Why we love riding bikes
If you know us, you’ll know there’s a good chance we’ve arrived there by bike.
Whether we’re riding to a friend’s house, heading to an event, popping down the road for a coffee, or commuting across Melbourne, our bikes are one of our favourite ways to get around. They’re woven into our everyday lives.
One of the things we love most about cycling is that it doesn’t feel like exercise for exercise’s sake. You get to move your body while you’re on your way somewhere, breathing fresh air, noticing your surroundings, and arriving feeling more awake and connected. It’s one of those things that’s practical, joyful, good for your body, better for the environment, and sometimes quicker than driving. A genuine win-win-win.
Because cycling is something we value so deeply, we’ve made sure Giddy Garden welcomes people who arrive by bike. We’ll have plenty of bike parking so it’s easy for you to ride and find a spot.
If you’re able to ride, we’d love to encourage you to dust off your bike and join us. We can’t wait to see a row of colourful bikes outside Giddy Garden.
Potions, elixirs and curious concoctions
We care deeply about the quality of what we serve, good produce, thoughtfully sourced ingredients, and drinks that are made with care. Whether alcoholic or non-alcoholic, everything behind the bar will be chosen to taste good, feel good, and be worth savouring.
When we open The Giddy Garden bar, drinks will be more than just refreshments, they’re little rituals. Potions designed to delight, served by cheeky costumed characters.
We’re intentionally building our bar and future café with a low-waste ethos at its core. That means thoughtful choices around how drinks are served, where ingredients come from, and selecting options where we can refill. Expect kegs and refillable drinks, reusable cups, minimal packaging, and a strong focus on working with local suppliers who share our values.
We’re also excited to offer a rich range of non-alcoholic options, not as an afterthought, but as something genuinely delicious and considered. Elixirs, herbal infusions and playful mocktails that feel just as special as anything with alcohol.
Where ritual meets play
One of the things we're wanting to bring into the world of Giddy Garden is ritual and ceremony. When life is busy, uncertain, or full of change, ritual gives us a place to land. It creates moments to pause, celebrate, let go and mark transitions.
Ritual and ceremony have always played this role for humans, helping us make meaning, feel connected, and move through life with intention rather than rushing past it. They don’t need to be heavy or serious to be powerful. Even small, playful acts can create a sense of reverence, belonging, and shared experience. They remind us that we’re part of something bigger than our to-do lists and daily routines.
This is something Giddy Garden will continue to weave through many of our events, just like we did at The Garden Party. Ritual and ceremony, wrapped in performance, play, and creativity. Moments that invite reflection without pressure, depth without overwhelm, and connection that feels alive and accessible.
The moment the dream became real
One of the most beautiful things that happened in The Garden on December 20th last year was how alive the space became, full of wonder, curiosity, and a palpable energy that made the night feel truly special. The creatures, the connection, the play and shared delight transformed the warehouse into something lush and magical, and in doing so revealed the real potential of what we’ve been building toward.
Seeing the space shift from empty to enchanted allowed the dream we’ve carried for years to land fully in our bodies. For the first time, it wasn’t just in our heads or on paper, it was right there in front of us. That moment has sparked a huge wave of motivation and creative momentum. Our minds are buzzing with what’s next, and we know this space is going to become something deeply special: a place for community to gather around arts and wellness, rooted in connection, play, creativity and growth.
Building a space where language matters
Eri's non-binary journey has made us think a lot about inclusion and language, how spaces are named, who they implicitly welcome, and who they quietly exclude. Eri has been in spaces recently that have used very binary language that has left them feeling uncomfortable and excluded. Giddy Garden do not want to be a space like this.
We're still learning, still asking questions, still unravelling nuance. We know that language and care matters. We won’t always get it right, but we’re committed to trying our best and doing better as we go.
We want to create a space that is safe and welcoming for everyone, where queer and gender diverse people and people across many identities and lived experiences, feel genuinely safe and included. We’re committed to creating a space where care, understanding, and inclusion are not optional but are actively practiced by everyone within it. A place where queer people feel able to be fully themselves, not just around other queer people, but alongside humans who show up with respect and curiosity. The idea is not a space to hide away from the world, but one where we come together to deepen understanding, connection, and integration.
