SNOW, WIND AND RAIN

A little over a week ago I was basking in the delightful sunshine of a warm spring day in Melbourne. The sky was clear and the sun was warm. A week later I walk a snowy trail in Okanagan Falls in British Columbia, Canada wondering when the sun will shine again and when my ears will be warm.

The Okanagan Valley is considered one of the prettiest and "must live" places in Canada. It is Canada's answer to South East Queensland, everyone who doesn't live here wants to move here to live. In the warmer months tourists flock to the region to sample the wine, take in the majestic mountain ranges that border the Valley and swim in the cool, crystal clear water of deep blue freshwater lakes. The days are hot and long, perfect for a holiday and a break from the hustle and bustle of larger Canadian and American cities.

Life is almost perfect.

But as the months march on, strange things start to happen, the leaves on the tree's change colours and then fall to the ground leaving behind bare limbs. Gaggles of birds take to the air and fly south in large V formations, precious garden trees and shrubs are wrapped in hessian to protect them from the cold.

Winter is on its way to Okanagan Falls.

In South East Queensland if a minimum temperature reaches 5c there is a run on doona's at
K-Mart. When I was living in Darwin recently a drop in temperature to 18c made front page news and prompted Darwinians to write to their southern relatives urging them to send Ugg Boots and flannel shirts.

If only that were the case in Okanagan Falls. Looking at the week ahead the maximum temperature is a forecast 5c and the minimum is -6. Those in the East of Canada would say that is an excellent forecast as temperatures there are often 10c-15c colder than here in the Okanagan.

The house I live in has central heating, a fireplace as well as two oil burners I walk around the house in shorts and t-shirt and I sometimes forget where I am and venture out to collect the mail or put the dog out and stop dead in my tracks as an icy cold wind takes hold of me and freezes the exposed parts of my body. In a most un-Australian fashion I bolt back into the warm house screaming like a little girl.

When we take the dog for a walk along the cliffs that overlook Skaha Lake one has to dress as if heading off for a mission to the Antarctic. Hat, ear-protectors, scarf, a heavy jacket with layers underneath as well as a pair of wind-proof pants, with thermals underneath, heavy woollen socks and sturdy shoes.

Well that is what the smart Canadians wear.

Whereas a smart Aussie such as I try and make do with a jacket over a t-shirt a pair of jeans a pair of sport socks and runners! I don't want to wear the offered hat because it will make me look like Elmer Fudd, nor do I want ear muff's as only small children and old folk's wear them. Layers of clothes under my jacket...no way no self respecting ANZAC would dare do that and only Canadians and people on American sitcoms wear long-john's. Warm socks would be nice but they cost five bucks and I would rather have a punt on the Wallabies than waste five dollars in trying to keep warm.

So I walk the snowy, windswept paths, with my ear's frozen and face chilled. My hands are numb with cold and starting to turn blue as frostbite sets in. My shivers and shakes nearly send me over the edge of the narrow path, but when asked if I am cold or if I would like a loan of a pair of gloves I just growl back that that would be a wussy thing to do and I am not cold at all.

I sometimes really hate my goddamn Australian pride and stubbornness.

Just today I asked my partner how cold it actually gets here in the middle of winter and she said last year it got to -27c on quite a few occasions. At that rate I may have to wear two t-shirts under my jacket.

But there is something to be said for walking in the snow with the sun shining, the air crisp, cold and clear an experience we don't often get in Australia.

Today as we were walking the dog my partner said "oh look at the big stick Matilda has in her mouth." M'mmm to my mind something didn't look quite right about this "stick" the dog had in her mouth.

You can imagine my amusement when I found that the "stick" was actually the leg of a deer. Matilda no doubt thought that this was indeed her lucky day. God knows what happened to the rest of the deer, perhaps a wolf or a cougar. I do know that after I wrestled the large morsel from Matilda we stepped a little more carefully in case there was a predator lurking in the woods.

Life is interesting, there is something different every day. Canada is so different but at the same time so similar to Australia

COLD CANADA

Sweltering in Melbourne one moment and freezing in Canada the next. Now I know why my body hates me at times.

Departed Melbourne without too much fuss though I did manage to leave my camera in my friends car. No problems, camera's were on special at the duty free, so I moved from a bulky Cannon camera to a lightweight model. Still it is an annoyance to leave stuff behind.

