Dear {{recipient.first_name_or_friend}} 

The weather has been fickle up and down the coast but Reef Check Australia has still been active both on and off the water.  Take a read to see what we have been up to recently and what is coming up soon for Reef Check Australia.

This months email includes:

• Action of the Month: Care for each other!.
• PRANAFEST
• Getting to know our volunteers
• News from the Field
• Brain Food
• Current Coral Affairs
• Get With the Program

As another month passes, and it feels like time continues to speed up, always racing away from us, I am reminded of a story I heard recently about life being like a giant bus. The bus of life comes down the road and you jump on. It has no brakes and no instructions. It has no map; it just keeps moving- with or without you. It doesn’t care if you are sick, how much money you make, or how successful you are; nor how you define success. It just keeps going. Until one day it doesn’t.

Sounds a little scary, right? And yet it's oh so true! How many times have you caught up with a friend; realising it's been months since you saw them. Or you look at your calendar and realise another month has gone. Or six. Time is flying… are you using the tailwind to your advantage, or are you gripping on for dear life? Would you recognise the difference?

Last month’s action of the month focussed on looking after yourself; put on your oxygen mask before assisting others. Now that you have that covered (or at least made a start.. right?) we want to take a look at how you can look after those around you; your community; as well.

Time is the most precious thing we have. We all have exactly the same number of hours in a day, minutes in an hour, seconds in a minute. So how are you showing up in those seconds, minutes, hours? Are you living the life you want? Are you showing up in the world how you want to be seen? What does this even mean?

Your community is all the people around you. It’s the people you interact with on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis. It's anyone you choose to share time with. It’s the people you turn to when stuck, it’s friends and family, coworkers, peers, and anyone with whom you have an impact through your decisions, buying power, words and language. How are you showing up for any of these people?

Thinking of all the people you interact with; how are you showing up with them. Are you present? Do you actively listen to what they have to say? Are you attached to your phone, to scrolling, to watching people's online life, whilst real life and real people are in front of you, sharing their most precious resource; time; with you- right here, right now?

This month's "Action of the Month" is simple. Just choose to be present. In anything. In everything. Switch off your phone, your computer, your TV and pay attention to those around you. Go for a walk in nature, and really look at how amazing the world around you is. Stop trying to multitask (badly, I might add) and be in the moment. In meetings; in-person and online. And see what happens when you choose to be present. This small change can make huge differences in your work, your life, and your relationships with your community. Are you up for the challenge?

PRANAFEST

Following on from the Action of the Month; to care for each other, and last month's action of looking after yourself first, PRANAFEST offers the perfect blend of the above, set amongst the beautiful mountains of the hinterland to immerse yourself fully in this first of its kind experience.

Created by The Flow State Experience’ PRANAFEST is the first edition of the teams Sunshine Coasts’ ultimate wellbeing & music retreats.

PRANAFEST is a totally immersive experience of connectedness within yoga, music, art, country, community & culture is a first of its kind. With an incredible, world-class team of facilitators, PRANAFEST offers an epic 3-day retreat-style event June 4 - 6. The full experience is going to be one powerful, collaborative energy shift ~ a journey to inspire self-love, community elevation and expansion. Sounds gorgeous, right?

The festival is blessed to have some of Australia’s foremost thought leaders, yoga teachers, breath-work facilitators, musicians, meditation experts and inspiring mentors. The first lineup announcement includes New Earth Metta, Dubarray, Gwyn Williams, Oka & Sound of Hemp, Dan Pauro, Chris Lane, Art of Connection, Liquid Lyrics, Nirvair Devi, Manoa and Flow Song with so many more to be unveiled for a completely transformational experience. So if you were thinking of how you might take the step into better understanding yourself and those around you... look no further!

The best part? Reef Check Australia is PRANAFEST's Charity Partner. We will help with the waste management, with donations from the event going towards supporting reef health monitoring along the length of the QLD coastline.

This also means that we are able to offer our Reef Check Australia supporters a special code that will get you 10% off your ticket... but get in quick! We only have 10 of these passes up for grabs.

CODE: Togetherforouroceans

Tickets available now https://events.humanitix.com/pranafest/tickets

With zipPay available through Humanitix (Buy now, pay later. Interest-free)

For more information visit www.pranafest.com.au

Getting to Know our Volunteers at Reef Check Australia | Tara Humphries

Where are you from? Sunshine Coast, QLD.

What motivated you to join our team? I recently helped out with raising awareness for Reef check at the beer yoga night and I enjoy getting involved in the beach cleanups and world environment day festival.

What project are you planning on focusing on? I love to engage children in learning about our beaches + reefs and how to protect them -I’d love to do more with that in the future.

