Okay, I’ll give you the heads up. A PR company approached me and asked if I’d like to attend an awards night that involved a high profile paint company.That was LAST NIGHT. I’m always curious to see what’s hot in the world of interior design and architecture, so would like to have been there but had to decline due to a full calendar.
Still, they sent me the results and I have to say, I am mighty impressed. Because I wasn’t there, I wouldn’t normally post this BUT being an arty type who dabbles in oil painting, even the use of wall paint intrigues me when it’s done with a bit of imagination. Who knows – maybe these images will inspire you to pull out a paint brush next weekend?
There were winners in both commercial and residential categories, plus interior and exterior awards, but I’m just going to show you the one’s that I liked the best. A quick Blog is a good Blog as Fletch always says…
Here’s just a couple of winning photos from the DULUX COLOUR AWARDS 2013:
The BIG MOTHER of prizes on the night was the GRAND PRIX 2013 Dulux Colour Award, for – ‘innovative use of colour in architecture and design’. This was awarded to the Atherton Gardens HUB Development in Melbourne and was co-designed by McCabe Architects and Bird de la Coeur Architects. That entry also took out the prize for Best Multi Residential Exterior. What a fantastic use of bright, bold colour to liven up a dull, inner urban environment! Love it.
Dulux Grand Prix winner – Atherton Gardens, Melbourne
Winner of the Best Commercial Exterior went to the Wintergarden Façade in Brisbane, designed by Melbourne company, Studio 505. A very innovative outdoor design (see below) that reminds me of a structured version of a Jackson Pollock painting – but WAAAAaaaay bigger. Maybe we should add one to Federation Square in Melbourne??
The next one, I fancied purely because of the simplicity. It’s perfect for an early-learning centre – bright colours, yet softly co-ordinated. This is from theJohn Septimus Roe Anglican Community School (JSRACS) Campus, in Western Australia by Brooking Design Architects. Isn’t that something we could all manage – surely? Stripes on a wall. Great idea.
John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School (JSRACS) Campus, in Western Australia
But for me, the category of most interest is Best Residential INTERIOR. I saw these pictures and was instantly BORED with the neutral, safe tones in our living area. I am feeling an urge for change. Big, BOLD colours!!! Like this winning design from a Queen St Residence, Melbourne, by Edwards Moore Projects Pty. Ltd.
In fact, apparently one of the main judges said on the night that the trend for BRIGHT colours was a common element among most of the entrants and winners. So there you go folks – looks like the days of beige, earthy interiors are over and it’s time to be BRAVE and immerse yourself in colour! Thank God. I am so OVER neutral. This could be fun…
Looking at the house above, I’m particularly keen on the combo of red and yellow, and yellow and black. I’m going to chat to Fletch about copying this in our backdoor entrance area. Although I think you’d need to get hold of some of those cool door knobs in bright colours too, to make it work. Fletch is going to be SO happy I have found a new domestic project for us!!!!
(If you’d like to see more photos of winners from the Dulux Colour Awards, go to this website: www.dulux.com.au/colourawards)
(NOTE: I was not paid, nor have I received any free paint to post this Blog. I just liked the story and pictures. People still find it hard to believe I don’t do this for money, but it’s true.)
Every year at the Aireys Inlet Open Mic Music Festival, there’s a surprise MYSTERY GUEST – someone famous who’s also achieved industry cred. In past years, the likes of Colin Hay and Tim Rogers have wowed the crowds. Usually this act closes the festival, performing last on the Sunday at around 6pm. It’s always the town’s best kept secret and absolutely NO ONE is allowed to know who the guest star is until they show up on stage.
So you can imagine the rumour mongering and guessing going on all weekend. Some said it was going to be Neil Young, who was out here from the US, but performing only the night before down the road in Werribee. But I didn’t mind who it was. I was happy enough to have discovered a remarkable young talent strumming the guitar earlier in the day at Truffles Cafe. Young Georgia Hughes is just eleven-years-old but plays the guitar like an old hand. Her play list is also impressive and her version of Skinny Love, made famous by Birdy, was outstanding.
I do have a confession about Georgia. We are actually very distantly related. I ran into her Mum, Erica, the night before at the pub and it turns out we’re step-cousins!!! Which makes Georgia my step-second-cousin, but we’ve never met so I can hardly be accused of bias for featuring her here. I truly think at just 11-years of age, she shows incredible promise and has a wonderful future ahead of her. I can’t wait to hear what develops for her in the years to come.
