tiles we decided it was probably better for our joints if we kept them on as the floor would get hard if you were leaping about energetically for an hour.

Some of us doing an end-of-class footsie. An ‘after’ shot of our sweaty faces wasn’t an option. 🙂

The time passes surprisingly quickly. We just grabbed a drink of water whenever we needed it and kept going. I was surprised as I’m pretty unfit and thought I’d need to take a break or two but I just reined in my jaunty and much-admired moves (!!) when I needed to.

So, all in all, I had a great time and am looking forward to more next week.

Dancing in the Dark is held at The Studio, at 4/71 Wharf Street in Maryborough on Thursday from 7-8pm and costs $7/person. Find The Studio on Facebook or call 0429 967 628 for information about the classes or others on offer.

I should mention it took all of my willpower not to make a Bruce Springsteen / Courtney Cox reference during this post. Mainly cos I thought readers might be too young to get it.

Would you try ‘dancing in the dark’?

A busy weekend in the Borough

03/06/201503/06/20151 Comment

It’s that time of year—the festivals start and the whales make their way up the coastline. And it all kicks off this weekend in Maryborough, starting with my favourite event on the Fraser Coast….

Relish Food and Wine Festival

I first went in 2013 and was pleasantly surprised by the event. My expectations were very high second time around, and although there were more food options in 2014, there didn’t seem to be as many stalls and I really struggled on the gluten-free front. My friends were delighted with what was on offer, but I asked at place after place for coeliac-friendly meals to no avail. In the end I bought a bag of organic gluten-free corn chips from someone selling salsa.

Nonetheless I’m looking forward to this year’s event with a stack of new sessions available. Not only can you attend the wine or beer and food matching options (for $25), but there’s also a Wolf Blass Master Class on board the Hervey Bay Boat Club’s boat travelling on the Mary River (for $30) and a long lunch featuring some great local chefs (for $85). I did think about offering my services to live-tweet the lunch (in exchange for a sumptuous repast), but….

On the beer and wine tasting front: Wolf Blass, Vintner’s Secret, Kingsley Grove, Crane’s Wines (a fave of mine from 2013), Clovely Estate, Uncle Bob’s Estate Organic Wine and Yenda Craft Beers will be in attendance.

Of course there’ll be food on sale (and I’m crossing my fingers re GF options) as well as music, stalls and the crowd favourite—foodie talks and cooking demos.

The event stretches from Queen’s Park right around the Portside precinct to the lovely Gatakers Artspace.

Tickets are available online for $12 or at the gate for $15. The gates open at 11am with things wrapping up at 6pm. Check out the Relish site for more info, including a map.

For social media fiends, there’s a Relish Twitter account, Facebook page, and Instagram account.

The hashtag du jour seems to be #relishfrasercoast.

Horsemanship Spectacular

If horses and people riding them are more your thing, local (renowned) horseman Guy McLean will be doing his thing at Susan River Homestead on Saturday evening.

In addition to Guy, his liberty horses and some bush poetry, there’ll be refreshments for sale. Gates open at 4.30 and the show starts at 6pm, so you can pop along after Relish. For more information check out the Susan River Homestead Facebook page.

World’s Greatest PubFest

What better way to recover from overindulging in wine and beer tasting than by drinking more?! Yes indeedy, it’s time for the annual PubFest.

Most years we’re champing at the bit (hee hee, notice how I slipped that in given the above event…. #sorrynotsorry) to regain the world pubcrawl record we won at some point in the past. I haven’t heard a lot of talk about the record this year so I suspect we locals are starting to find the event a bit passe. Who knows? We do have a short attention span and get bored kinda easily.

I didn’t even know what the theme was until I looked up the website (yellow Superheroes incidentally) and… the site’s got ‘Information coming soon…’ type text still there, so….

I’ve never been and have to admit it’s not really my thing; however I know you can get PubFest passports and have access to buses to take you from pub to pub and I suspect it’s great fun if you’re part of a group.

For more info check out the World’s Greatest PubFest website.

