I'm leaving on a jet plan

By the time this post goes up I will be back in Australia! It’s been almost two years since I left Melbourne to move to Toronto – crazy how fast the time flies. This trip back is just a visit, but I’ll be home for a whole month. 

I figure if I’m going to spend 30 hours travelling across the globe I may as well make the most of it. Luckily, my books can be written anywhere so long as I have my laptop with me.

Living far away from home has made so grateful to have tools like Skype, WhatsApp and Viber which allow me to keep in touch with my family and friends. In fact, we have a Skype camera situated on the top of our TV so we can chill on the couch and talk to people just like they were right there in the apartment with us. But there’s nothing quite like the face-to-face.

So, in light of my plans I thought I’d share some of the things I want to do when I return home.

Cici the Chihuahua & her latest victim

Spend time with my family and family

This is kind of an obvious one, but I miss everyone so much. Lots of quality time is in order. Little sis and I have a date to play videos games together just like when we were kids.

Getting cuddles from this little lady --->

This crazy Chihuahua is high up on my priority list. When I lived at my parent’s place for two months before the big move, we became very close and I have missed her dearly.

Drink all of the coffee

I know I lamented this often, but the coffee in Canada is just not the same as what we have back home. I plan to café hop my way around the city as much as possible.

Melbourne's GPO building

Wander around the city

I lived in Southbank for four years before we moved to Toronto, and one of my favourite activities was talking a walk through the city early on a Saturday or Sunday morning. I’d get a coffee from any place that was open and just enjoy the peacefulness of a city still sleeping.

Talk to my fellow writers

I’m so excited to catch up with my old writer’s group, the Melbourne Romance Writer’s Guild. In fact, I am actually going to be speaking at their annual writer’s retreat, which is so exciting!

Back in 2013 I attended this same retreat as a newly aspiring author with so much to learn. I’d only been writing for about six months and I listened to fellow LoveCat Annie West and the awesome Anna Campbell speak about their incredible careers.

I was so inspired, and both Annie and Anna gave me the encouragement to believe in my work. I can’t wait to be able to pay it forward.

What would you miss most about your home if you moved overseas?

Movie Mojo

I’ve been watching a lot of movies this past month and it’s started me thinking about what I want from a good story. It’s made me analyse the things that work…and some of the things that haven’t worked so well for me.

10 Things I Hate About You
This is one of those “I’ve been meaning to watch it for ages” movies. Part of my reluctance was that it’s based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, which isn’t my favourite Shakespeare play, but fellow LoveCat Rachel Bailey told me it was fab, so I decided to give it a whirl. I’m glad I did!

I love, love, love that they made the heroine vulnerable, and gave her good reason for her cranky, refusing-to-conform attitude. That made the movie for me. Kat was strong and gutsy and her learning-to-trust-again character arc was perfect. I also love that they made her little sister kick-ass too (especially when I thought she was going to be a wuss). Go them!

But the one thing I really, really wanted from the movie? I wanted the hero to have a really good reason for agreeing to a money bribe to get Kat to date him. I wanted him to want/need something so badly that he’d agree to the deception…and then have to sacrifice that want/need to win Kat back.

Strictly Ballroom
I saw this movie when it first came out—BACK IN 1993!!! I still loved the story premise of a character fighting society’s expectations and doing all he can to prove himself. I loved his passion and I loved that he had talent to back that passion up.

So I had no issue with Scott. I thought him a fully rounded character. I loved Fran’s awkwardness, sympathised with her lack of confidence and self-esteem, but I wanted to know more about her. I wanted more background. What gave her the chutzpah to ask the hero to dance with her? And I want that answer to be more than she’s in love with him and wanting him to notice her (though that can certainly be an element). Maybe wanting to live up to the memory of her mother…and wanting her father to be proud of her?