On most of my travels I avail myself of the Qantas lounge, something I have become accustomed to. But not this time I wasn't travelling Qantas so I had to wait with the great, unwashed masses and forgo free food, drinks, magazines and newspapers. I don't know how I survived.

I lucked out and scored a row to myself, thank you Air Canada! As I always do I slept little but watched several movies, the pick of which was Juilia V Julia. The Julie part all about a women that writes a cooking blog. She too wondered if anyone would read her blog. They did and it not only lead to a book but the film as well!

It was the first time that I had travelled Air Canada and I had no problems at all with the service. It wasn't the best airline food I have had but it was okay.

The plane actually landed early into a dull and bleak Vancouver Sunday morning. Rain and cold. My good moon at being off the plane soon dissapeared when I was given a going over by Canadian immigration. Apparently I came to Immigrations notice because I left and then returned to Canada so quickly. I must admit I was a little worried for a while as time dragged on, I had visions of being on the next plane back to Australia with my tail between my legs.

Thankfully that was not the case.

I had a three day wait in Vancouver and didn't really do a lot as I had been to Vancouver several times before. Also it was cold and wet and thoroughly miserable. So I managed to catch up on some sleep and reading.

Just yesteerday I hada wonderful trip back to Okanagan Fall through the Rocky Mountains. Huge snow covered moutains and pine trees covered in snow. To an Aussie who spent the best part of the last two years in the Central Desert region of Australia the snow was a wonderous sight.

So I am now back in my home base and trying to get up the motivation to continue with my Tommy Tippett book. Yes the first draft of 85,000 words is written but now comes the hard part, editing and honing the words that I wrote. Cutting and chopping here and adding something there. I really want to get on with the task but I am dragging my feet.

I have promised myself that I will start next Monday and I will hold myself to that especially now that I have placed the threat in writing.

Life is good I sit and write this as I look out over a majestic mountain range that runs down to the shores of a cold Lake Skaha. No complaints from me.

THE BLOG!

To blog or not to blog that is the question? It appears that this is a question all blogger's ask themselves and others from time to time. The exception probably is those that are famous enough to draw people to their blogs by their fame and profile.

I have neither. So it is going to be a hard slog to generate enough interest and exposure to my blog. I have had one comment on my blog, my first and perhaps my last and that was from my lovely daughter Kellie....but does family and especially a devoted daughter count? To my mind yes but I need people who don't know me to comment.

So I will fly this blogspot out to a wider group of people and see what happens. It is a little disheartening to write away knowing full well that nobody is reading what I write. But what the hell, perhaps one day!

CANADA BOUND

The touring around the backblocks of Victoria has come to an end. My good friend Adrian and I saw quite a bit of Victoria in the first half of the week. It is beautiful country, luch green fields with fat shhep and cows, interwoven with area's of stately euclypt forrest.

I particularly enjoyed the old towns, some big and some real small, all had character and a interesting array of old buildings. Well that is they are old to Australian's, around 150-100 years old, our history doesn't go back all that far and the 1850's is a long time in Australia.

Victoria lived up to its reputation as being cold and bleak one moment and the next you are dazzled by bright sunshine and find yourself shedding clothes. Earlier in the week it struggled to get to a maximum temperature of 13c, whiclst today it was
34c. Crazy!

It was great staying with my old Army buddy and fellow Chinese tour guide, but I am looking forward to heading back to Canada and MORE cold!

Early start on Sunday morning, a flight to Sydney with Qantas and then a 12:15pm flight to Vancouver with Air Canada. I usually fly Qantas so it will be interesting to experience the Air Canada flight.

I will then have four days in beautiful downtown Vancouver before heading back to Okanagan Falls over the Rocky Mountains.

Nothing at all to report on the writing front as I am waiting for comments from friends and family about my first draft. Perhaps it is terrible as no one appears to want to give me feedback and they don't want to hurt my feelings.

I will certainly get cracking with the edit when I get back home as time is wasting and I really want to know if I am wasting my time or not.

And for all aspiring writers here is another story of hope See it can be done!

BALLARAT

Wild and wet day in Mt Gambier, Adrian and I had a quick breakfast and headed off to the Blue Lake which is located in the centre of the town. It is quite an amazing site a huge volcanic crater filled with azure colured water. The lake has a depth of 70 metres and supplies the drinking water to Mt Gambier. Unfortunately we didn't see the Lake at its best as the weather was wet, windy and cold.

