Since I last wrote, the best part of another term elapsed and a new one has begun. During the holidays, Michael and I took some trips together, which were most enjoyable. We took off at the beginning of the holidays for Noosa. Unfortunately, it was a bit colder than it is now, so swimming could be a little frigid. We had days mainly between 24 and 26 degrees. On our first day, we took a walk around Mount Tibrogargan (never ask me to pronounce that), which is one of the peaks in the Glasshouse Mountains. The Glasshouse Mountains aren't really mountains - more rocky pinnacles - but they're certainly bizarre shapes and make for awesome landscape.
From there, we drove to the Airbnb and enjoyed a dip in the pool there. We did a spot of shopping and had a quiet night in, because I'd caught cold that day and was a bit blocked up. The next day we went to Noosa main beach, which was very busy. Because Noosa main beach is on a peninsula, the parking to people ratio is a bit problematic. After living somewhere where there's no traffic and always free parking, we found it somewhat frustrating, but managed to find a spot in the end. It's a beautiful beach there, but I have to say that I feel the Gold Coast has better facilities for large groups of people. It's also (dare I say it) perhaps a little less snobby than Noosa. I know a lot of people who say the Gold Coast is cliche and tacky, but I reckon there are some pretty good reasons for it being a world class stretch of coastline. 
We took a walk in Noosa National Park and wound up on the very beach some of our kind friends had urged us to avoid (apparently Alexandra Beach is a nudist beach - but because we went in the evening it was entirely vacant - just a big old sea eagle looking down on the emptiness). Ironically, with no people on it, it's actually quite a lovely beach. On the way back, these massive hornet things crossed paths with us, and I had a mini freak out. I'm surprisingly fine when encountering snakes, bats, frogs, and large spiders (frogs are actually really cool) but large things that fly and aren't birds or bats just shouldn't exist in my opinion. Bleugh. Then we had this incredible meal of polpettone and pizza at an Italian restaurant. 
While we were on the Sunny Coast, we also went to Sea Life Aquarium at Maroochydore. But the highlight for me was probably that last trip to a beach before heading inland. Coolum proved to be more relaxing to get a park at than Noosa, and it was delightful to spend time at.
Later in the holidays, we had a friend from New Zealand come to stay with us, and we drove him around and did various activities. We headed out to the Aviation Museum at Oakey (which wasn't really my thing, but the guys seemed interested in it). The trip was totally worth it, however, when I spotted a wild koala up a tree near the museum! My pictures are very poor, but perhaps you can spot it. We also visited Crow's Nest National Park, which I've heard can be a real oasis when there's water. However, there wasn't much water, and there wasn't much shade either, because most of the trees were shriveled up, which meant an hour's walk at midday was rather exhausting. We did see little turtles in the one big pool of water there was though.
The holidays fairly flew by, and now it's term again, with all the busyness that entails. But it not a long term, and Christmas is at the end of it, which is always wonderful. We are heading back to New Zealand for a visit in mid December. It will seem very cold after numerous 30+ days here (we've had several 38s already), but I'll pack jerseys.
In the meantime, you may enjoy my terrible photos. I give you permission.