What animal do you think best represents you? Osprey.

Night owl or early bird? 100% Early bird. 

Flying or invisibility? Flying.

Favourite food? Vietnamese

Favourite marine animal? Whales.

Thanks Tara for being an important part of Reef Check Australia.  

Clean Up Amity Point

An awesome team of volunteers headed over to Amity Point on Stradbroke Island to clean up some of the fishing debris, a result of the popularity of this area.

Our volunteer Marzia Coslan shares her thoughts on the event:

It was great to be part of the event funded by Healthy Land and Water. I always feel that seeing the amount of rubbish being picked up straight from the sea has a huge impact on public awareness. The only thing I would change is doing it more often to keep it in everyone's mind...and also to catch up more regularly with my Reef Check mates!

This project was supported by Healthy Land and Water, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

Yoga Events:

Earth Hour

To celebrate Earth Hour, our South East Queensland and Great Barrier Reef teams organised Yoga by Candle Light.

Tiffany aged 14 shares her insight on the event:

Earth Hour yoga was a great event for all ages. It was amazing how everyone came together so easily. The yoga by candlelight was thoroughly relaxing and everyone finished feeling peaceful.
The partner yoga was a lovely opportunity to experience a connection with others. This is definitely something I hope to do again next year!

Thanks to our Yogi's Gabriella Salmon (SEQ) and Tracy from Live and Breath Yoga (Townsville) for donating their time and skills to these amazing events.

Gin Yoga

By Liz Buccheri

Brisbane-based Reef Check Ambassador Krystel Stevenson organised and ran an incredible Gin & Yoga event in Milton this month. With the help of a few more Brisbane Ambassadors, Devin Rowell and Liz Buccheri, RCA welcomed a small group of community members to an hour-long Vinyasa yoga session that included 2 tasty gin cocktails throughout the night. The delicious gin was house-made at our venue, Warehouse 25, and was infused with calming botanicals like lavender and lemon myrtle which really enhanced the relaxing vibes of our yoga session. Our yoga instructor, Em, who is a fellow ocean lover and Reef Check supporter, ran an incredible session that left us all feeling relaxed yet empowered. She did a wonderful job of incorporating our drinks into the yoga poses that we did which was fun for everyone! She also incorporated many of RCA’s key ideals and messages into the session, including her focus on the significance of water throughout the night, and her final message to end the session about the ways that we can all protect and conserve our planet. The community members that attended the event all had an incredible time and some who were not aware of what RCA does were able to ask questions and learn a bit from our ambassadors. Overall, the night was filled with fun and enthusiastic, like-minded people who were all super passionate about our oceans and extremely supportive of RCA’s cause!

Great Barrier Reef

Over the last few months, Reef Check GBR team has hosted stalls at the Townsville Cotters Markets, Airlie Beach Markets, and Ocean Film Festival, Townsville. A number of our ambassadors and surveyors helped to spread the word about Reef Check and their citizen science monitoring. The reception was positive, gaining a few potential volunteers and entertaining some kiddies with "Who Am I" reef games. We are hoping to hold more regular stalls leading to greater community engagement for our GBR chapter. - Ingrid Naschwitz

Reef Citizen Science and Leadership Workshop at Orpheus Island Research Station

Kailash Cook, Reef Check Australia Ambassador, Surveyor and Reef Ecologic Intern shares his experience at the Orpheus Island Research Station. Read now in News.

Books

Unnatural History of the Sea by Callum Roberts

In this book conservation biologist, Callum Roberts explores just how early in our history exploitation of the seas began and what can be done to start to repair the damage. Also available as an audio book.

Shark Drunk by Morten Stroksnes

The art of catching a large shark from a tiny rubber dinghy in a big ocean is a quirky and interesting book about the North Atlantic and coastal history of Norway.

 

 Did you know there is such a thing as a Blanket Octopus? - check out this amazing YouTube video

• Tuesday 11 May 2021: Coast to Coral: What the Wreck is it! Diving into Queensland's wrecks and reefs
• Sunday 23 May 2021: Come visit our stall at Logan Eco Action Festival
• 4 June to 6 June 2021: Pranafest
• Wednesday 9 June 2021: Gold Coast Green Week: What lies beneath... A deeper look at Gold Coast reefs
• 27 August to 5 September 2021: Horizon Festival

If you missed our recent Coast to Coral online event, remember you can always catch-up by taking a look at our YouTube Channel here  

Thanks for reading! If you want to help our work to empower more people to protect Australian reefs, please consider making a monthly tax-deductible donation. 

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Reef Check Australia
1/377 Montague Rd
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