After the excess of summer – I’m talking setting up shop in beer gardens every weekend, buying (and only sometimes wearing) a series of brightly coloured Tiki-style shirts, and that one overly long and debauched weekend at a beach house that I struggle to recall in detail – April is a good time to rejuvenate, restore, recharge, and maybe reset your finances. You could turn over a leaf, become a person who downloads free meditation apps and follows YouTube yoga tutorials. Alternately you could gorge yourself on Easter chocolate for one glorious day, before the three-day stomach ache and the urge to hibernate until September sets in.
Well, you could do those things, or – just putting it out there – you could put on your big girl pants and leave the house for one of these fun, wholesome and v. v. affordable activities for under $20. Yup, it’s a revelation: doing things outside does not have to cost an arm, a leg and your already diminished dignity.
Get your butt to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games
Did you know you can nab tix to the prelim rounds of Track and Field Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Hockey, Lawn Bowls, Squash, Table Tennis or Wrestling at the GC2018 Commonwealth Games for the low, low price of $20? And that the price of that ticket includes free public transport? April 4 to 15, venues around the Gold Coast, featuring you, sporting an absurdly large foam hand and shouting “C’mon!” at profesh sportspeople, who defs know more about Badminton than you.
If sportsball ain’t yo thing, but Aussie indie music is, Amy Shark is playing as part of GC2018’s cheap as free Festival 2018 at Broadbeach on April 4, before Sahara Beck on April 8, and Kate Miller-Heidke on April 14. KEEN.
If you’re more of a foodie than a folkie, you’re probably gonna want to head along to GC2018’s food market, Nightquarter Festival in Helensvale, April 5 to 14, where you can gobble up freshly shucked oysters, vegan falafels and more, all while soakin’ up music, dance ‘n theatre. My stomach’s a-grumblin’…
And that’s just the tip: you’re gonna wanna know more about the (mostly) FREE – yahuh, free – Festival 2018 featuring public art, theatre, dance, film ‘n more that’s going in celebration of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games by having a squiz HERE. Probs won’t be spending much time in the office if we can help it tbh.
Check out GOMA’s largest ever solo exhibition by an Oz artist
Patricia Piccinini – perhaps best known for creating the greatest piece of public art Australia has ever seen, The Skywhale – has taken over the entire ground floor of Brisbane‘s Gallery of Modern Art for her solo exhibition, Curious Affection. It’s fantastic and whimsical and perhaps a touch uncomfortable – in a way that confronts our understanding of ourselves, our environment, and the rapidly advancing technologies that shape us.
Tix to GOMA’s largest ever solo exhibition by an Aussie artist will set you back $18, from now until August 5.
Go for brunch at new Brissie restaurant Three Blue Ducks
Much-loved NSW eating hole, Three Blue Ducks, takes up residence in new luxury hotel, W Brisbane, this month. The restaurant is known in Sydney and Byron Bay for its focus on fresh, local produce, and plans to bring that ethos up to Brissie, offering brekkie, lunch and dinner with a view.
Gonna be totally honest here and acknowledge that only some of the menu is under a $20, but if you share a big dish, you’ll be right. Or you could just go sling back a coupla Virgin Marys and then bail.
Vindicate your inner vinyl snob for Record Store Day
April 21 is the annual celebration of all things vinyl: Record Store Day. How much you spend on it as up to you – but it’s certainly possible to bring in the day for less than a $20, especially if you’re only there for a rare as hell 7″. The international event isn’t just for vinyl buffs looking to pick up a one-off, but also for live music fans, with free gigs on pretty much everywhere.
We’ll let US RSD ambassadors Run the Jewels do the rest of the talking.
https://vimeo.com/255897860
See the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy join forces
Avengers: Infinity War is out in cinemas on April 25 – and if you choose your day and cinema right you could get into a 3D screening for less than a $20.
All of the Marvel heroes/movie stars are back (let me take a deep breath): Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, Chris Pratt, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Zoe Saldana, the list could just go on and on and on. They’re all in it, there’s more of them I can’t be bothered to list, they unite against Josh Brolin‘s evil Thanos, this is very much an A.C.T.I.O.N. movie.
Take a magic moonlit kayak ride
As part of the annual Bleach* Festival in the Gold Coast – which this year buddies up with GC2018 – you can hop into a kayak and tour the Currumbin Estuary with local performers and artists Alicia Min Harvie, Ashleigh White and Viviane Frehner. It’s Quiet by Nature, an immersive theatre ‘n dance experience, bringing you face to face with the Gold Coast’s natural beauty for only a tenner, April 5 to 18.
If you don’t fancy braving the elements, Bleach* has heaps more on its bill, including An Evening with Archie Roach, bona fide national treasure, for a steal: just $15 on April 7.
