The manor house in Christchurch was pretty impressive, but we didn't have THIS view from our balcony (and from our bed, actually...)


The view of Lake Wakatipu continued left and right and I could have shared any of a dozen pictures I took while sitting, contemplating, relaxing. Sigh. I miss it already! Maria and Joe, our hosts at the Matterhorn Chalet--and yes, it looked just like a Swiss chalet and the rooms are named Edelweiss and Alpine and suchlike--were just as impressive and they also did a serious breakfast. More on Queenstown tomorrow, as this is where we actually Did Stuff...other than sitting and contemplating the view and enjoying those fabu breakfasts and putting on weight!

Very short (and imprecise) geography lesson: New Zealand is made up of many, many islands but there are just the two big ones, known as the North Island and the South Island. Or, of you're a Kiwi, you refer to the one where you live as "The Mainland." Gotta love that dry sense of humour! The whole country is comparable in size to Great Britain, Japan or Colorado, yet has a population of only 4 million. Most live on the North Island, more than a quarter in the largest city, Auckland. Useless piece of trivia: there are more possums in NZ than people.

Anyway, our holiday trip was to the South Island. Christchurch is the largest city. Its population is only about 400,000 (although a shuttle-bus driver tried to tell us it was over 1 million!) and the vibe is much like a big, friendly, country town...but with some very nice restuarants. It's also easy to get around, even on foot, and because our B&B was only a 10-15 minute, flat (as in, no hills) walk from "the city" we walked. The museum is excellent, I didn't lose too much at the casino blackjack table, and we thoroughly enjoyed a night at the races (harness racing, my dh's passion.)

This is a pic of the very lovely Eliza's Manor where we stayed. If you're ever visiting Christchurch, this is the place. Especially if you love taking a long, leisurely bath in a deep clawfoot bath with a garden view. And they do a divine breakfast, also with garden view.

This is me, day one of our New Zealand trip, at a sleepy little harbor town named Akaroa, which is a ninety minute drive out of Christchurch (the largest city on the South Island and where we flew into.) I'm trying to look relaxed, but truth be told I'm not sure I pulled it off. On the drive out, you see, we'd come across a road accident. Luckily no one was seriously injured but rounding a corner in a windy bit of road and finding a car upside down in the middle of said road does tend to shake you up a bit. We went out to dinner that night with fellow Desire author, Jan Colley, and her lovely fireman. Their company, Valentino's seriously scrummy food, some excellent New Zealand wine, and all was good again.

Before I launch into my holiday happy snaps, I wanted to share a little good news. Firstly, Access Romance launched its brand new group-author blog All A-Blog last week. I've noticed some familiar names in the comments but invite those who haven't to mosey on over and see what's happening. Today's my day, as it happens, so come see what I'm all a-blog about!

Secondly, in my absence Cataromance announced its list of Reviewers' Choice Awards for the second half of 2005. I'm tickled pink that The Rich Stranger has been honored with an award, tieing with Linda Conrad's fabulous A Scandalous Melody for best Silhouette Desire. This means that all three of my Princes of the Outback books have received a reviewers' award--The Rugged Loner a Reviewers' Choice from Road to Romance and The Ruthless Groom is a nominee for Romantic Times' Reviewers' Choice.

And saving the best for last, this morning I have sold three more books to Desire for 07 and 08 including the follow-up to The Ruthless Groom. This is the story of the runaway bride and her mystery man. I am thrilled to be able to announce that news (finally!) to all the readers who have asked about Susannah's story. I am celebrating the sale with some delicious NZ fudge, creme bruleee flavor.

My husband and I spent the last week holidaying in New Zealand (South Island) and I'm still catching up on sleep and laundry and email and bills and all those other things one lets slide while away from home. As much as I loved this holiday and the beautiful land and the friendly Kiwis (who love nothing better than to taunt us Aussies)...gee, it's great to be back home again. This is a view from the airplane window as we flew into Sydney yesterday morning. Of course I have many more holiday shots to share over the next few days, so be warned!

Valentine's Day holds special significance for me as it was also my wedding day. Romantic, huh? Dare I admit that the choice was mainly for practical reasons? It was a good choice because all those ad's with red roses and pink hearts remind us (and by us, I mean my dh *g*) that an anniversary is just around the corner. No one is allowed to forget.

