Regular followers and visitors to this site will know I'm using BLOGGERS WERE CHILDREN TOO! for my theme this year. I hope you're enjoying reading about bloggers, some you know and some you may not yet know.
Well I decided I'd better take my turn. My place in the world is quite different to all the posts I've read so far. So take a trip Down Under to the Queensland bush.
Rock on A- Z Challenge.
Yesterday was Kittie Howard.
Today:
L is for L'Aussie (L'Aussie Writer).
I WAS BORN IN: Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia - peanut country, maybe that's why I'm so nutty.
I GREW UP IN: Ironpot, Conondale, Woombye, Lower Kenilworth (Gheerulla) - all in the Queensland bush or close to it - might explain why I love the beach so much! And why you haven't heard of any of them, lol! No population over 300, I kid you not.
MY FAVOURITE HOME WAS IN: Conondale because it was a huge property and I could run free, but it was a very long walk to the school bus. This is where I really got close up and personal with the Queensland bush - its trees, its rivers, its animals (especially horses.)
MY BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY IS: The freedom of doing basically what I liked - climbing mountains near my Lower Kenilworth home and swimming in the nearby creek which was very cold and had a resident platypus. Forget the sunburn, those were the wild, free days! What was my mother thinking!
MY WORST CHILDHOOD MEMORY IS: Nearly getting bitten by a snake while walking home through the bush. Luckily, we were always cautioned to be on the lookout, and we were. Some of those suckers can kill you in 20 minutes flat and we lived too far from a hospital to survive unless we performed our own first aid. (Always had my little snake bite kit with me, but I think I would have fainted and died if I'd actually had to use it.)
TODAY I LIVE IN: Brisbane (capital city of Queensland) and Peregian Beach (100 kilometres north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast.) Best of both worlds I think. Brisbane is a River City, and I live on the river. This is where it's all happening. And Peregian Beach is a gorgeous little village on the beach with great coffee shops, clothing shops and eateries. What more could a woman want? (Er, don't get me started...)
My favourite icon in Brisbane City.
This is the Kurilpa Bridge in Brisbane, taken the day it was opened.
It ends in my street (inner city) and takes you across to the South Bank Cultural Centre.
It's pedestrian only - for cycling, running, walking.
PROUDEST WRITER MOMENT: When I got my first short story published in Fast Fiction magazine in Australia. Some might think it's easy to get published in a commercial magazine - those in the know know this isn't true. Takes a long time to break in, then you have to keep your foot in the door and jump back when it's slammed in your face again and again!)
RANDOM FACT ABOUT ME: I'm a proud Queenslander (you should see me at State of Origin Rugby League time!) but I'm always restless, planning that next overseas trip. The world's a very big place and I want to see a lot more of it! (Probably the Aussie Explorer spirit which I've always had!)
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| At Victor Hugo's apartment, Place des Vosges, Paris. |
She has written three as yet unfinished novels, published short stories, travel features and newspaper profiles. She is an avid blogger and founded RomanticFridayWriters, a place for writers to hone their craft. She will publish a collection of her romantic flash fiction in 2012, then begin work on an anthology of the best of RFW flash fiction. When parted from her laptop she’ll be reading or running. She blogs @:http://laussieswritingblog.blogspot.com - oh, that would be here, lol!
Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for Paula Martin.
42 comments:
I love your childhood. What adventures you must have had. I would love to swim with a platypus. Not so much with snakes though. You look so cute on that horse. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Glad to find out a bit more about you! I love those Australian place names.
I did a double-take at the caption of your photo...Victor Hugo's apartment. Victor Hugo is famous in my old home island of Guernsey. He lived there in exile for a number of years, and his house in Hauteville is a popular tourist attraction.
Yes Clarissa, it was wild and free. Those platypus had a nasty snap on your feet. Thanks for visiting. D.
Most of those names are from the aboriginal language as where I grew up used to be aboriginal tribal lands. Unfortunately, taken off them like so much else.
Hugo, like Hemingway I guess, had houses all over. This one in Paris is still in tip top condition with his writing materials still in his study. Precious.
Denise
Hi Denise,
You had a wonderful childhood. Probably why you turned out into such a beautiful person. Lucky about the snake. Eek.
I certainly agree getting published commercially is not an easy feat. Well done.
Take care,
Kiru
Thanks Kiru. I think I was pretty charmed. Except by the snake, lol. D.
Aw, what a cutie - as a babe and teen. Your mother made you into a wilde, adventurous spirit, the L'Aussie we adore. You've accomplished so much in your life Denise.
Congrats on all you've achieved. And thanks for posting about yourself too.
........dhole
Thanks Donna for crawling out of the Rabbit Hole to read this. I'm honoured. I enjoyed my trip down memory land and sifting through my mum's black and white Brownie photos.
Denise
Yes, the world is such a wide place. So many cities and countries to visit. I want to visit New Zeland one day. I hear there are no snakes there. I, like Indiana Jones, hate snakes!! Brrr. I loved though getting to know you better, Roland
Best interview yet!
I would love to read a novel with a character in the settings you grew up in, sounds like it would be lots of adventurous fun! Snakes and all.
Also love that Brisbane has pedestrian only bridges, it has struck me as the healthiest city I've lived in, lots of cycling and running (or just brisk meandering on my part).
Thanks for visiting Roland my friend. Yeah, New Zealand missed out on all the slithery, bitey things.
Denise
Yes, new Brisbane-ite, it is a healthy place. Everyone's always out there getting fitter. Love our pedestrian bridges. Makes it a quick jaunt for us to head over to all the West End eateries where I'm off to tonight!