From Truffles, we headed back over to the Aireys Inlet Pub again to see some of the bigger acts – the likes of Berlin Postmark and Axe Girl from Perth, all drawing huge support. The weather could have been kinder, but the crowd didn’t care. The grounds were packed with punters, soaking up the atmosphere (and the beer!!) and bopping along to the beats.
My quick-thinking pal, Vanessa, found one of the best seats in the house up on the windowsill – a huge bonus. Sheltered from occasional drizzle patches, along with good company, a chardy in hand and fantastic music filling my ears – I couldn’t have been happier!
Later we took a break, eating again at the pub and to be honest, I enjoyed the Thai chicken curry from the previous night so much, I ordered that again… But this time, I also decided to trash my sugar-free diet and scoff down some dessert. Well, when it’s good tucker, it’s hard to say NO.
Speaking to one of the many publicans, (there are ELEVEN of them after the locals rallied to buy the pub last year to save it from extinction!!!) I asked which dessert was the best. I couldn’t choose between lemon tart and chocolate mud cake, so I said, ‘I’ll leave it to you.’ And this is what I was served – NOT ONE – but FOUR desserts. I was in sugar heaven. (Told you they are very hospitable down here.)
The gossip still ran hot about who the MYSTERY GUEST was going to be and the clock was ticking down till they were due on stage, so we raced back outside to grab our windowsill seat and see… tick, tick, tick…
Then WOO HOO! The audience went wild as Mark Seymour appeared. The former Hunters and Collectors singer, performing as Mark Seymour and the Undertow, was brilliant – his powerful voice drawing everyone to the stage with his energy. Especially his rendition of ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ – one of those musical spine tingler moments.
Festival director Marty Maher, me and Mark Seymour
I was lucky enough to meet Mark after the show, along with Festival Director Marty Maher. Mark said he was happy to come along to the festival, especially one such as the Aireys Inlet event, which really encourages young people to play instruments and be a part of the community. He’s also just released a new album – a covers album of love songs, which he says is a huge departure from the norm for him.
‘It’s a collection of love songs written by all sorts of writers, dating back to the late fifties till now. I just stumbled on the idea last year. I’d started an originals records and then someone suggested I record a cover and then I suddenly had two of them, so thought, why not go down this path?’ he said. ‘It’s really different but they’re all songs I’ve grown up with.’
It was the fantastic community vibe that Mark really loved when he was up on stage. ‘What I really liked was all those little grommets down the front giving me hell. I thought that was absolute gold. It was a very relaxed gig with several generations of people in the audience. That’s one of the great pleasures of gigging – playing to multiple generations in one crowd. It doesn’t get much better than that.’
And while Mark was the star attraction on the night, the other guy the entire community treated like a rock star was Festival Director, Marty Maher, who is pretty much a local legend. He started up the festival six years ago and says he likes giving back to the community, as he has two successful local businesses – a real estate agency and a bookstore. He says it’s important to give young people a chance to showcase their talents on stage and to have an event that draws the community together.
I asked him he managed to keep the festival as a FREE event and he said it was surprising how much people gave to the Donation Buckets scattered around the event venues. ‘People really do love this event and we ask them to give what they think it’s worth. You’d be surprised how many hundred-dollar bills turn up. It’s great.’
When you see young acts like the band, Altitude (who I saw the night before) and Georgia Hughes, Marty’s vision makes perfect sense. Altitude’s lead singer, Liam Brenner, has since sent me an mp3 file of one of their songs so you can hear it too.
I’m sure we’ll hear more from them both in years to come. And maybe in their Grammy speeches, they’ll thank Marty Maher for encouraging them along the way.
I’m still recovering and still basking in the musical afterglow of an extraordinary weekend at Aireys Inlet. A combination of both relaxing time-out away from the family with girlfriends, combined with pumping action at the Aireys Inlet Pub – the hub of the local music festival.
Driving along the Great Ocean Road, the coastal town of Aireys Inlet seems pretty quiet and sedate. Houses are dotted sporadically through the bush and there’s still a rural feel with plenty of dirt roads, squawking cockatoos and the crash of the ocean in the distance.