For the next week I'm taking a computer-free break, but on my return I would love to read about your most memorable Valentine's Day or anniversary moment...or perhaps I should say your most memorable moment you're prepared to share on a public forum! *g* And because it's Valentine's Day, there's a giveaway or two which I'll draw from the comments.

Wishing you all many memorable and romantic moments between now and my return.

P.S.: I have a new cover-art jigsaw for the jigsaw fans among you. Enjoy!

UPDATE -- GIVEAWAY WINNER: Congratulations to Playground Monitor and Bamabelle. Email me with your address and I will post your special post-Valentines treat!

Last night we went to a surprise wedding. My very tricky nephew sent out invitations to his partner's surprise 35th birthday party last December. That should have been the first clue. I mean, a special 35th birthday celebration? Very clever of him to send the invitations at the busiest time of the year when we all had too many other things in mind to work out the real purpose of the party.

So, last night, I'm getting dressed for this surprise birthday party. I've made my dh call to see what we're supposed to bring. When the family does a party, it's usually a barbecue and we all bring a salad or a dessert. It seemed strange that we weren't supposed to bring anything. I even rang one sister-in-law to see what was what. She didn't have a clue either.

Thinking it's a backyard barbie I dress very casual. Jeans. T-shirt. Boots. On the way we stop to buy drinks and nibblies (because you can't rock up to a party empty-handed.) In town we pass this lovely vintage car decorated in ribbons and my dh says, "Looks like someone's getting married." Ha. At his sister's place the garden is looking spectacular and we notice that she's hired tables/chairs with white cloths (the tables, not the chairs.) Fancy barbecue, I think. She comes over to greet us and she's wearing this lovely flowing dress in shades of blue and green. The kind one might wear, for example, to a garden wedding.

Anyway, the rest of the guests are dressed pretty casual. Lots of jeans, shorts, casual skirts. I didn't notice the handful of well-dressed folks (the ones in the know, obviously) or the table set with champagne flutes or the chairs arranged in a circle under the most beautiful gum tree. Do you notice how obvious all the clues are in retrospect?

The car we'd seen in town rocks up. Jaws drop when the maid-of-honor and bride step out looking gorgeous and bridal. And THEN we notice that our nephew has emerged from the house wearing a suit. And THEN all his aunts and female cousins (we are not a small family, BTW) wail things like "I didn't bring a camera!" and "I'm wearing jeans! To a wedding! And they're not even my best jeans!" and "I've been robbed! I want a new outfit!" Weddings tend to mean a new outfit, you see. The younger cousins are all on their mobile phones texting the cousins who didn't come with the news. And the menfolk are only just catching on to the fact that a wedding is about to happen.

As I mentioned, the ceremony was held on a circle of lawn with the late evening sun streaming through the branches of a spectacular tree. If I'd taken my camera I could show you that tree, but alas no camera. It was romantic, touching, beautiful. Afterward we had the barbie, albeit a quite upmarket one, and dancing and the cake and a few short speeches. I swear that my nephew's piece about finding the woman to complete him made every female present sigh and/or tear up.

It was the first surprise wedding I have every attended and possibly not the last, since more than one parent present was heard murmuring, "what a great idea."

I have just changed the time/date settings on my blog to my own time zone. It was previously on US Pacific time, I have no reason why, and I had to sit and think about this to know whether I'd posted today or yesterday or tomorrow in that time zone and arrgghhh...I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. Now it's my time zone on the date posted and when you comment, well, you'll know what time it is where I live! Bonus.

I love when they tell me one of my books has snagged a place on their keeper shelf and I love them even more when they send photographic evidence. This one (thank you, Kelly!) I just had to share because I am so darn chuffed to be up there on this keeper shelf which includes some of my all-time favorite books and series. Wowzer.


I love the idea of my books growing gloriously aged and dog-eared on readers' shelves all over the world!

Today I picked up my new car. Here I am, about to slide into the driver's seat and zoom out of the showroom. It goes fast (as all red cars do *g*) and will never be this shiny and clean again. I would stay and tell you more but I feel an urge to go for another drive...

And this past month or two has seen much celebration in the "down under" writing community. As I was flat out finishing a book, I didn't have a chance to share all the fabulous first-sale news as it happened, but I can't let any more time go by without mentioning the first sales to Harlequin/Silhouette of four fabulous writers whose success in contests over many years indicated their time was due...or way past due!

