Big shout out to my friend, Trish Morey, the koala counter, who sent me this gorgeous Easter joke. My favourite. And tres appropriate as my favourite Easter chocolate is the Lindt bunny. What is yours?

Labels: chocolate, Easter, holidays

Religious beliefs aside, what is the Easter weekend to you? Here in Australia it marks the start of school holidays (2 weeks), the Sydney Royal Easter Show, the autumn racing carnival, and a four-day weekend which sees most Aussies either immersed in family foodfests or camping. That long weekend paired with the weather--still early-autumn warm days, but with crisp nights that are perfect for campfires--has turned Easter into a massively popular time for camping in the land of Oz.

Myself, I've never been the camping type. Who was it who said something along the lines of: the only stars I camp under are the five-star variety? Well, that describes me, pretty much. Not because I don't like the outdoors--I do!-- but from what I've observed camping involves a lot of work, in preparation, in cooking over said fire (I cook every night at home; holidays for me involve NOT cooking), and in packing up and cleaning everything on return home.

That said, I admit to camping on the outback safari we did a couple of years back. That was pure necessity and we had guide-people who did the cooking and everything was supplied, pretty much, so I guess it was camping for cheats. And I must admit I loved the company and the conversations around the campfire, so maybe I should give it a try again.

Labels: Australian life, holidays

No, I'm not at the beach today. I'm sitting here in my office chair avoiding the heat and dust and flies that represent summer where I live, and doing a thousand-and-one accumulated business tasks. Then I have a synopsis to write. IOW, I'm procrastinating.

Anyway. I realised that although I blogged about heading off on the beach holiday, and I blogged about some of the non-beach activities, I didn't actually mention the beach. So here it is. The beach. From where I reclined in a rented lounger under a rented beach umbrella (I don't do baking in the sun anymore), watching the world dawdle by. I did swim. Despite the bluebottles and the announcements from the Surf Lifesavers that we shouldn't worry. The suckers sting, but once you've ridden the pain you'll be okay. Nice to know, although I'm not a fan of pain.

I took a book, natch, but spent more time people watching. Seeing what *they* were reading. Watching more athletic people than I running and playing beach volleyball and surfing. In the picture you can see a group of school kids heading into the water with their boards. We figured it had to be school sports afternoon. How lucky are they, surfing?

Labels: Australian life, beach, holidays

I've seen the iconic Sydney landmark more times than I can count, yet I still reach for my camera and click-click-click every time I'm this close. It's just so...Sydney. The skyline would be empty without those white sails, and I guess that is why the Opera House appears on so many covers of romance novels. Often placed in completely unbelievable locations. I saw one recently with it visible in the background of a surfbeach. Um, no, not really. Have also seen it combined with the Harbour Bridge in ways that defy perception. It has even graced the cover of one of my foreign copies (see below.) Do you have a favourite landmark or building that you can't help snapping whenever you see it?

Labels: Australian life, holidays, Sydney

While on holidays we took a ferry to the city and strolled around The Rocks, which is the oldest part of the city and the site of the first white settlement in Sydney. We didn't expect to stumble across a movie set but we did. A Bollywood movie set, as it happened. I could have stood and watched for hours, but my husband wasn't nearly so entranced by the colour and the pretty people and the megaphones and the song-and-dance routines or even the clown. Pity. Because, as the title suggests, this is not something one sees every day.

Labels: Bollywood, holidays, Sydney

I will get to the memorable read in a few, but first a quick lesson in Australian geography. A range of mountains (which, by international standards, are more akin to large hills) runs the eastern length of our country, separating the heavily populated coast from the significantly less populated interior. One of the first challenges for early European adventurers was traversing that range. From where I live (the interior) we have to cross The Great Divide to get to the beach.

(Mini lesson over.)

Crossing the mountains on Sunday, we drove past a guesthouse where mt dh and I spent a romantic weekend many years ago. We reminisced about that weekend and the convolutions that got us there. I'd booked the accommodation, booked the babysitting sister-in-law, and then Wheel of Fortune rang with an invitation for a return appearance. They were doing a Champion of Champions week. Would I be interested?

Long story short, I arranged to fly to Adelaide (South Australia) for the taping and back to Sydney from where I would catch a train to the Blue Mountains guesthouse. My dh would drive up from the other side and there we would meet. Kinda like a clandestine rendezvous. Cool and romantic.

It all worked out as planned and there I was at Sydney Central, waiting for my train. I browsed for a book to read on the several-hour journey and I picked up my very first Silhouette Desire. Title: Private Reasons. Author: Justine Davis. Why this book: I love me a romance which is also a horse story. This one featured a free-spirited heroine who ran stables and she was training this fabulous black stallion. Quite the picture she made for our hero, a starchy accountant single-father, battling to understand his rebellious (horse-loving) teenage daughter.

This book made such an impression on me. I loved the characters, the sensuality, the storyline, and I gulped it down cover-to-cover on that train trip to the mountains. I hadn't yet started writing but when I did this book, on some subconscious level, influenced the kind of books I would write. I love writing opposites-attract stories. I love giving animals/pets a secondary role. And I did write my own starchy single-dad financier and my own free-spirited heroine.

A lot of books are brilliant, wonderful, cover-to-cover, can't-put-down indulgences, but this one made such a mark I can still remember the whole story of HOW I came to read it as well as the read itself. How about you? Do you have one such memorable read, where you remember where you were and how you came to choose that book?

Labels: Australian life, holidays, reading, Silhouette Desire