Wherever I am, my early morning walks are usually peaceful affairs. At home, I wander or powerwalk up to the high water tank and back again. I know the five people I usually meet; I recognise their casual wear; I know their dogs’ names. None of them poses a threat to my blood pressure. It's a gentle kind of happiness I take for granted. When I'm in Brisbane, it‘s the same. Peaceful. I take the riverwalk: a zephyr of breeze, a lone rower slicing quiet circles into the water,

The Cover That Took An Insta-village (and a pirate) Remember these? When I put up sixteen possible covers for Son of Hydra and asked you to vote, I had no idea what I’d started. Hundreds of you took the trouble to send really thoughtful responses—and the results were—well, enlightening. There was no outright winner. Just a list of ones that had more votes than the others. The top choice was Number 6, the beautiful orange and blue woodcut. Unfortunately, when I showed it to a

Hello again, my lovely literate legends! Yes, I'm back from the writing trenches, towing a dumpster of mixed metaphors to describe the...

Seems about a million years ago I decided to write a novel. Very much like seeing ...

And so to the final leg of our journey - from Strahan on the west coast, through Queenstown to Pumphouse Point, then on to Hobart to fly...

After spending a lifetime of summers in sticky muggy Queensland, it's hard to imagine a better destination at this time of year than...

The very name Cradle Mountain has its own magic cachet. Because of excellent marketing? As significant as we'd been led to believe? We...

We drove to Stanley along the pretty undulating coastal hills which at first drop precipitously to the sea. In flatter country, we...

Since we left you last at Launceston, we've covered the north-west of Tassie - easy to do in a short time because the distances are so...

Booking an AirBNB somewhere in an unfamiliar city is always a bit of a gamble isn't it? Will the park next door be a drug dealers'...

After a very happy week at Falmouth we were excited to be on our way. I have three rules for a happy road trip: make sure there's a...

We anticipated a long day at Wineglass Bay, so we set the alarm for 5am. We drove there, climbed to the Lookout and back, called in...

Here we are in Falmouth, population 102 according to the 2016 census. It could just be the most liveable town in Australia! If there were...

When I first booked Saltcotes for Christmas, I gave no thought to its position relative to the Derwent River, or to the date of the...

We agreed that if we spent Christmas in Tassie this year we wouldn't do gifts at all. No tree, no bonbons, no gifts, no pre-cooking. A...