How does recycle craftist, author and trainer Megan Bayliss spend her downtime?

Every Sunday my husband and I pick a Cairns beach, and while he goes for a swim, I take bags with me and pick up the plastics. 

I’m a recycle craftist, so I’m into whatever I can find. 

I turn chip packets into women’s bags. 

I run workshops all over Australia. I make rainforest serpents from colourful bottle tops, and flowers and baskets from plastic bottles. 

I also wash and clean the material and sell them to early childhood centres.

I love making an impact on the environment and I love being out of doors and picking up free material. Doing the crafts is always a pleasure. 

It came about because it was either return to my job as a social worker (I was a child sexual assault therapist) or find a way of feeding my passion. 

I’ve always been a crafts person. I give workshops to anyone who is interested, so I get people who are in early childhood education, carers, therapists, anyone into new recycled crafts who have a near-zero craft budget. 

It also keeps plastics out of the landfills. 

On Saturdays, I like to do the shopping and get it out of the way. 

Sunday is a family day and I love going for drives around Cairns. If I spot somewhere with plenty of waste, I pull over and collect it and bring it home to my place. 

I also love to read and write. I’m published across a number of genres, from children’s books to business material.

I love catching up with friends and visiting local restaurants. I try to keep a good diet. 

I don’t eat food out of plastics but I will use someone else’s. To me, it’s treasure.

I read a lot of personal development and historical novels. At the moment I’m reading Launching a Leadership Revolution, written by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward. 

I like it because it gives new leadership skills and is about stepping out and helping people to manage their environment. 

I used to set time aside to write but now I just write when I can. I like to write in the botanic gardens. 

One of my children’s novels is set in Edge Hill. I just love the greenery, the animals, and the smells. 

Apart from my work as a recycled craftist, I love antiques and I source them on the Tableland. I love tea trios, ie sets with cups, saucers and cake plates. I have just moved house and so my collection has been reduced but I will build it up again.

I also like to read tea leaves with my girlfriends. It started when I won a book about Tasseomancy (tea leaf reading) and I found it fascinating from a sociological perspective, with all the symbols. 

In my career as a child therapist, I did sand play, and the symbols we are always playing with, and building our understanding of them. 

Tea leaf reading is about reading these universal symbols and working out what they mean, but I just do it as a hobby and for a bit of fun. 

My favourite part of the world is Cairns because I keep coming back to it. 

I was born and bred in Papua New Guinea. 

My second favourite spot is Seisha on the tip of Australia.

My favourite way to unwind is to listen to music. I love old-fashioned music like Abba, Little River Band and Sherbet. 

The most recent song I’ve listened to is by Barry McGuire. The song is called The Eve of Destruction. 

Learn more about Megan Bayliss’s The Junk Wave on www.thejunkwave.com

NEW CAIRNS.COM.AU COMMENT POLICY
We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Comments submitted without a full name and suburb/location will not be considered for publication. Please read our full comment policy and publication guidelines.

Share this article