Last year I made a decision I wanted to go camping a lot more than I had been. When I was a kid, our family used to camp a lot; we saw some amazing and wild parts of Australia, places I’ll never forget. So with all that in mind, I bought this little ripper (which…
Guess what? On Monday, my fourteenth novel went to print. Who would have thought that eleven years after Red Dust was published, that I’d still be tapping at the key boards and playing with my imaginary friends? Red Dirt Country is the third book in the Dave Burrows series – not that you have to…
Having been a farmer for twenty years, I can tell you what the reality of drought is: it’s dry dusty paddocks, with little or no grass. It’s dams that have nothing but mud in the bottom; sheep or cattle getting stuck as they search for water. Its people shutting their bank accounts down, none essential…
I’ve been talking to my siblings and we’ve come up with a Christmas idea that we hope you’ll enjoy. First off, let me introduce them to you! My sister, Susan, runs Black Jack Get-A-Way Bed and Breakfast which is at the start of the Flinders Ranges and my brother, Nick is a concert percussionist. Now…
I think it’s fair to say that we’ve had our fair share of dust storms over the last week! This photo could have been the start of the storms that hit Sydney. Taken in the north of SA (thanks Helen Williams) it shows not only the destructiveness of high winds and dry land, but how…
Well it’s been and gone… and what an amazing night! We started the launch for Red Dust at 5pm, but people started to trickle through by 4.45pm. By the time 5:30pm came, there was a definite buzz in the air, people talking, wandering through the shop and lots of laughing. We had over 110 people…
This is the second fog we’ve had in a couple of weeks. It’s becoming apparent that autumn is well on its way. It’s cooled down in the morning, calm and magic. Autumn is one of my favourite times of the year. We’re all eagerly awaiting rain and we start to watch the weather charts a…
Having just finished the last edit of Red Dust and farming, kids and just ‘life’ not allowing a lot of time for writing at home, I picked up my laptop and headed to town. Plonking down at a cafe on the Esperance Bay foreshore I started to focus heavily on Blue Skies for the first…
On a trip to one of local beaches recently, we laughed at this Christmas tree that had been transplanted from the roadside to the beach. Stuck in a huge hole on the beach, decorated beautifully and complete with a filleting table underneath, we’re pretty sure that ‘John’s Filleting’ and the rest of his campers had…
I love shifting stock. It’s great fun just slowly wondering them down the laneway to the paddock or yards. It’s where I do a lot of my planning for writing and because I’m outside, right in middle of my inspiration. It’s where I get most of my ‘light bulbs’ ideas. I never leave home without…
My late father-in-law had a saying ‘Morning is the best time of the day, I always say!’ and the past few mornings have been just that! Calm, cool and really quite autumn-like. It’s been a joy to be up and about early.
With recent rains, Red Dust Country is no longer brown and dusty! In fact it looks quite idyllic through these photos that my Mum and Dad took! Amazing photos of watching the water just as it starts to run down the creek and long suffering sheep on green pastures! It makes me wish I was…
Thunderstorms in summer can be dangerous things. Especially if they’re dry storms. After a 34 degree day, we watched as thunder clouds bore down on us. Harvest was well underway and we kept scanning the skies, willing the clouds away, least we get another hold up. Then the thunder started — I’ve never heard thunder…
Well Christmas is finally upon us — again! Not sure where the year has flown to but school has finished and it’s heated up so the signs of Christmas have arrived, even if it doesn’t feel like it yet! This is our (WA) native Christmas Tree, or commonly known as the Munji tree. It’s a…
Our dog kennels are under some native trees just outside our house. Rochelle and I were going to feed the dogs and discovered this beautiful flower just opening to the world! Mother Nature is amazing the way she works against the odds that we humans have created and produces things like this.
Look at this beautiful sunset! You know what that means, don’t you? ‘Red in the morning, shepherd’s warning. Red at night, shepherd’s delight’. We’re going to get harvesting tomorrow … I think! I could look at this sight forever, sipping a cool glass of wine… but there’s dog’s to fed and chooks to put away!…
Isn’t this a magic photo? Rob Duncan is the photographer of most of these country pic’s. He needs to be credited for the awesome panorama across the top of the web site, plus all the photos on the top right. Allan Moult, who’s my webmaster, has re-coded all these impressive photos to make the site…