For both of the above movies, I filled in those blanks for myself. ;-)

Australia
I loved the big sweep and broad canvas of this story. I enjoyed the fact that this gave the relationship between the hero and heroine a chance to go through several different mutations—dislike to friendship to becoming lovers. Actually, what I really loved is that they were lovers for a long time…and then broke up. It took them a while to work out what was really important. Once they did, though, they fought for it tooth and nail.

There was one thing I could’ve done without, though, and that was the cute-meet between Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman’s characters. The horror of seeing your undergarments flung about the street? Really? Yawn. Also, why on earth did the hero have to use her suitcases as weapons anyway? Another yawn. That just did nothing for me. In fact, the writers had to work hard to overcome my dislike of that episode. Luckily they were up to the job. ;-)

Case Histories
This series is based on the Jackson Brodie books by Kate Atkinson (who I love…and true love lasts a lifetime). I’ve wanted to watch it for an age. The great delight of this series is that the private investigator Jackson Brodie is such a complicated character. For a start, he can be seriously bad-ass. This is a guy who knows how to protect himself—ex army, ex police—but he’s an utter marshmallow beneath all that when it comes to vulnerable women. He doesn’t even need to like said women—often he actively resists getting sucked into their troubles—which doesn’t work of course and he ends out doing all he can to help them feel safe. The thing is, though, making someone feel safe and sticking to the law can be two very different things, which means our hero sometimes crosses certain ethical lines. This stuff made me think. Hard.

Not all of Jackson’s cases end happily, though, and I’ve found myself absently rewriting a couple of the storylines in my mind to give the people who deserve it their happy ever after.

So…while I’ve loved my mini film festival, I’ve also enjoyed rewriting the scripts to suit myself here and there too. Do you ever do that? And have you been watching any good films lately?

Michelle's latest release - The Millionaire and the Maid - is on the shelves now. :-)

Amazon
Harlequin

Journey to the Centre of NSW

with Sharon Archer

Wide open spaces!

I thought I'd take you on a pictorial tour of our trip to see friends in Outback NSW.  They run the Four Corners Farmstay and have this seriously cool logo:  

Have pillow, ready for sleepover!

It had been raining and I had a lovely time taking pictures of reflections in puddles...

While I was playing around the puddles, I found this really clear kangaroo paw print - interesting dimples in the heel...

Actually, I just noticed this weird visual effect - if I put the picture the other way around the heel looks like an "outdent" rather than an indent!  Does it do the same for you?

I think my photographic fascinations can be summed up as reflections, sunsets and "up close and personal"!  Here are a few small things that couldn't/didn't run away!

Lace of spider silk & water droplets

We tripped out to find the geographical centre of NSW.

Yep, we found it & have the picture to prove it!

All too soon, it was time to head home again... this is our lunch spot on the trip back...

A quiet spot for lunch

Our socks didn't dry in time to pack so I hung them in the back of the car!

Laundry to go!

Stopped over night at the Lake Cargelligo Caravan Park and went for an evening walk to the lake.  

yep, more reflections!

Spotted these galahs having a drink...

Sunrise on the lake the next morning was pretty spectacular...

And the galahs looked so gorgeous with the early morning light on their rose-pink breasts...

We're back home now!  It's lovely to go away, but always wonderful to get back home... even if it is cold and wet here at the moment! 

Thanks for taking this little tour with me!  When I first travelled through the outback, many years ago now, I found the flatness and the hugeness of it daunting but now I really love it!  So do you like wide open spaces or do you prefer the cosiness of rolling hills? 

Wanted: Family Stories of World War 2

Deb Dufel during her Top End travels in Australia

I’m so pleased to have my globe-trotting friend, Deb Dufel, visiting the blog today.  We were chatting on-line one day (me, sweltering in 40°C heat in Southern Australia and Deb, shivering in -15°C in the North American cold snap!).  


Anyway, she mentioned she was coming back to Australia to visit the War Memorial in Canberra again to do some more research for a story set in Australia during World War 2.

I was intrigued so we talked some more and I asked if she’d like to visit us on the LoveCats and tell us about her project!

Over to you, Deb!