The Belonging Wound
For a long time, I thought my struggle was about belonging with others. What I see now is that it was about belonging with myself.
Growing up in a small country town in the 80s and 90s, there were no visible queer relationships, no language for non-binary identity, no models for gender expression beyond the binary. I learned very early that parts of me were “too much,” “wrong,” or unsafe to show.
So I masked and hid my weirdness and wildness. I judged myself before anyone else could. ADHD taught me how to adapt and shame taught me how to disappear. I spent years trying to fit into what I thought was “normal” including performing femininity in ways that didn’t really feel like me, believing that if I could just be desirable enough, acceptable enough, I’d earn love and belonging.
What finally changed everything wasn’t external validation and approval, which I had been seeking and grasping for my whole life. It was stopping the self-abandonment, the rejection and judgement of myself. Real, true, authentic belonging didn’t arrive when others accepted me, it arrived when I accepted all of these beautiful, unique, magical parts of myself that I now look at with reverence. It was when I belonged in my own skin that I started belonging in connection with others.
Letting You See My Non-Binary Face
I have been itching to shout this to the world and share this with the Giddy Garden community.... and also a tad bit nervous.
A few months ago, I stepped fully into my non-binary identity and expression and it has changed the way I experience myself, my body, and my sense of belonging.
For most of my life, I felt like I was on the outside looking in. I had deep friendships, community, love and yet something in my body never quite felt settled or at home. I thought the missing piece was external but it wasn’t.
The missing piece was acceptance of myself... all of me. When I stopped forcing myself into “woman” because it was the only option I knew, and allowed myself to name what had always been there, something big shifted. My self-judgement, rejection and self-abandoment loosened. My breath deepened. I stopped trying to prove or perform anything. I feel more spacious, more alive and more me than ever before. I can't even quite describe how magical this feels. I can't believe how much the intense fear of rejection from others held me back and even hid this side of me. Fear thought it was protecting me from pain and ridicule but it was actually sabotaging me.
Recently, I shared this story at Quinn Kush’s Risque event, an open mic for queers and allies, and it felt incredibly scary and affirming. All of us were topless too, adding another layer of vulnerability... the audience and those on stage. I’m looking forward to telling it again at the next OUTSPOKEN, whenever that lands, as we keep building the new space and focusing our energy there.
I’m non-binary (they/them). I’m queer. And I finally feel at home in my own skin. And feeling that brings both immense joy to have found myself and an immense grief at the lost time where I was being what I felt others wanted me to be (to feel safe and loved).
Small Moments of Ritual
We love weaving small moments of ritual into performance and entertainment, adding meaning, depth and space for reflection so an evening isn’t just something you passively consume. Instead, it becomes an invitation into presence, encouraging deeper connection with yourself and with others in the space. There’s a particular energy that emerges when intention is consciously mixed in, subtle, alive, and deeply felt.
Here’s one of the cards that accompanied a small performative moment upon entering The Garden on December 20th:
"Welcome to the Garden. Your first elemental ritual of the evening is Air. Air is the realm of inspiration, breath, and the first spark of imagination. On your card, you’ll find an invitation to reflect on what you’re cultivating in your life right now: What ideas are stirring? What experiences are you hoping to breathe into existence tonight? Take a moment to notice the breeze, the scents around you, the way your thoughts drift and gather. If you feel called, share your inspirations with someone nearby, or simply let the Air carry you into a conversation. This is your invitation to enter the night open, curious, and ready to be surprised."
Would you like a little more ritual and ceremony woven into your life in 2026? Watch this space.
What we mean by PLAY
When we talk about play at Giddy Garden, we’re not talking about distraction, escape, or “not taking things seriously.” We mean something much more intentional. Play is about having the permission for experimentation.
Play is a nervous system regulator. It helps the body feel safe enough to soften, open, and explore. When our nervous systems are regulated, we can actually learn, connect, reflect, and grow. Without that sense of safety, even the most well-intentioned learning can feel overwhelming or inaccessible. Play is creativity in motion.