Sunday Riverside

It’s that time of the month. Yes really! Sunday Riverside is on again at (outside) the Brolga Theatre near the Mary River. Red Betty will be playing on the River Stage and a dinosaur will be dropping by. As they’re wont to do. #gatecrashingdinosaurs

Pics from FB page

I’m ashamed that I’m yet to get to a (first Sunday of the month) Riverside event, but hoping to make it this time. There are some chairs and tables around but you may want to BYO chairs and blankets etc. Food and drinks (including the alcoholic kind! 😉 ) are available for purchase, there are kids games and activities, and entry to the event is free.

The afternoon kicks off at 3pm and check out the Facebook event page for details.

Oh… and most importantly… Monday is a public holiday for most of us so we have a heap of time to recover.

Enjoy!

Making the most of what’s on offer

14/05/201514/05/2015Leave a comment

Last week I submitted my first ever article for publication and amazingly the Fraser Coast Chronicle printed it. Because I am *ahem* somewhat verbose, it was much longer than required and had to be culled. A friend suggested I put the entire thing on this blog, given that it’s got a local flavour, so here we go…

My biggest fear on returning to the Fraser Coast after a couple of decades was that that I’d find the region a cultural wasteland.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m hardly the opera-going type, I dislike most stage shows and don’t hang out at music festivals every second weekend. But Brisbane, like most large cities, always had something on offer. So even if I was happier at home watching DVDs and recovering from my working week I knew I could go to trendy markets, a local festival or catch a comedy show.

Which is why I’ve been pleasantly surprised by what I’ve found on offer since returning to the Fraser Coast.

I’m not normally a ‘joiner’ but have been busier here than I was in Brisbane. In fact, in my first year back I was kept so busy I even suffered from event-going-fatigue.

Maryborough Regional Arts Council – foreign film night. May 2015

Many people I meet complain there’s nothing to do and yet when I ask them if they’re heading to Relish Festival, Paddle Out For Whales, Sunday Riverside or Flickerfest they screw up their collective noses.

“I can’t be bothered,” they might say.

Interestingly, it’s not the out-of-town shows or big names performing at the Brolga Theatre catching my attention; it’s the Council and community events I most appreciate.

While I’m more than happy to bag the Fraser Coast Regional Council when (I believe) it deserves it, I love that it’s making an effort to entertain its residents and foster a sense of community and culture. Purists and traditionalists may argue for a focus on roads, rates and rubbish but people won’t stay here if there’s nothing to do. We’re not all great at entertaining ourselves and for many—pubs, clubs and weekend sporting fixtures just don’t cut it.

The first time I attended Gatakers By Night I looked around wondering where this eclectic group of people usually hid. Even my mother who knows half of Maryborough saw a lot of different faces.

Gatakers by Night in March 2015. More popular than ever!

Although you’d have to drag me kicking and screaming to a museum, I also recently visited the dinosaur display in the Maryborough City Hall, hoping the Friday night pop-up bar attracted other likeminded Fraser Coasters keen for something different. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t!)

I’ve started attending the foreign film nights run by the Maryborough Arts Council and will be at upcoming events like the Mary Poppins and Whale Festivals with bells on. Or at least with a vague sense of enthusiasm.

Of course not all events are free, but many are and most offer something for everyone. I don’t always appreciate the music on offer at Gatakers by Night but Iove its festive feeling and take the opportunity to have a couple of wines and visit the art gallery each month.

And although (quite frankly) I hate crowds, it’s wonderful to experience the energetic atmosphere of Relish or the Seafood Festival and celebrate with other Fraser Coasters.

Most importantly however, I’m just turning up. I’m making the effort to support what’s on—conscious we may ‘lose it, if we don’t use it’.

Although I’m a well-seasoned whinger it’s not enough to sit back and complain if you can’t be bothered making the most of what’s there. And that’s something even I need to remind myself every so often.