Canberra War Memorial, K. Campisano

Thanks, Sharon!  I was really excited when you invited me to visit. 

Three years ago, I had no clue that Australia was literally the front line of the war. As I settled into my Australian life and we travelled across the top end of Australia we found various war memorials and we learned. Our friends shared a bit more history.

Then, one day, a friend pushed a USB drive across the table, and said, “These are copies of my grandfather’s letters during WW2 and while in Changi-Changi prison.”  

Outback Australia

Though he had survived the camp where only 1 in 1000 had, he never quite made it back. In the fifties, men were told to “just pull yourself together, mate.” 

Unfortunately, my friend and I shared an experience – her grandfather and my father suffered from what we now call PTS. Neither man spoke of their experiences.  And neither was able to live life to its fullest in the aftermath.  

An idea for a book set in WW2 Australia blossomed. In the beginning, I thought I’d follow the soldier line, and then more and more people shared their stories, including 90-plus-year old sisters, Edna and Greta, who had lived on an outback station. These women, who are cultured, beautiful and side-splittingly funny, shared their deepest fears, and we held hands and spilled tears for the men and women who never returned. 

 

Prison Boab

One day, Edna invited me to teach her how to use her new IPad. Her sister was visiting from the homestead and so for two hilarious hours they taught me!  Edna had set morning tea on verandah where we adjourned after the computer lesson. I was invited to “play mother” and later they admitted they wanted to see if I could pour properly. 

Greta, the younger sister by 10 months, asked what I did. Edna stepped in and said, “She’s discovering what us old bats did during the war.” 

Outback Australia

They started to laugh, and then took turns telling me one of their favourite stories - how they made bullets and shot them!  Apparently, Edna made the best bullets since she measured the black powder. 

“Greta just dumped it the casing,” Edna said.  “It was a waste - plus the kick knocked me on my bum.” She grinned. “But it was fun watching all the boys run when you came out with Da’s gun,” she said to her sister, before turning to me to say, “Gret is still a crack shot.”  

They lifted their delicate tea cups in salute to each other, their eyes twinkling with mischief.

Then they sobered. “Remember when the wireless man came with the telegram?” one of them asked.  Seventy years had passed since the arrival of a telegram announcing the death of their “baby” brother on some far shore, but the pain hadn’t eased for these two sisters.  

Wall of Poppies, Karen Campisano

 

A visit to the War Memorial in Canberra tore my heart. So many Australians gave their lives to the rest of the world. And yet, little is known of the women and men of the Land. The focus of my research subtly shifted again, to these unsung heroes. 

As a writer, I want to build as complete a picture of those turbulent times for the story I want to write. So, I wonder… does your family have a story that you’d like to share?  

If you wish please, contact me, Deb Dufel, at WMB_1941@yahoo.com

Furred, Quilled and Feathered Visitors!

We've lived on our patch for 15 years now (I got a bit of a shock when I did that maths I can tell you!).  Anyway, after such a long time, we do take the wonderfulness of it a little bit for granted.

But then we'll get an animal visitation that reminds me all over again how much I love where I live.

So today I want to share just a few...

There's the Eastern grey kangaroo family which has become a regular.  It's fabulous when they're in the orchard right beside the house and it's been an extra treat recently because the females have joeys. 

One of them is quite young, I think, and is occasionally a little wobbly on his feet.  And when you've got back feet that size, I imagine they must be pretty challenging to manouver!

With some warmer days and with spring in the air, he's been spending time out of the pouch.  The
other day he was particularly full of himself and was bounding around in circles - leaping over his mother and around the others in the group.  It looks like madcap fun but it must also be excellent exercise to improve his coordination.

I confess to spending a lot of time at the window watching and trying to take photos of his antics.  He's so quick that they're sadly blurry but here's one of them..





As well as the 'roos we had a very bold echidna visit a while ago.  They're usually rather shy creatures and tend to tuck their heads into a handy corner and present their spiny backs to us when we go near them.  But this prickly fellow was quite unbothered by us following him around as he rooted around for tasty ants in the garden.