It invites curiosity instead of pressure. It allows experimentation without the fear of getting it “wrong.” It gives us permission to try, to pause, to change direction, to stay in movement rather than getting stuck in one way of doing or being.
Play is community glue. It lowers defences. It helps people meet each other as humans first without judgement or expectation. It creates shared moments that build trust, ease and belonging.
At Giddy Garden, we bring play and creativity into everything we do, including learning, education, and inner work. Not because depth isn’t important (we know it is), but because depth doesn’t have to be heavy, stuffy, or serious all of the time.
Sometimes growth is serious, sometimes it’s gentle and sometimes it’s lighthearted, awkward, funny, or quietly tender.
We all move through a full spectrum of emotions, sensations and states across a day. We don’t believe in getting stuck in just one mode. Movement is important.
We’re also very aware that “woo woo” language and environments can feel off-putting or intimidating for some people. Especially if you’re curious about inner work but don’t feel aligned with a lot of what’s out there, or if it feels like everyone else is miles ahead of you. We want you to know: you are welcome here.
You don’t need to be spiritual or need the right language or even need to be playful if you’re not feeling it. We deliberately offer experiences that are grounded, accessible and regulating, with permission to arrive exactly as you are. Play, for us, is an invitation, not a requirement.
This is a space for people who want to explore creativity, connection and growth without overwhelm, without hierarchy, and without pretending to be someone they’re not. That’s what we mean by play!
Collaborations
We’re deeply grateful for the performers and collaborators who have been with us from the very beginning, showing up again and again with generosity, presence and extraordinary talent. They’re a core part of what makes Giddy Garden what it is. Alongside them, we intentionally welcome new performers into every event to keep things fresh, diverse and expansive. We’re constantly in awe of the depth of talent within our community and wider network.
As a collective, these performers weave diverse practices into a vibrant tapestry of voices, humans, and stories. Their artistry transforms stages, rooms, and even meals into spaces of connection and possibility.
By collaborating with Giddy Garden, they help us cultivate a living cultural hub where performance becomes both celebration and catalyst, sparking creativity, reducing shame, and nurturing community through art that is intentional, embodied, and meaningful.
3 ways to support us
Lately we’ve been sitting with just how much heart, time and care has gone into building Giddy Garden and how much more it still wants to become.
This project has always been about more than a venue. It’s about creating a home for brave play, meaningful connection, art, music, learning and care. A place where artists and facilitators are paid, where creativity is valued, and where community gets to gather in ways that feel nourishing and alive.
As we move closer to opening, we're also learning to be more honest and open about something that doesn’t come easily to us: we can’t do this alone. Bringing Giddy Garden fully to life, fitting out the space and continuing to pay artists, performers and facilitators, requires more support, ideas and resourcing than just our own capacity and than we actually realised going into this. As with many projects of this scale, unexpected costs have emerged, and we’ve had to come to terms with the fact that our initial fit-out estimates were optimistic.
So, if you’ve been looking for a way to support Giddy Garden, here are three ways you might help:
Ideas & pathways If you have thoughts, experience or creative ideas around fundraising, grants, sponsorships, partnerships or alternative models, we’d genuinely love to hear them.
Backers & believers If you know of potential investors, patrons, philanthropists, or values-aligned folks with resources who love art, wellness and community spaces, please connect us. (Or if that’s you… please let us know)
Makers & magic hands As we move into fit-out and activation, we’ll eventually be calling in artists, decorators, builders, crafters and creative humans who want to help shape the space together. If that sparks something for you, feel free to reach out now and we’ll keep you in the loop as those needs arise for us.
Thank you for being part of this ecosystem we are building. 🌿✨
Lessons from the year
The lessons Giddy Garden has taught me/us in the past year
This project has been one of the biggest teachers of our lives.
🌿 Community
More than anything, we’ve learned how essential a strong community is. The collaborations, friendships and support around Giddy Garden have made things possible that we could never have done alone. This dream doesn’t survive on it's own, it needs people backing it, shaping it, and holding it with us and we have felt that support and feel so much gratitude.
