I write. I travel. I read. I learn. I dream and I live my dream.
Explore the site
Fresh From the Mind
-
Ten To-See-or-not-to-See Destinations in Paris
Every first-time traveller to Paris hears about the same bucket-list places: the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Versailles… For me, the list of must-see-and-practise-French sights/sites was formed by passages in the French textbooks we used at school. Those stops were unavoidable—the stuff of dreams— but for other people, they turn into overrated, crowded, or disappointing experiences.…
-
A Bavarian Fairytale: Castle Neuschwanstein
Sometimes, I wish I was an artist. I’d specialise in train-window vistas. We’ve just travelled through the snowy Bavarian countryside to Germany’s deep south, where Neuschwanstein (‘Noik-sh-wonn-sty-n’), the inspiration for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle, perches on the edge of a rugged gorge in the foothills of the Alps. It’s early January and the three ‘viewing…
-
Why I’ve included sex scenes in my writing
Sex is part of the common human experience, and we should write about those, shouldn’t we? I’m always struck by how authors are blithely happy to write shocking scenes of violence or murder (which rarely happens to most of us), yet tell me I’m brave when it comes to writing about sex. Sex can reveal…
-
-
The Arctic’s hottest spot: Reykjavik—36 hours in the coolest season
36 Hours in Reykjavik: The Cool Capital “Greenland is actually white because it’s full…
-
Insights gained on a Trafalgar Tour of Christmas Markets
It isn’t safe to visit Bethlehem in December, so the next most Christmassy experience…
-
-
A Sacred Sanctuary in the Mountains: The Essence of Real Japan
It is early spring in Japan. We are to the west of Mount Fuji,…
-
The Cusp between the years in Tuscany
After Rome, the most bucket-listed part of Italy is probably Tuscany. I spent New…
-
Lenses on Lilac: Jacarandas in Ipswich
Where I live, in South East Queensland, there’s a saying that when the Jacarandas…
-
THE WHITE GIRL By Tony Birch
The story revolves around Aboriginal Odette Brown, a resident of the fictitious town of…
-
Margaret R Kelly 