With spring in the air the birds are getting very active.  Lots of the males get very taken with their reflections in the windows - this little blue wren spends hours trying to persuade his cheeky reflection to leave his territory!



And how about this crimson rosella perched on the wheelbarrow handle waiting for the bran mash for the chickens!  Isn't he magnificent!

We live out of town and down several kilometres of dirt road.  The potholes and corrugations, huge mud puddles when it's wet, then dust when it's dry, can be a bit of a nuisance. But it's so beautifully quiet and there's an abundance of native animals to enjoy and we feel very lucky to live here.

I know I've posted about our animal visitors before so I hope you'll indulge me and share some of the furred or feathered visitors around your home!

Simpson Desert Adventure

with Sharon Archer

We're back after an excellent adventure crossing the Simpson Desert.  The trip was amazing and we have so many photos.   I thought I'd jump right into the desert section of our trip and share some of the pictures in the "album"!

Just to set the scene here are some quick Simpson Desert bytes...

• it's a parallel-dune desert - one of the largest with around 1100 sand dunes
• some of the dunes are more than 200 km long
• the dunes run NNE - SSW
• the highest is "Big Red" at 40 metres (we by-passed this)
• it's a desert so very low annual rainfall - averaging 150mm per year
• Birdsville to Dalhousie Springs - about 500km (we travelled on the French Line to Knoll's Track and then dropped down to the Rig Road

So to the pictures...

Here we are at the first dune - very aptly named "Nemesis"!

A long, long, looooong road!

The GPS stayed with us and this looks like we're about to drive into a lake - we're actually about to descend onto the clay pan below!

Down on to one of the clay pans between dunes.

Here we are on one of the larger clay pans.

 

Stopped for lunch.  And looking particularly fetching, don't you think?  ;)

Pepe with the TVan

Sand and sky!  Love it!

And another one because I can't resist!

The Max Trax got a good work out on the trip.

Red dust!

More red dust!

And one last picture for the road!

That's a flick through a few pages of pictures from our Simpson Desert adventure!

What's the most unusual place you've been to for a holiday or perhaps that you'd like to go to for a holiday?

Food, Glorious Food!

with Sharon Archer

We're heading off to isolated parts later this year and the issue of feeding us is taking up my brain space!  We need to carry enough food and water (and diesel and other goodies) to last for three weeks.

That's 21 days... 21 breakfasts, 21 lunches, 21 dinners... 63 whole meals... for two people so really it's 126!  Eek, I'm scaring myself!  LOL

We're going to travel across the Simpson Desert and back.  There are no corner shops, no supermarkets, no handy service stations.  There will be... should be... diesel available at Birdsville and Dalhousie Springs on either side of the desert.

So, at the moment, I'm experimenting.

Some things are a success...

Homemade muesli - a big tick!

Chocolate and oats and muesli - another big tick!

And some things are just not worth the effort!

Dried bananas - MK 1!  Burnt offerings!

Dried bananas - MK 2!  Yummy but probably not worth the effort...

I want minimum mess - we won't have enough water to do big clean ups.  I want easy and quick because we'll be travelling each day and sometimes, after a long difficult day, I know the last thing I'll want to think about is cooking a meal!

I've got some dehydrated mince, tins of salmon and other goodies.  Will be preparing some precooked goodies for the fridge and vacuum sealing them.

I'm going to try out a damper in the Thermal Cooker and will be trying out a flat bread we can make on the road in the next couple of days. 

So I'm throwing the floor open... any suggestions for quick, easy and minimal mess food?

PS I couldn't resist a few gratuitous photographs from our weekend away in the Big Desert National Park... apologies to anyone who has already seen them!

Middle of nowhere!

Filling the worst of the ruts!

Glorious full moon on our first night camping

Sunrise on our third morning... even the old rhyme about sailors being beware couldn't dim the magnificent sight!