The new "Utes Annual" came out this week.
What a great Australian invention!
I've got two"Chicks Utes" stories, and three "blokes from Victoria."
Maybe the favourite is Bub Brooks from Finley with his original, unrestored but gorgeous EK ute. It's now 50 years old!
Didn't get to Deni this year. Too cooooold.
It's been a flying week of getting published.
Australian Pilot have two stories. One on the Australian Aerobatic Team, and the other of flying the Great Ocean Road as a destination.
On the podcasting front, episode 76 of Plane Crazy Down Under has interviews from a trip to Wilpena Pound and Lake Mungo.
On the blogging front, there's a featured story on Mungo Lodge on Dan Pimental's Airplanista blog.
It's been busy here in the home office.
It's not always a glamorous job being a photographer, but the story behind this photo is very interesting. Stay tuned for the story on worm farming.
That Kathryn from Colenso has some insight.
Inside the door, under large sun-filtering windows, is a big square table called “The Communal Table”. In the middle of the table is a bright red rubber woven basket, with a large soft homely ball of Western District wool, spun in Kyneton by Meskills. The label has a phone no that pre-dates the standard (03) Victorian codes. Found in an op-shop, we consider it “rescue wool”.
Dangling from a pair of knitting needles is a confused looking scarf of indeterminate tension and style. Knitting is not normally a communal thing because each knitter’s tension varies, and so while there’s benefit in sharing the experience, sharing projects can cause a lot of tension in itself, hence the unwritten knitters rule about not sharing needles. Except at Colenso, where anybody who feels inclined is welcome to contribute to the scarf. And they do!
Back in the Riverina, I spent a lot of time with my mum, knitting in front of the fire. Her sister, Aunty June, has just turned 70-something and has been knitting for about 80 years. She’s always keen for a fireside chat, and during the heady days of my 20’s, in the grip of a full-scale knitting addiction, there was plenty of bonding with cups of tea and divine yo-yo bikkies. Performing left-brain gymnastics: knit one pearl two cable twist loop, the right brain took care of some good ole heart felt opinion. “I think you’ll struggle knitting that 8 ply black mohair cable cardigan at night; 1,2,3,4,5,6 twist, 1,2,3,4,5,6 purl 2,3, plain; you can’t marry that boy; cast off six and turn; anyone for a cuppa?” Happily sharing their wisdom -- but not the secret yo-yo recipe.
Departing for the wild blue yonder with a half knitted jumper for a cousin, I promised to post it home. Back before we all became terrorists, a wool-wielding backpacker knew that two pair of needles and a few hundred grams of Aussie Merino was the instant answer to a 20 hour flight with a 3 hour stopover. When all the touristy jumpers in Ireland looked the same, it was a no-brainer to knit my travelling companion's birthday present as we hitchhiked for 6 weeks. And when my first baby was 3 months old and I was scared of the dark in a new house/town, and husband was away on a 12 day trip, I sat and knat all night in bed, producing a little woolly cardy by dawn. Yes, it seems you can knit anywhere for any reason. Productive use of idle time.
Back at Colenso, where groups of people at the communal table engage in robust discussion, a few are just wanting to sit…. “I think it’s so nice to use your hands while enjoying the surroundings and the coffee,” said Kathryn, “I’ve put the wool there and whoever wants to have a go is welcome to pick it up and do some.”
And so while I finished an assignment on the laptop, the man across the way read his paper, and his wife, perhaps channelling my Aunty June, just sat and knat.
It’s all good at the communal table.
Isn't that a fantastic cover? Photo by NT photographer Steve Strike and he's got an even better one of Ayers Rock in the wet, further into the magazine.
My story in this issue is on shearer Jason Wingfield from near Tocumwal, NSW.
This issue I have a story on Kyneton Aero Club. Kyneton is in Central Victoria, and only about five flying minutes from home, and where we go to practice circuits and bumps on the sealed strip and lovely long and wide cross strip.
They're a lively bunch over there most Saturdays, and the four or five page story features some pics, including this one of Col Griffin and Warren Canning, laughing their heads off after we'd been flying to photograph the aerial shot at the start of the story. Hope you enjoy it.
"That Wasn't In The Script!"
Last week I did a podcast interview with the the Plane Crazy Down Under guys, Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron.
We discussed GA flying, Writing for Australian Pilot, Flightpath, Outback. The Fear of Flying Clinic. Aerial Ag. Books and authors.Banjo Patterson and more.
Am hoping to be hosting some podcasts in the near future, so stay tuned, and let us know what you think of the interview! There's a quiz at the end. What is my maiden name? What's the first question people at bbq's always ask train drivers?
A lovely photographic moment. At sunrise this morning, while waiting to photograph an EK Holden ute, the sun hit the old red bridge across the Murray River at Tocumwal. The road/rail bridge was built in 1895 and decommissioned in the 80s when a new concrete bridge was built upstream. Trains still use this bridge, including the occasional steam train for tourism.
This issue of Outback has my story on the Victorian town of Timboon, which is in the Western District. Timboon is an old timber and dairying town. When I was there, I found not only three great mates sitting in the pub and a fabulous meal over at the Railway Shed Whisky Distillery, but the beautiful rail trail and Curdies Trestle Bridge. Only a short drive down to the Grt Ocean Rd, Timboon has a fine gourmet trail that is sure to fill in your day - or two. It's all on page ... hmm. Somebody has nicked my magazine!
Freelance writer, wife and mother of three. Ph : (0403) 927-940
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