1. Anne Oh, who will be writing as Anne Oliver for Mills & Boon Modern Extra, out of the UK. Anne's name has featured in countless contest results locally and in America, with both her sexy short contemporaries and her longer paranormals.

2. Karina Bliss, who sold to Harlequin SuperRomance and is using her own romance-perfect name. Karina won a Golden Heart last year in Short Contemporary and is also a past winner of RWNZ's Clendon Award (the contest which led to my sale.)

3. Maxine Sullivan sold to Silhouette Desire following the recent logline contest on eHarlequin and I am so thrilled to have her join me as the second Australian author at Desire. Maxine is another who has consistently finalled in contests in short and long series and single title.

4. Last week Tessa Rallis became the fourth New Zealand author signed by Silhouette Desire, all in the past four years. An amazing result for a population and writing community the size of the Kiwis! Tessa, a former Golden Heart finalist, also sold following the eHarlequin pitch to Melissa Jeglinski.

So, join me in sending out congratulations and confetti rain and loud applause to all these fabulous writers. I'm sure you're going to love their books as much as those editors with good taste!

This week someone passed on the link to the 2005 All About Romance Readers' Poll. I'm always interested to see if other readers loved the same books that I loved, so I took a look at the interim results. Inspired by the books listed and not yet listed (and in serious procrastination mode) I decided to vote. Which is when I took more notice of all those categories and the fact that, for example, several books are nominated as Best Romance AND Worst Romance.

Now this didn't exactly surprise me--we all know that reading is subjective. I rave about books that you mightn't get. You recommend books I know I won't like. Which is fabulous because so many authors writing different kinds of romance stories all have a reading market. Plus, books that create a big enough, passionate reaction that some readers declare them "best ever" can create a similarly strong reaction in others...but in a negative way. That might be because the author took big risks, broke alleged rules, wrote something right out of the box.

How do you define "worst", anyway? Is it the book you wouldn't touch with a twenty-foot pole and therefore haven't read? Is it a book you couldn't get past the first page on? Or is it the "worst" of those you actually read right through to the end? (And if it was that bad, why read it to the end?)

To decide on my "best" selections I had to go to my keeper shelf to see which books were last year's releases. Then I had to sit a few minutes, reflecting on the stories to decide which had touched me most. It was tough work, deciding on one, but it was also fun to revisit all those wonderful books. But to go to that trouble for "worst"? Shaking my head.

Which leads me to an aside on negative reader reviews--why do people write these things and post them on, for example, amazon? Why bother devoting that time and energy to a negative experience? If they're hating a book as much as some of these reviews suggest, why did they continue reading? I don't get that mentality. Shaking my head again.

PS: I didn't vote for "worst" in the AAR Poll but I did vote for a whole lot of "bests" because good books deserve the applause.

I am blaming my absence this past few days on back to school--not, not me, but my youngest who is in his second-last year of high school. As he's at boarding school and will be gone a couple of months before the next holidays, this involves some organisation and a great deal of labelling and packing and then a long drive. This also leaves me, like all mothers I'm sure, in a bit of a post-holidays slump. What can I say? I love having my family all around me and when they're gone, it just isn't the same. :-(

In case you are wondering about this back-to-school time, let me explain the Australian system. Our school year runs with the calendar year. Kids start school at the very end of January or the first days of February (depending on the school and the day of the week etc) and finish their school year some time in December. In my state (New South Wales), the 2006 school year started January 30 and finishes December 21. That's for government-run schools. Private schools generally finish up a couple of weeks earlier. In between, there are holidays in late April (2 weeks), early July (2 weeks) and early October (2 weeks.)

What I hate most about this system is sending our kids back to school at the hottest time of the year. This last week has been roasting (well over 100 every day) and although many school are air-conditioned there is the travelling. And the playgrounds that aren't air-conditioned. And the fact that, in this kind of heat, air-con doesn't always do its job efficiently. Anyway, that's the way it is and the way it's always been and how the heck did we survive back in the olden days (like, when I was at school *g*) when there was no air-con? Hmm?

Anyway, to summarize: our kids get 11-12 weeks of holidays, all up, including the 5-6 weeks in Dec-Jan. I know American schools have a big block of holidays over the summer but what about the rest of the year? Do they get more weeks of holidays at other times like our kids do, or does the total end up about the same?