Even the General Store, with its petrol pumps out front, harks back to a bygone era. But last weekend, if you’d crossed the road to the Aireys Inlet Pub, it was another world altogether – a bustling, thumping hive of creativity and musical passion.
The car park was rammed as visitors from all over Australia and some international guests, joined locals for the annual Aireys Inlet Open Mic Music Festival.
A lone toddler gets up close and personal with a performer.
It’s an eclectic festival featuring more than 160 acts, which all donate their time and energy. What’s extraordinary about this event, is the wonderful community feel. It seems like everyone is the area has contributed on some level. Families turn up with toddlers and grandparents, while teenagers rock out up front, close to the stage.
Singer Ben Brown travelled from Bendigo to perform at the festival.
The local school kids painted designs over cardboard cutouts of guitars, which are plastered all over venues about town. Plus, this wonderful event is actually FREE. Guests are only asked to contribute cash to buckets at performances, with what they feel the festival has been worth to them. Wow. That’s unheard of!
And the food at the Aireys Inlet Pub is sensational! I was reluctantly talked into ordering a Thai Green Chicken Curry for main course, as mostly Asian food in rural areas tends to disappoint… Not so here. In fact, I think I’d be hard-pressed to think of a Melbourne restaurant that does one better. DELICIOUS. As for the chicken parmigiana, my girlfriend Vanessa couldn’t even eat half, the serving was so huge.
I was even impressed with the wine list. GOOD CHARDONNAY!! Yay – my favourite, a local wine, Scotchman’s Hill completed my overwhelming satisfaction with the evening. They’re pretty good at hospitality, these folk at the Aireys Inlet Pub.
After dinner, we braved the testing weather to head outside, but soon forgot about the cold when local band Altitude turned up the volume. These guys are one of the festival’s youngest, coolest and most popular bands – being veterans who’ve performed here for the past six years.
Here’s a clearer but less colourful shot. My camera was playing up in the weather… Lead singer and band manager Liam Brennan describes their sound as ‘garage rock’. He says like most rock bands, they’re hoping for fame and glory, all the while writing good music and having fun.
The guys have just left school and plan to focus on writing a heap more music while at uni before looking for serious professional management. They are super talented, so I’d advise anyone in management to take a look and get in line.
It wasn’t too hard to head home at the end of the night. As much as I’d LOVED the music and the vibe at the pub, I knew I was heading back to Number 8 Beach Road. Luckily, just stumbling distance up the road…
There’s also a comfy lounge-room, complete with open fireplace. We were too tired after the festival to light one up, but I was impressed there was chopped wood ready and waiting by the back door if we’d wanted one.
Earlier in the day, I’d caught up with Lili Biderman, from Great Ocean Retreats, who told me how she’d had the business for seven years, and couldn’t think of a better job. She says they have several properties, catering to both ends of the market – those on the budget end and high-end. And just to make you feel at home, they can also organise catering or car hire if needed. Now that’s service…
I want to tell you more about the mystery guest who performed at the festival on Sunday, plus the 11-year-old girl who stole my heart with her singing… but I’ve rambled on for long enough, so you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to hear that.
But one more thing before I go, if you would like to stay in the wonderful Number 8 Beach Road in Aireys Inlet, just get in touch with Great Ocean Retreats. This is their website, plus the rates for the property. Get in quick though. I’m seriously thinking about booking for next summer…
Sometimes the logistics of running a family get tricky. For instance, what happens if your husband has bought a ticket to a Neil Young concert this weekend (in Geelong) and then at the same time, you’re offered an amazing weekend away along the Great Ocean Road, staying at an up-market beach property overlooking the sea, to cover the Airey’s Inlet Music Festival – but your teen daughter needs DESPERATELY to go to a party in Melbourne and your son is playing in an all-important school cricket match???
Hmmm… As I said, tricky. Plus, this weekend happens to be our 23rd wedding anniversary. Which we celebrated in fine style at Ezard’s restaurant in the city last night. Definitely one of Melbourne’s best on every level. I was particularly impressed that they noted it was a special occasion and decorated our desserts to suit.
But back to this weekend. Often my amazing Mum and step-father help out with the kids, but as it turns out, my older brother had already booked their services… So Fletch, bless him, realised this was a great blogging opportunity for me and gave up his ticket to see Mr Young to stay home and ferry the kids about to their various commitments. What a guy!!!