Fraser Coast Frozen Wonderland

29/03/201529/03/2015Leave a comment

Although many parents and grandparents have probably had enough of Elsa, Anna and endless renditions of Let It Go; I suspect they’ll be keen to check out the Frozen Wonderland on the Fraser Coast during the 2015 Easter school holidays.

Having nothing at all to do with the movie, Frozen Wonderland is setting up at the Maryborough Showgrounds from 3 – 19 April 2015, offering ice skating and tobogganing.

I know little about this event but saw it on Facebook and thought I’d share the love. It’s great to have activities like this (and the visiting dinosaurs) on the Fraser Coast, so I hope locals and visitors take advantage of what’s on offer rather than complain that there’s little to do.

There will be five (5) session times a day (each 1.5hrs) including a 7pm evening session.

I can’t ice skate to save myself and grew up in the 70s and 80s so am more of a roller-skating kinda gal. Well… I was back in the 70s and 80s. I note that they offer 4-bladed skates for kids under 5—which is what I would need (though doubt they come in women’s size 10!) 😉

All of the info you could need is on the website, including some frequently asked questions AND some skating tips! It also lists session times and prices—including packages.

Given this current ~~summer~~ autumn heat it sounds like the perfect spot to be!

Frozen Wonderland – www.frozenwonderland.com.au/
OR check them out on Facebook.

Review: Arkarra Tea Gardens, Dundowran

23/03/201415/02/20162 Comments

It’s hard to believe that it’s taken me over a year to make it to Dundowran. Worse still when you realise I lived back here for 3-4 years in the 1990s and spent my first 17 years on the Fraser Coast, without ever setting foot in some of the region’s smaller beachside locales.

However, I’ve been keen to get to Dundowran since last year when I saw (on Facebook) that the Arkarra Tea Gardens had reopened. I hadn’t heard of them before but liked the idea of something a bit different to the usual cafes – plus I’ve only heard good things from those who’ve visited.

And finally a month or so ago I got to see what the fuss was about when a friend and I headed to the Tea Gardens for Sunday brunch.

I have to admit to being shocked that it was actually so close to Hervey Bay as for some reason I thought Dundowran was much further away – however ‘Where is’ and my own car both informed me it’s about 15km from my place in Urangan (and given that Eli Waters is about 10km, it’s really not that far out of town at all!).

Thankfully my friend used her phone to guide us there once we turned off the main road or we would have had no idea; but once we approached it was kinda obvious cos there were cars everywhere.

I was surprised to see it so busy and we got the last free table.

The dining area is actually spread over a range of levels and locations so it’s kinda got something for everyone. I noticed, for example, some larger groups gathering around tables in the balinese style huts or in the pergola.

We arrived smack bang in the middle of morning tea and my friend eyed off the plump scones that kept wandering past our table, but we were both keen for brekkie.

We ended up going for the Eggs Benedict – which came complete with the usual – poached eggs on Turkish bread and hollandaise sauce but also with spinach and avocado and ham, bacon or salmon. I was happily surprised that they had GF bread AND rolls. The roll wasn’t huge but more exciting than the usual teensy pieces of store-bought bread.

It’s not hugely cheap (I think the Eggs Benedict were about $18) but they arrived quickly and they were delicious. The hollandaise sauce is always all-important in my mind and they nailed it.

I should admit I was also impressed that the person at the counter knew exactly what was and wasn’t gluten-free.

Before leaving we eyed off the lunch menu (so I’m keen to go back and continue my Fraser Coast steak sandwich survey) and the goodies’ cabinet. A GF chocolate brownie caught my eye, but thankfully I was full.

There’s a small gift shop in the café and we also took the opportunity to wander about the gardens and down to the lagoon to walk off our breakfast before heading back to the bay.

My friend and I both agreed we’d be back and without a doubt, Arkarra Tea Gardens may possibly become one of my new local favourites.

The Tea Gardens are located at 28 Panorama Drive, Dundowran Beach and open 7 days a week: 8.00am to 5.00pm. Check out their website, or you can contact them via their Facebook page, email or by calling (07) 4128 8069.

Fraser Coasting

Tag: entertainment