We decided to drive to Ballarat the largest inland city in Australia which is famous for the 1850's gold rush and the miner's rebellion at the Eureka Stockade. We drove through lush green pastured countryside where wooly sheep grazed contendly. There wasn't much trafic on the road and many of the small towns we travelled through appeared to be closed for the Melbourne Cup holiday.

We arrived in Ballarat in the mid afternoon and checked into a motel in time to watch the famous 2 mile horse race that stops a nation. My pick Alcopop came fifth so no winnings for me.

Walked through town and I was astounded by the plethora of Victorian era buildings, most have been restored and they are in pristine condition. The weather still isn't the greatest for this time of the year but this is Victoria after all and it is infamous for its weather.

Nothing too much going on with my writing and Tommy Tippett at the moment, I am still waiting to hear back from the people who are reading the first draft of the book. I want to hear their comments to find out what they think and what changes may need to be made. so for now it is a holding pattern.

We will probably be heading off to Melbourne today.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

I had an early morning flight out of Brisbane to Melbourne, the plane was full of racegoers heading to Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup horse race. Hat boxes and suitbags galore.

I was met by my long-time friend Adrian at the airport and we proceeded on a road trip to who knows where. Ended up doing the scenic Great Ocean Road, a road that runs alongside the Pacific Ocean with fabulous views at craggy cliffs.

Highlight of the day was the 12 Apostles, rock formations that sit in the sea, formed by the wind and sea. Spectacular!

We finished the day off at Mt Gambier in South Australia a town famous for its beautiful cdeep blue lakes. Tomorrow will be a day of exploration and decision making as we have to decide whether to travel on to Adelaide or turn back into Victoria.

Not much going on in the writing front, I am still awaiting comments and advice on the first draft of Tommy Tippett. Adrian has given me a few tips and pointers about voice and audience that were sound and appreciated.

I am now thinking of starting on the next stage of the Tommy story.

The road trip continues!

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

I am not really all too sure what it is all about, I am not even quite sure why I am writing this blog.

Well that isn't really true, I am writing it because all of my research has told me that I need a blog presence if I want to get into the writing game. A blog as well as a website, facebook and twitter are just a few of the ways to promote a book. All of this, so I am told is called "my platform."

I must point out at this stage I don't have a book published, I am an aspiring, published author. This is a part of the plan to achieve that goal.

What I do have is a first draft of a 85,500 word book about a boy called Tommy Tippett and it tells his story about growing up in Sydney, Australia in the 1960's. Tommy has a sort of weird family and the smartest individual in his household is his German Shepherd dog Ace. Tommy has a variety of adventures and misadventures. Life is never dull in his household!

At this stage the first draft is out with several friends and family members for feedback and advice. Sometimes I think what I write is good to okay, whilst other days (most) I think it is ordinary crap.

To tell you the truth I don't even really know what genre the book fits into, young adult fiction, literary fiction, or perhaps just drivel! Probably the closest character I can think of is PK in the Power of One.

As I said earlier in the post I have researched writing and being published to such an extent that I am totally confused. Originally I thought I would self-publish but that quickly went by the wayside. Then I found out about how to get an agent and write query letters. Perhaps I will place my book on Authonomyhttp://http//authonomy.com/ to get some feedback and advice.

I have discovered so much information about writing and getting published, it is rather mind-boggling. I have made several false starts in regards to commenting on blogs or joining writing websites such as http://http//www.absolutewrite.com/ like anything it is just about having the will and confidence to do so.

I should state now that writing a book hasn't been a long-term goal or desire, it just sort of happened.

For 15 months I had lived and worked in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory of Australia as part as the Intervention http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Territory_National_Emergency_Responsehttp://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Territory_National_Emergency_Response

I lived in the communities of Yuendumu and Ngukurr which are some of the most isolated communities in all of Australia. Unfortunately my government contract concluded on 30 June 2009 and I was suddenly unemployed.

Then by a stroke of good luck a wonderful friend in Canada invited me to stay and in a matter of days I packed my bags and moved to beautiful British Columbia. I can't work in Canada so I acted on my friends suggestion and started to write about Tommy Tippett.

I am back in Australia visiting my kids and head down to Melbourne, Victoria tomorrow to catch up with an old mate before heading back to Canada next Sunday. I have a great life!

So if you are game enough to stick with me I will take you on the journey that will hopefully lead to the publication of the Tommy Tippett story, with a bit of a travelogue thrown in for good measure.