🌿 Patience
The opening of the venue has been pushed back again and again. We’ve had to learn deep acceptance, not letting the delays harden us, turn into frustration or into collapse. These things genuinely take a long time, and there are so many invisible steps between vision and opening day.
🌿 Boundaries
We had to learn (over and over) that pushing harder isn’t always the answer. Not overworking, even when every part of us wanted to force momentum, has been one of the most uncomfortable but necessary lessons.
🌿 Courage
There were moments when my usual pattern would have been to give up. When emotions were high, resilience was low, and the urge to curl up and walk away felt very real. ADHD means finishing things can be especially challenging, but nothing has ever meant this much to me. So I kept finding the courage to continue, to learn new skills, and to keep taking the next step forward.
🌿 Rest
Perhaps the biggest surprise: slowing down actually works. Pausing, resting, and working fewer hours, when done intentionally, has given me more energy, clarity and capacity than pushing myself to the edge of burn out ever did. Sometimes less really is more.
2025 stretched us in every direction, but it’s also grown us in ways we couldn’t have predicted.
Financial abundance
January has been a big month of reflection for me.
I did the 13 Wishes ritual over the christmas break, writing down 13 things I wanted to call in for the year, burning one each day, and letting the final one remain as my core intention.
What stayed was: financial abundance.
I don’t usually let myself wish for this. Wanting money has long felt selfish, greedy, or misaligned for me and even as I write this, I can feel a tight, uncomfortable sensation in my body. I’m letting that be there, alongside a deeper truth: a longing for stability, enoughness, and safety. An understanding that to live an aligned life and to sustain something like Giddy Garden, there are real, practical things that need to be paid for.
I’m slowly getting better at talking about money. About needing it. About asking for support. And I’m realising that financial abundance doesn’t have to be in opposition to values, creativity, or care in fact, it’s what allows those things to survive and flourish.
Through doing money work, I’ve started to notice some of the stories and patterns I’ve carried:
🌱 That being paid well means working hard at things you don’t enjoy.
🌱 I grew up with chore charts and comparisons that left me feeling ashamed of “earning less.”
🌱 Early jobs were done out of necessity, teaching me that making money had to be boring.
🌱 In my early adult years as soon as I would earn money I would spend it impulsively (on things that weren't important to me), followed by guilt.
🌱 I stayed in jobs long after I was unhappy because leaving felt lazy or inadequate.
🌱 I chose careers to please others, not myself.
🌱 I have undervalued creative work because “it’s fun, so it shouldn’t pay well.”
🌱 I grew up around scarcity thinking, even when there was more than enough, and have carried that thinking with me.
🌱 I would hand financial control to partners and feel powerless.
🌱 I would take the “easy” jobs because I didn’t believe I was qualified for more and had a lack of belief in myself.
There’s a lot there. And I’m gently, imperfectly unpacking it.
If Giddy Garden is going to survive and become the arts and wellness home we dream of, we need more financial support and I’m learning to say that without shame.
And for you, if this resonates, I’ll leave you with a few journaling questions:
🌷 What are your earliest memories around money?
🌷 What patterns or behaviours do you notice in how you earn, spend, save, or avoid money?
🌷 What sensations or emotions show up in your body when you think about money?
🌷 What does abundance mean to you, in wealth, health, creativity, play, or rest?
🌷 What are the things in your life that you love spending money on, the things that make you feel alive?
This year, I’m choosing to keep looking at this gently, bravely, and with curiosity and build a beautiful relationship with money, having financial abundance and stability.
Our 2026 Intention
Our 2026 intention: build a home for brave play and deep connection.
We’re building Giddy Garden as a space where play and creativity are the seed, not just for fun, but as a way to help people expand safely. A place where you can try something new, drop a layer of armour, feel more alive in your body, and still feel held by the container around you.
In 2026, we’re committed to creating a venue where:
🌱 Artists, facilitators and performers are genuinely supported — paid fairly, respected, and resourced to bring their full brilliance and ideas into the space.
