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Never get between a male emu and his chicks
Every day, the kids and I race down the road on our bikes, hurtling past flocks of emus, (of which one fella has 23 chicks), and ride around a circuit we’ve made. It’s always a great recharge of energy and fresh air, and a much needed break between …
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Back to dust and big skies
On one hand we lived in paradise, looking every day onto Mount Wellington, under a canopy of our white peppermint forest, surrounded by a community of people who laughed, cried and raised our children with us. We both did work that was enjoyable and meaningful. Our …
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Snowed In
The roads were closed for only a day or two, but it was enough to remind me how liberating it is to be stripped of choice. With all the soccer, kids birthday parties, library and supermarket missions that ‘must’ be done, it is so nice …
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Kick starting the stars
Over the last few months the stars have aligned themselves in the sort of pattern that have spelt trouble for me and my family. They seemed to have been a bit rough on the world in general in fact, with disasters and near misses showering down …
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Ode to Shanti
Ode to Shanti When we picked her out from the litter in Geeveston, she had two extra toes and a tumour, and lived in a house where a possum slept in a bed. A black ball of fluff, I took her with me everywhere, forest …
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Oura Oura
There is a little white weatherboard house with no power or driveway, sitting on the top of a green sun drenched hill. Looming above it, in true Tasmanian style, is Dry’s Bluff. A stunning rock face which runs East West, meaning that the chameleon like …
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Marrawah
All in the name of ‘research’, a friend and I decided to reincarnate a Thelma and Louise style trip to the tip of North West Tasmania. Two women with six kids between us, desperate for a few days off, floral pillowcases from the Campbeltown op …
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The flip side of Tasmanian culture
That Tasmania is a land of extremes is well known. Extreme weather, extreme beauty and extreme differences in the people. Somehow though, bar the occasional overly passionate car burning, tyre slashing or court case, it all just seems to work. Our day today seemed to sum that …
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Bedourie Dust Storm
This dust storm that stopped time for an hour and a half in Bedourie, Western Queensland a few days ago, has brought back memories. Twice a week on average, through our first 48 degree summer out at Ethabuka Reserve, the sky would darken and turn pink. …