THAT IS WHY FLETCH GETS A HUGE GOLD STAR THIS WEEKEND.
This ALSO left me free to turn this into a ‘girl’s weekend’ and invite along a few mates for a break from domestic and kiddie duties. And yes, they were pretty happy with the offer to head down to one of Victoria’s most picturesque holiday locations for an uber cool music festival AND stay at a beautiful holiday home.
Driving down to Airey’s Inlet, I had to stop along the way and marvel at the view from the Great Ocean Road. Truly stunning, isn’t it? As a child, I was lucky enough to enjoy several family holidays at Fairhaven, just up the road from Airey’s Inlet, so it felt a bit like going home.
Erin Hughes, from Great Ocean Retreats sorts us out
I dropped in to Great Ocean Retreats to pick up our keys and was mighty impressed with their organisational talents. Marketing manager Erin Hughes had printed lanyards for the music festival ready and waiting, printed directions to our property with the keys AND she had even found out what wine I liked and told me TWO BOTTLES of chardonnay plus a cheese platter were in the fridge waiting for us. Tick, tick and DOUBLE tick. I knew from the moment I met her she was my kinda gal!
Then we set off to the house and found a magnificent two storey property, with double-bedrooms both upstairs and downstairs, two bedrooms with bunks for the kids we left behind, and two living areas. Both double bedrooms also come with their own massive ensuite bathrooms.
The kitchen is modern and open-plan, with wonderful wide benches, which would be brilliant if we actually wanted to cook, but no, maybe next time… There’s too many bands to see down here to waste time slaving over a hot stove.
Even better, most of the bands are playing at the Airey’s Inlet Pub which JUST HAPPENS to be a stone’s throw from our beachside mansion!!! Now ain’t that a happy coincidence… Oh yes, the house is also walking distance from the beach too. Of course.
I’m going to show you more pictures and give you the lowdown on the music festival on Monday, but for now, I want to get to the pub and enjoy myself. And if you haven’t got anything planned for tomorrow, jump in the car and head on down. Cheers!
Sometimes Melbourne’s taxi services leave a lot to be desired. I really tire of drivers who don’t know left from right, let alone how to get anywhere, such as the location of our major icons – even the MCG. Why they don’t have to pass a test like the London cabbies do – with THE KNOWLEDGE – beats me.
And then, with our recent spell of hot weather, there’s the matter of personal hygiene… EWW! Shouldn’t the use of deodorant be mandatory??? Even better, let’s lobby for legislation.
But it’s not within my budget to afford a limo every time we go out. Heck, I’m quite happy with public transport if I’m not in high heels with trussed up hair heading somewhere fancy. But hang on… I do wear heels quite a bit….
So I was delighted when I heard a new service, called UBER, was being introduced in Melbourne, to fill that gap in the market – for those wanting something more up-market than a taxi but not so pricey as a limo. It’s already proved a hit overseas, with Uber cars in most major cities including London, Paris, New York and Berlin.
UBER promises a service with sleek black cars, air-conditioning and drivers who know exactly where they’re heading. (And are groomed appropriately!) Even better, Uber has an amazing I-phone App which is incredibly accurate. It will tell you exactly how many minutes away your driver is, so you can decide to proceed with a booking or not.
THIS is how a travelled when I headed out last night. Mev, the Uber driver, turned up to within a second of the estimated time and I never had to tell him which way to go to get to The Smith restaurant in Prahran. (one of my favourites!!)
It might cost a few dollars more (the average cost compared with a taxi ride is about 30% more) but the quality and efficiency are worth it. As well, you don’t have to worry about payment at the end of the trip as it’s all charged automatically to your credit card. Those details are sorted when you sign up. And you’re not expected to tip the driver either – just be polite! The website is easy to navigate too, at Uber.com.
Now isn’t that better than finding yet another tax driver who doesn’t have the right change? Arghhh – that always drives me crazy.
Now I can sit back and relax, and enjoy an UBER ride every time.
(NOTE: The Uber Group kindly donated vouchers to the Goodie Bags of our Sisterhood Charity function on Valentine’s day, raising funds for cardiac research at St Vincent’s Hospital)
