Thank You! That’s a wrap on our 2022 Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival, after COVID and weather delays we were finally able to hold our festival in Bondi and what a beautiful weekend it was! The sun came out and we were blessed with a weekend full of sharing great ideas, art + music and action for the ocean. A huge thank you to all our sponsors, partners and friends and volunteers who helped make the festival happen and thanks to everyone who came down to Bondi, spoke to a scientist, walked around our markets and art, enjoyed the music and helped us share hope and love for the ocean. |
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What's Next? With the super support of Waverley Council we are very excited to announce next year’s Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival dates. We will be on again in Bondi from March 23 – 26 and will be able to host our festival in the newly renovated Bondi Pavilion. | | |
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Beach Clean Success The Big Bondi Beach Clean staged by Take 3 for the Sea on our Festival Saturday had around 100 enthusiastic participants and we collected 4128 pieces of rubbish in just an hour. That is equal to 45kg, with 10.5kg being clothing items. The data was collected and lodged with the Australian Marine Debris Database after we sorted, recycled and properly disposed of it all. Participants gained some tips from Take3 about recycling waste at home to prevent it escaping to the sea. For more beach cleaning events check out Take 3’s website. | | |
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Markets We hope you met our passionate Ocean Loving stall holders at the Festival Markets. It was amazing to see all the organisations, products, and businesses brought together by their love of our Ocean. Plenty of people interacted with the SharkSmart NSW team, had a drink of super fresh water from the Clean Water Australia display, bought a pair of sunnies from Arouni and queued for a donut from OMG Donut’s. Many chatted to volunteers dedicated to protecting our marine life including Sea Shepherd, ORCAA, UNAA and AMCS. The Markets are back next year so if you own an ocean friendly business or know one - register your interest now! Spots fill up quickly so don’t miss out. | | |
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Volvo Ocean Lovers Lap Our Volvo Ocean Lovers Lap took place across Bondi Bay with the support of the Bondi Icebergs Club who hosted us, Pipping Hot who supplied the caps and swimmers (all made from recycled fabrics) and of course Volvo Car Australia who donated a drive for a week in the XC40 Premium Volvo Electric Vehicle that was on display in Bondi. Well done to the throng of enthusiastic swimmers and the lucky draw winner Catherine Wilson, we hope she enjoys zipping around Bondi in her Volvo. | | |
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Making Music A highlight of the weekend was the terrific live music performances. We were so lucky to have disco queen Chase Zera and her dancers, the ethereal Erthlings and feel-good ocean vibes of the Pacific Avenue boys on Saturday followed by Bondi favourite Declan Kelly, the lovely Jane Walker and the energetic and talented Billy Otto who closed out the festival in style on Sunday. Keep your eyes peeled for next year’s bands in your boardies live line-up! | | |
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Litterarty The inaugural Valerie Taylor Ocean Protection prize has awarded $750 each in prize money to Tomerong Public School as primary school overall winner and Calderwood Christian School as secondary school overall winner in the annual Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival Litterarty School Waste-Art competition. The cash prizes are from a new partnership with Bondi based Blue World who selected them from 28 finalists that were judged by local artists Merran Hughes of Blue World and Marina Debris. All finalists also receive prize packs from Australian Geographic and Jack the Super Prawn books. Visitors voted 'The Floater' for the People's choice awards. All finalists now listed on our website. | | |
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Fishtank Ocean Protect's number one spruiker, our sponsor and fellow ocean lover Brad Dalrymple brought our Fish Tank of good ideas for the ocean to life when he hosted on stage some of our ocean innovation participants. The hugely successful Seabin crew told us about their clever ocean clean-up invention, the pre-teen pioneers Lyv and Myla talked about creating their fully recycled junior swimwear line Cinnamon Cove and Arouni extolled the virtues of turning tyres into highly stylish sunnies as sported by Brad on stage during his interviews. |
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Ocean Lovers Lap presented by Volvo & Piping Hot |
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Take a look at the great wrap videos Piping Hot & Volvo have made that sum up our great weekend! If you wish to help us our supporters can make tax-deductible donations with UWE to get behind the festival so get in touch with us if you are interested in becoming an Ocean Lover before EOFY for a deduction. Email Anita - anita@oceanloversfestival.com.au . |
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