Cover reveal! The Last Station will be out March 1st. It's been three years in the crafting, from initial concept to outline (6 if I count the initial idea), numerous drafts, a first chapter that I rewrote 14 times, not to mention the other chapters and a couple of characters who didn't make the cut, [...]
Being a dog, I love ferreting about. Most late afternoons you can find me sniffing around the base of freshly watered pot-plants. It must be the dry weather because I'm really beginning to love the scent of wet earth and I've digressed into some of my, dare I say it, puppy habits-digging. Oh yes there is [...]
In my younger days I wanted to drive tractors, not the old jalopy kind with no cabin and a canopy of hessian for a roof, no siree. I've taken on the slip, slop, slap message, and I have excellent skin and hair so I'd hardly go for the old-fashioned trac-tor and risk a skin cancer. [...]
Sheep. Yes I know, being a kelpie I should be partial to them and I am but not the way you think. They would have to be the most frustrating animals. You run one way, they run in the opposite direction. You want them to walk through a gate then you actually have to get [...]
500 communities, 1300 volunteers cris-crossing rural and remote Australia offering everything from diaster support to a friendly ear and a cuppa. Meet this week's inspiring woman, Davida Melksham of Outback Links. This Like so many other women who wear many hats, I often struggle to come up with a suitable introduction. Quite simply, it is [...]
It was with great excitement that I received the call to be included in the Australian Women's Weekly rural portfolio for their March issue. The logistics however were a little harder. At the time I had already decamped over to the main homestead following more flooding. The question? When can I get back in to [...]
What is going on with the weather? The black cockatoo's are still settling in the belah trees and the slater's are still heading west at the first hint of possible rain so we know we are in for a wet time however other things just don't feel right. The winds have changed for one thing. [...]
I love January... well, I should clarify that statement. I love January minus heatwaves and drought conditions, I usually love January minus floods (although after three years of January flooding I should be use to that too!) and windstorms thanks to ex-tropical cyclones. January is 'brain rest' time for me when I can stop creating [...]
Drought, stock-feeding over christmas and New Year and cattle on the road, then floods. Who would have thought January could bring so much changeable weather. Another flood has arrived as I write this and although at this stage it does not appear to be as large as Christmas 2011-12, every flood event brings with it a [...]
I have always been a huge festive season person, long, hot days, plenty of good cheer (the food and wine kind) and time with family and friends. We're used to big christmases in the bush and with the temperature gauge usually soaring, on-farm jobs are scheduled for mornings so the Christmas week can be enjoyed. This year it [...]