🌸 Guests feel safe to be themselves — to be weird, tender, loud, shy, playful, gender-expansive, curious, vulnerable, embodied… all of it.
🪴 Connection is cultivated with intention — Slowly, without force, without being performative, but invited gently through thoughtful experiences, consent-led interaction, and community care.
We want to build a home where creativity is medicine, community is real, and a place where you remember how to play with ease. A space where arts and wellness come together.
A place where your nervous system is regulated and you leave feeling more you than when you arrived.
Fully Expressing Your Weird and Wild
I just returned from a canoeing trip with the wonderful Eddie FitzPatrick, who guided us as artist-in-residence and facilitator with Up the Creek. We spent spacious, nourishing days on the water surrounded by nature, reflection, and creativity.
My intention for the journey was to find the next layer of my voice, to express myself with confidence and courage. To stop shrinking, as I learned to do from a young age, and remember that what I have to say matters. To show up fully as I am, and to find the bravery to bring a podcast into being.
Another intention was to slow down. To practice being instead of over-doing. To row downstream, flowing with what feels aligned, rather than fighting against the current.
I’m remembering that I can be big. I can be weird and wild and fully expressed, just like the little girl I once was, before the world taught me to make myself smaller to fit in.
The Belonging Wound
Lately, the theme of belonging has been showing up everywhere for me.
I recently had a beautiful tantric massage session with a dear friend, where we explored the origin story of that wound. My five-year-old self, the one who learned to suppress her big, wild emotions to fit in, was finally allowed to express what she’d been holding onto for so long during this session.
That little girl felt like an outsider in her family. She learned early that big emotions were “too much”, that shrinking and people-pleasing was the way to stay loved. She believed love came when she anticipated what others wanted, not when she was simply herself.
I’ve been slowly unravelling those old patterns, peeling away the masks, learning to listen to my own voice instead of seeking approval outside myself. That’s brought me closer to a sense of authentic belonging... the kind that starts from within.
And yet, even when my mind knows I belong within my friendships, my community and this creative family, my body is still learning to feel that truth. To relax into it. To trust it.
There’s a story brewing here about belonging. Maybe it will find its way onto the stage at OUTSPOKEN tomorrow… or maybe it’s still ripening for the next one. Either way, I can feel it forming.
Go at YOUR Own Pace
We all get caught up in the grind — a world moving at a pace that’s impossible to sustain, with standards of success and achievement that are rarely human. For so much of my life, I’ve been caught in that trap too — trying to keep up, to measure up, to meet expectations that were never really mine. And somewhere in that race, I lost touch with what actually feels aligned.
I’ve spent years striving, comparing, competing… and I’m starting to ask — what would it look like to let that go? To move at my own pace, to row downstream instead of against the current, to give myself space and stillness to listen to my inner knowing? What would it feel like to truly give myself permission to go at my own pace? It would feel like relief. Like freedom. Like ease. It would feel like permission to slow down and listen — to trust my inner compass and follow my intuition without guilt. I wouldn’t need to shrink to fit into other people’s structures or overextend myself to the point of burnout. I wouldn’t feel guilty for resting. I wouldn’t carry the weight of impossible expectations.
Instead, I would flow with the natural rhythm of my own energy — with curiosity, with alignment, with love. My inner critic would soften into a kind, encouraging voice. I would stop comparing, stop competing, and trust that my timing, my path, my way is enough. That kind of self-trust feels like safety. Like unconditional love. Like knowing I’m already whole.
That’s what we want Giddy Garden to be — a sanctuary to step out of the rat race and remember there’s another way to live. A space to slow down, reconnect, and move through the world at your own pace.
Because when we do… I think life starts to look — and feel — pretty magical. 🌿✨
Play Nurtures Growth
Giddy Garden is here to remind us of the power of play when we are doing “the work.” Play nurtures growth and invites openness where heaviness and pressure would only close us down.
In play, the nervous system relaxes. The body feels safe enough to open. Our creativity wakes up. This can soften the grip of fear and overwhelm which can be big barriers to doing the work to heal old wounds.
