If you watched Paper Giants on the ABC recently you may have stumbled across the name Susan Duncan, ex-editor of the Australian Women’s Weekly and author of some wonderful books including her memoir, Salvation Creek. With the ‘magazine wars’ garnering attention courtesy of this latest TV show it seemed timely to ask Susan to drop by. Here she gives us a peak of life on the fringes of Sydney … thanks Susan.
PITTWATER SNAPSHOT
“As I write this, its an early winter day on Pittwater. A low slung grey sky that meets seamlessly with the bays. Air so still its almost tangible. Summers pleasure yachts are long gone. Only hardcore residents, the ones who love this inland waterway and its quirky community with a passion that knows no bounds (well, not many), stay on to tackle dark night crossings in leaky tin dinghies in the cold. Not many can understand the sheer adrenalin rush, the quickening pulse, of surviving the worst the wind and sea can dish up when theres not even a moon to light the way. It makes us feel for a glorious second – immortal.
Weather aside, winter is a quiet time. It means open fires, the smell of woodsmoke, early dinners of hearty stews then into bed with a hot water bottle and a good book. The grass stops growing. Our tame wallabies find new fodder somewhere high in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Bandicoots abandon the bush tracks. Even the cockatoos decamp for a while until we are left with just our two resident sea eagles and a family of voracious kookaburras. Split a log for the fire and down they hurtle like missiles to snatch a poor innocent, sleeping bug from its rest. Survival of the fittest. Does nothing ever change?
Yesterday, we disturbed the winter hibernation of a small brown snake when we raided the woodpile. I was struck by the fact that even though we live just 45 minutes from Sydneys CBD, we could be light years away. But I felt a qualm of fear for our new Jack Russell puppy, Sweet Spot, who is eleven weeks old and perhaps too curious for her own good. Her introduction to bay life has been tough. Eighty-eight steps from boat to back door for a young pup takes stamina. Finding out waves are wet and cold was a shock. Discovering leeches are hard to shift once they latched on, came as an unpleasant surprise. But her biggest challenge, I have told her, is that she has very big boots to fill. Her predecessor, Chippy, died a couple of months ago at the age of fourteen. Every dog lover, I am certain, understands the heartbreak”.
About Salvation Creek
At 44 Susan Duncan appeared to have it all.
Editor of two of Australia’s top selling women’s magazines, a happy marriage, a
jetsetting lifestyle covering stories from New York to Greenland, rubbing
shoulders with Hollywood royalty, the world was her oyster. But when her
beloved husband and brother die within three days of each other, her glittering
life shatters… read more here.
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