Denise
Oh wow! So great to get to know you a little better, Denise! I love that pic of you on the horse. Precious!
Fantastic post with great pictures. It was great learning more about you. The snake bit made me cringe, though. I'm glad you weren't hurt.
You're featuring you! Look at you on the horse--too cute. I'm glad you didn't get bitten by a snake. How scary! Yes, having a first short story published is a wonderful feeling.
Happy weekend!
Wonderful post! I love your A to Z theme, by the way. I'm with you...I love the beach!
Outdoors is the best kind of childhood, even with snakes and sunburns. Photos are brilliant! Wishing you many more happy outdoor adventures and travels :-)
Like I told you, Denise, everyone has lived in exotic places compared to me! Lovely photos and a lovely childhood to remember. But--SNAKES!--Yikes!
We had them, but didn't carry snake bit kits. ; )
Nice to learn more about you - I didn't realise you would feature yourself. Sounds like an amazing childhood with all that space to explore. You were brave - I can't imagine my 3-year-old riding bareback! Lucky escape from the snake!
Peregian beach looks idyllic. How lucky to have the city, and the more laid back lifestyle too!
You sure look tiny up there on that horse. :) Nice pictures. Love the first one. Bearing in mind your relationship with nature, I'm not surprised you've travelled as much as you have.
What a wonderful post, I could sense and almost 'smell' your need for freedom. Loved the pics too.
It's great to learn more about you! All the pictures are so wonderful. Looks like a beautiful place to live (minus the killer snakes). :)
This is a great idea for the A-Z blog challenge. It's great getting to know other bloggers. I've never been to Australia, but I bet it is awesome. The pictures are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Hi,
Oooh you little cutey, you! Hee hee, love the Doris Day shot: Oh the Deadwood stage is coming on over the hill... Nothing like living in the outback as kids, with gee gees and wildlife! See, that's why I like having a dog close at hand, dogs make great snake scarers. ;)
best
F
what an interesting theme for the challenge! I liked learning about you.
Yay! *waves hi* Nice to read more about you. Love all of the images.
Pass on the snakes in the brush!!!
Lovely to learn more about you Denise! Yay for rugby :-)
Oh those snakes! They made an impression. Thanks for your visits one and all. D.
Great to learn more about you. Love the photos!
Happy Weekend :)
Great idea to include you as well, Denise! And aren't you a true blue Aussie or should I say "Banana Bender" ? ;-)
I love Brissy. I used to live in Ascot for a year and thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality and friendliness of the people in Brisbane.
Thanks for sharing :-)
Hi Iris. Yes, a very friendly city. Not many True Blue, Fair Dinkum Banana benders left! D.
Hey Denise, sorry I'm late, but so glad I didn't miss this one. I was wondering if you'd feature yourself!
You really do sound as though you had an idyllic childhood - the sort I only every dreamed of in rainy old England - not so sure about snakes though!
What a little cutie you were too :-) Thanks so much for sharing this!
Sorry I couldn't visit yesterday, Denise, but Blogger threw one of its fits. So much so, I had to change my templet this a.m. or Blogger cut my post in half. *sighs*
I really, really enjoyed learning more about you. Your idyllic childhood parallels Little House on the Prairie and made me want to visit those very small towns. How fortunate you were -- save for the snake; don't like those critters -- and now your blessings continue. Your love for Australia shines in your posts, a treasure in itself. Friends just returned from Perth and are singing Australia's praises.
I'm sure I would have gotten over here this weekend, but I'm SO glad you gave me a nudge!! Dear Sis, I SO wish I had grown up with you, as well as my own sister, though I don't know how we would have managed the distance LOL. I did get to spend summers with my "country" cousins, but the Utah desert is wimpy compared to what you experienced. You know, some of my favorite movies are Australian. I should have highlighted some of them. Now that I'm typing it, I think I will when this A to Z challenge is over. I'm not changing any of my drafted posts now; this month is too wild for that.
I'm printing this post out for my files -- so I'll remember who you were (I once once that we save things so we'll remember who we were). I LOVE the photographs. Ooo, snakes. Don't think I could have done that one either!! (p.s. The man who was the Mormon bishop of my "ward" when I was eighteen thought I should go on a church mission to Australia. I have never known why he thought this, but I have wished that I could have...)
(((hugs)))back...
Ann and Kittie thanks for coming to my little party, even if late, lol! Glad you liked my little Queensland bush upbringing.
Ann, the decisions we make change our lives, don't they? Just imagine if you had come to Australia and stayed?
Denise
Enjoyed these photos a lot! What a cutie you were when young (not that you aren't now LOL). I love the horse one especially. :)
Hi Denise .. great read - the thing I like is - you're putting your childhood experiences to good use. Would love the visit the areas you grew up in .. and to see Brisbane and Australia one day ..
Loved the photos .. and it's great to be following as I get to so many other places vicariously ... cheers Hilary
My precious Denise,
I love the cute childhood pictures. If I was there when you nearly got bitten by that snake, I would have zapped him for you!!(smile).
As I've said to you before, I have so much respect and admiration for you. You are very talented, educated and equally humble. I count your friendship as one of the most beautiful moments in my blogging career. I always tell my wife you're my Australian girl! (LOL) Thanks for this lovely post.
BTW, thank you for the lovely comment on my An Evening Without You". Unfortunately it ended up in spam & I hit the delete button by mistake...sorry :-( Can you write me another one with the same smile please? ;-)
Thank you late commenters. You're all so sweet and supportive. Thank you very much.
Denise
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