We love to travel but when we’re not travelling we’re having Fun in the Sun at home in Townsville Australia.
I wrote this post a couple of days ago when the temperature range was 17 to 26 degrees Celsius – a not unusual Winter’s day in North Queensland.
Winter is the Season when Townsville really shines.
Perfect outdoorsy weather to whisk our Kiwi visitors off to Strand Ephemera, the bi-annual Townsville art exhibition held on the Strand Beach foreshore. The 2km each way walk could only do us good after all our partying.
Read about things to do in Townsville here.
Read more in our Australia Travel Blog here.
The Strand is home to Ephemera for 10 days and 10 nights from 26th July to 4th August, 2019. As well as being an exhibition Ephemera is a competition with a first prize of $AUD10,000 and a people’s choice award of $AUD2,000.
Things to know about visiting Strand Ephemera
Entrance and Car Parking is Free.
Car Parking. Off-street at Jezzine Barracks Redevelopment. On-street along the Esplanade and North Ward streets.
If visiting with small children, the Exhibition might best be tackled in two shorter visits.
There are plenty of existing bars, cafes and restaurants along the foreshore for refreshments.
Townsville can be reached by air/bus and rail through Cairns in North Queensland and Brisbane in Southern Queensland.
If you’re driving to Townsville, we share all our recommended Free and Low Cost Camping spots in Queensland here.
And you will love our Free Camping in Australia tips.
Taken from beneath “Catch” a section of trawler net containing fish and birds endangered by excessive fishing and ocean debris.
Have you been to Strand Ephemera? Winter is a lovely time to visit the north so why not jump on a plane now!
Join Nancie at Budget Travellers Sandbox for Travel Photo Thursday.
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Oh we would love Ephemera, Jan! We have a similar annual event at Cottesloe each year and it attracts a lot of people. How lovely your weather sounds right now – why is it that Townsville always spells out ‘holiday’ to me!
Hi Jo, I have seen the annual Cottesloe event with some huge sculptures, on A Taste of Travels blog in the past. The weather is gorgeous here at the moment (she says smugly, lol).
I will be happy to stay at home and see all these works of art. They are amazing. Are some of them built with Legos?
Yes the lego is by professional Ryan McNaught, known as the Brickman. There were 10 unmarked works on display in the trees along the Strand, the idea is for people to see if they could find all ten!
For the first time this year we visitied our city’s “Scupltures by the Sea”. such a wonderful event and some amazingly creative sculptures. Townsville looks like they put on a fantastic show as well.
I have heard about Sculptures by the Sea and hope to attend myself one day soon.
Beautiful Jan!
My favorite: the red chair circle — so simple and elegant. Next is the crocheted coral and urchins, looking like the barrier reef.
Would love to jump on a plane — Australia holds my heart firm and fast. Thanks for the vicarious visit.
Regards,
Josie
I loved both the ones you mention Josie (must be our both being of a certain age lol).
Prety!
Thanks Lily.
If this is a winter’s day then let me live near you! Our summer clouds (admittedly, much needed) have returned and darkened our Seattle skies, which in turn have darkened my mood. Your post was a day brightener!
Wow what a fabulous advertisement for Townsville! I have never been to your gorgeous city, even though I have a niece that lives there. The Art Exhibition looked amazing.
Why thank you Miss Kathy. Can’t wait to meet you in person!
Brilliant promo post for my beloved Townsville Jan. We didn’t make it there yet. Maybe this weekend.
I made sure I visited this year because we’ve been travelling and missed the last few. It was great to see so many people on the Strand during the week.
That looks like so much FUN art! Except maybe the endangered fish one; that looks a bit creepy. I have friends who live in Townsville and really fell in love with the place when I visited. Such a pleasant town! It seemed a lot more the kind of place I could live in than Cairns, for example.
Ha ha, I loved the endangered fish one 🙂 Townsville does have more of a local feel while Cairns is certainly a holiday town. I love visiting Cairns, with the reef trips and the Tablelands and Port Douglas and Cape Trib to the north 🙂
I’ve been enjoying your Strand Ephemera photos on your Instagram feed. I didn’t realize that this was temporary and had hoped that it was a permanent public art exhibit. My favorite one is the Scrabble “IMAGINE” with a person standing in for the “I”. Is that sand castle sturdier than a regular sand castle? I’ve been thinking of all my Australian friends as I’ve been calling around my town in Texas looking for golden syrup to make Anzac biscuits. I think I found a store that sells it, but it’s a 40 minute drive away.
Hi Michele. The person in the Imagine is me 🙂 You could try making the biscuits with honey instead of golden syrup, or with maple syrup. The sand castles have some kind of ecoglue on the outside of them. If they are under cover they last for years!
Wow amazing art. It has been quite a number of year since we were in Townsville. Might have to schedule Ephemera in for 2016
Hi Paula, It is a biannual event so pencil it in for 2017. 🙂
That sand sculpture is amazing! I can’t imagine being the artist and putting all that effort into making one of those only to have it destroyed by mother nature in due course. Looks like you live in a wonderful place!
Thanks for commenting Ellen. It is a pretty cool place to live. Yes I wouldn’t like to make a sand sculpture and then watch it disintegrate!
This looks like a fabulous place for a stroll. I love the colorful works of art.
Ditto to both of those sentiments Jennifer.
The weather sounds lovely in Townsville. Great collection of works there. My favorites are the bird in the tree and the endangered species “Catch”.
They are two of my favourites Karen. Winter is the best time of year in Townsville.
What an awesome place to tour. I love all the sculptures, so colorful and fun. Great post and photos. Thanks for sharing! Have a happy new week ahead!
Thanks Eileen, we are off doing some exploring this week.
Hi Jan. What a great festival. The first thing that popped into my head was ‘Art at the Beach’. The sand sculpture looks like a major undertaking. #TPThursday
Art on the beach describes Ephemera exactly Nancie 🙂
Jan, I love your quirky photos. It looks like a fun day!
Happy Weekend Travel Inspiration!
Thanks Corinne, we went back several times and still didn’t find some of the exhibits. 🙂
Wow…this looks like a great art exhibition. I love all the colors and seeing all this great creative works. What a great way to spend the day.