Indigo Storm and Summer fun

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written on my blog – and once again, I’m sorry!

Indigo Storm, my next book, has been taking my time away from here – I had a deadline which I didn’t make… THREE times! Finally, right on the death knock of November, I managed to get the finished product into Allen and Unwin, for editing. So, I’m sure you’ll understand that I’ve been busy!

But now it’s time for a little break and I’m looking forward to doing a lot of reading, sleeping and eating over the next month. Before starting on the next book, White Lightning.

Just a little side note: INDIGO STORM is being published on 23rd March 2016, and I’m touring again. Really looking forward to getting out on the road and catching up with a lot of you who I’ve already met and hopefully some new people too.

Summer in Esperance usually means the beach in some form. Whether it be fishing, swimming, ski-ing… Anything you can do in, on or around water!

Happy campers

It’s good to get down to the beach early and set up camp for the day. Often you can only spend half a day down there, unless you get into a sheltered spot, because the sea breeze whips in and makes life unpleasant. But until then, it’s perfect!

Nothing but fun

On Sunday we loaded up the kids, the dogs, kayaks and bodyboards and headed to Bandy Creek. This is a sheltered marina where there are loads of boats moored but in some parts it’s shallow enough for small children and the beaches are beautiful.

This is my better side

One of the best things is you can take the dogs… This is Bear Dog’s better side. You ask him, he’ll tell you. He’s also the best swimmer of the lots of us! He’ll swim out along side the kayaks for as long as he’s able to, not fearing anything.

What about me?

Miss Meita, however, is scared of the water. She stands on the edge, barking, asking ‘what about me?’ while we’re all out playing. Doesn’t matter how much we’ve tried to gently coax her out into the sea, she just won’t come. It’s funny, the way she see’s the waves lapping at the edge and runs from them. however, Bear Dog has got it worked out; if Miss Meita is annoying him, he just pads out into the shallows and lies down. He knows she won’t venture out to try and get him to play. (If you want to see a really funny video of Miss Meita trying to get Bear Dog to play, click here.)

Toad-in-the-hole

With all that swimming, you get hungry. The Man-of-the-house is the best BBQ Chef. See how perfect those circles for toad-in-the-hole are? And they’re so yummy!

By the time we got home, I have to admit, my legs were a burnt – I was so furious with myself. My skin can’t afford to get burnt; I have very fair skin. Aloe Vera After Sun gel was my friend last night and today, I’m not as sore. With my mum having been told she has Melanoma in July, I’m very sun aware, but obviously not enough yesterday.

It’s pretty different living in town to being on the farm. Usually this time of year is spent shearing, checking waters, feed lotting lambs and feeding hay. I miss this very, very much, but this is the new direction my life has taken. There are days I wake up and think I can still smell the dust and shit, the lanolin and hear the stock. There are nights when I have to drive away from town and just sit, watching the stars, getting my fix of ‘space’ (I find living in town very stifling).

Maybe one day I’ll get used to town and maybe I won’t.

I’m lucky I have plenty of friends with farms and they give me a call if they need help. My Mum and Dad are getting older and I can go and help them on the station, so I do still keep my hand in agriculture. Who knows, one day I might be able to afford my own farm again. That would be my one of my greatest wishes.

But in the mean time, tomorrow there will be more kayaking and beaching-it and I’m looking forward to it.

Would love to hear what you guys are all up to…