Far North Queensland Adventures: The Story Behind My 2027 Calendar

Far North Queensland Adventures started with a theme. The theme for the season in Laura Jane Illustrations Creative Pals was Seasons, and I started thinking about what that could mean for me and my art.

I went to the library with my friend and found some books about Queensland. I looked through our old photos and talked to Paul about the trips we’ve taken to Cairns and the surrounding areas and all the things we’ve seen while we were there. There was a LOT to choose from.

We’ve seen daddy cassowaries wandering around with their babies twice. We’ve been up to Kuranda a few times and travelled on both the Skyrail and the train. We went to the butterfly sanctuary and watched a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, which was incredible. We’ve cruised along the Daintree River and seen crocodiles too.

There are so many memories from Far North Queensland that I could have turned into drawings, but there was one afternoon that kept coming back to me.

The rock wallabies at Granite Gorge

We were on a small trip with, I think, only about six to eight of us plus our guide. We’d been to the Chillagoe Caves, which were very cool, but afterwards we went to Granite Gorge and that afternoon has stayed with me.

You can buy little bags of food there and sit down near the rock wallabies. They come over to you and put their tiny little fingers on yours while they take a nugget of food from your hand. Then they look at you with these huge, beautiful eyes as if to say, “Excuse me. Is there any more?”

Most of them were very polite. One was not.

There was one naughty little rock wallaby who decided waiting patiently was clearly for amateurs and kept scratching at our arms trying to get to the bag of food. Both Paul and I ended up with scratches from the SAME rock wallaby. Apparently we looked like easy targets.

It was funny, beautiful and one of those experiences that sticks in your head years later, so when I started thinking about Far North Queensland Adventures, those little rock wallabies had to be part of it.

Then the characters started appearing

What began with memories of our trips slowly became a collection of characters, but it wasn’t a case of drawing everything once and calling it finished either.

I have drawn and redrawn things as the collection has developed. I struggled with the rock wallabies and asked another artist for help. The cassowary background has been done, redone and then redone AGAIN. Some characters came more easily than others, while some needed a bit more persuading before they became the characters I could see in my head.

Now I’ve completed the artwork up to September for my 2027 calendar (as I’m writing this blog post), and I love how each month has developed its own little personality. Every character has their own quirks and their own souvenir, and together they’re on one big quest through Far North Queensland.

The calendar has become much more than twelve pictures of Australian wildlife. It’s full of pieces of places we’ve visited, things we’ve seen and memories that still make me smile.

Sometimes your next idea is hiding in something you’ve already lived

I could have searched for a list of Far North Queensland animals and started drawing, but instead I went back to our own experiences. The daddy cassowaries and their babies, the train to Kuranda, the butterflies, the crocodiles on the Daintree and that naughty little rock wallaby who apparently thought scratching tourists was an acceptable method of obtaining snacks.

Those memories gave me far more than a list of animals ever could. They gave me the beginning of a story.

Far North Queensland Adventures is still growing, and there are a few months left before the whole quest is complete. I already know I’m going to miss these little characters when I get to December.

If you’d like to get your hands on the 2027 Far North Queensland Adventures calendar when it’s ready, you can join the waitlist here.