What felt impossible to face in seriousness becomes approachable through joy. Play reminds us that healing doesn’t have to be another job on the to-do list, it can be woven into the way we connect, create, and move through the world.
We believe play and healing belong together and that's what we endeavour to bring to the OUTSPOKEN stage. Laughter and tears, depth and silliness, they’re not opposites, they’re dance partners. Both help us live the full spectrum of life.
Healing Wounds on the Stage
From my own experience of getting up on stage and sharing deeply vulnerable stories, I know how terrifying it can feel. Stories laced with so much shame that I never thought I would speak them aloud, stories I feared might cost me love, connection, or belonging if people saw the flawed, messy, wounded parts of me.
Shame is such a driver for secrecy. It festers under the masks we wear, gaining more power the more we push it away. And yet, shame is part of being human. Most of us have done things we’re not proud of. What I discovered, through speaking those stories again and again as I rehearsed, wrote, and read them aloud, was that each time the ickiness inside grew softer. Eventually, it quieted down. I began to see myself with more compassion, even to understand the protective mechanisms that had led to some of my shameful actions.
By the time I stepped onto the stage, I wasn’t trying to be perfect anymore. I was tired of hiding behind who I thought others wanted me to be. And what I found was that showing these parts of myself wasn’t just healing for me, it was a gift to others. Because we all carry shame. We all have moments where our inner children rear up, stressed or unskilled, and we do things we wish we hadn’t.
The same has been true with grief. Our culture has pushed grief into silence, hidden behind closed doors, when it used to be witnessed and supported in community. Sharing my grief in a raw and unfiltered way on stage was one of the most healing experiences of my life. Each rehearsal, my body shook, tears streaming. But I kept going, because I could feel how much this process was moving me through.
When wounds are spoken, whether in friendship, in community, or on the OUTSPOKEN stage, they loosen their grip. They soften. They become easier to hold. OUTSPOKEN has been such a powerful container for this, not just for me but for so many others. Healing ripples through the room, for the one speaking, and for those listening who quietly whisper, “me too.”
Photo credit: @hmerlfoto
Wear Your Ridiculousness Every day
I read a part of a poem from @christhecocreater. It reads:
“Every time I tried to look wise I killed the part of me that knew how to play. Turns out the cure for shame is wearing your ridiculousness like lingerie.”
Something about the way we are trained to be serious adults and this creates shame when the parts of us that want to be playful and ridiculous come out. We are all inherently playful beings, we just might have forgotten how. Society sees achievement and perfection as hallmarks for success but this doesn’t leave much room for being ridiculous and weird (because that’s not what the world has taught us is acceptable) and then we mask and hide ourselves away in secrecy the messy parts are shamed but I think why not embrace them all. Be silly, not force yourself into a box you don’t fit into and hide away all the messy bits that every human has, and I personally think are the most intersting and joyful parts of us. If we stop caring about looking silly and trying to always say the right thing, the smartest thing, the best thing, to come across as successful then we are building shame and squashing our essence.
I read a part of a poem from @christhecocreater. It reads:
“Every time I tried to look wise I killed the part of me that Knew how to play Turns out The cure for shame is Wearing your ridiculousness Like lingerie.”
Something about this really hit me. We’re trained to become “serious adults,” and somewhere along the way, we learn to hide the parts of ourselves that want to be playful, silly, even ridiculous. And when those parts do sneak out, shame shows up fast.
The truth is, we are all inherently playful beings but many of us have forgotten. Society teaches us that achievement and perfection are what make us valuable. There isn’t much space in that story for being weird, messy, or unpolished. So we tuck those sides of ourselves away, mask them, and pretend they don’t exist.
But those messy, silly parts are not flaws. They’re often the most interesting, joyful, and human parts of us. So don’t hide them away and force ourselves into a box that was never meant to fit.
If we stop worrying about looking smart, polished, or “successful” all the time, we stop feeding the shame that tells us we’re not enough and we make more space for our essence, our ridiculousness, our play.