Looks like it's been rather a while since I last wrote. The reasons for that are plentiful - setting up a new home, starting the term, and applying together with my husband for a partner visa for him. The amount of evidence required for this is insane, and it doesn't count really at all if you're married, because people can just get married to try to get into the country. Of course, New Zealanders can stay here indefinitely. But they don't share the same rights with Australians, and I want my husband to be able to get the most out of living here, just as I do. Hence we applied, even though it was horrendously expensive. Here's hoping that the result (after the 20+ months of waiting) is positive!
This term has been rather frantic. I spent some time editing the next volume of The Fledgling Account with my publisher, and that book is now up to the stage of formatting for print. So hopefully it won't be long until that one is released too.
I've been bursting at the seams with music students, which is a good and rewarding thing, but it can be tiring too. The local high school here put on the musical Fame, and a number of the main characters in the musical were students of mine. It was enjoyable to watch them all perform. Earlier in the term, my creative writing students from the Christian College attended the Ekka. For the uninitiated, the Ekka is a huge agricultural show and festival that showcases everything from cows to poetry from all over the state. I wasn't sure how my students would go, but two of them did score Commended certificates in their poetry category, placing just below the official awards given to other students. So that shows that we're on the right track, and for the small country town of Chinchilla, we did pretty well!
The weather is at last starting to warm up. We've had several quite cold frosts throughout winter, but now when I check the forecast, most of what I see is 26, 28, and up. We even have some 30 degree days approaching. Winter is all but over and spring is here. I don't suppose we really have much hibernation for the animals here, but I have noticed that the bird-life has become more active and varied again. The parrots are going crazy as all the blossoms come out, and it's a very raucous affair in the morning. I've also seen some magpies dive-bombing already, which is never a pleasant experience to be on the other end of I've heard. So I'll be exercising some caution with where I walk in the next few weeks. I've heard that some frogs and toads bury themselves over winter. I don't know much about that, except that we've finally had some proper rain for the first time in a bit over two months, and with the sudden rise in humidity, some frogs have started to vocalise (which is surprisingly loud - whenever I try to find them, it's like locating a ghost: they seem to be everywhere and nowhere at once). The kangaroos of course have been around the whole time and seem to be able to survive every extreme.
Not too long ago, my husband and I took a day trip to the Bunya Mountains and saw our first echidna. It didn't like me particularly much and pulled its nose in when I tried to get closer for a better look.
It's three weeks till the end of term already, and time does seem to fly. Michael and I are planning a trip back to New Zealand again at the end of the year, to visit family. It seems like it's getting rather close already. In the meantime, here's to the coming of spring and the boiling of summer. I'll keep writing on my latest new project and anticipating a new book release in the near future.

​More soon.

Shockingly, my last post was basically a month ago, but I've had good reason not to write. Firstly, I had an editing deadline with Consort to the Shadows Part Two, which is technically part of volume five of my series but will really become my sixth book to be published once it releases. So I'm excited for that.
Also, my husband and I were moving into our new house and bond cleaning the rental, which was surprisingly hard work. Lastly, we went for a few days to the Gold Coast at the end of the school holidays. And now we're both back to term and nearly at the end of week two. Time flies when you're having fun!
Winter continues here. Sometimes I wake up and it's negative three. But there's never any condensation on the windows or anything because it's too dry. Other days, I wake up and it's eight degrees. But the daytime temperatures have far and away been lovely. Today it should get to 23. Sometimes we get a beautiful 25, and you feel like you do in summertime in the South Island of New Zealand. And with August around the corner, I know things are going to continue to warm up. By the end of August, I predict we will be getting 28s again.
So winter has been overall delightful. Touch wood, I haven't fallen sick at all, although I do wake up snuffly when it plummets to the negatives.
Our Gold Coast holiday was the best, even though it was short. It started with some meetings for Michael, so I walked at White Rock Conservation Park in Logan while he did that. Walking in the bush was enjoyable, but I was certainly ready to see a bit of coastline as well. Later at the Gold Coast, we went for a fantastic excursion to Mt. Tamborine, where we walked to a couple of beautiful water falls. Then we had a huge meal at the Bavarian Grill Haus opposite the rotary. It was a great feed, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Also, the Pilsner was rather good.
Later in the day, we went to Broadbeach, which was relaxing. We watched all the people on holiday from New Zealand taking a dip in the waves and enjoying themselves. The next day, we nipped over the border into New South Wales and went to Tweed Heads, where we enjoyed Greenmount, Snapper Rocks, and Rainbow Bay. When we drove a kilometer up the road, we were back in Queensland, and we relaxed in the sunshine on Kirra Beach.
We also went shopping in Pacific Fair, a large and glamourous mall on the Gold Coast. Michael helped me pick out a leather jacket. On Sunday, we took a trip out to Paradise Point and went for a walk along the beach. The millionaires live in enormous mansions in complexes on the islands attached to Paradise Point. You have to cross bridges to get to them, and there's a little man at the gate recording everyone who passes through. It was fascinating. I was joking to Michael that someone might accuse us of devaluing their house when we parked our Suzuki Alto in front of it so we could take a walk.
After all of that, Michael stayed on in Brisbane for a couple of days for a conference and I drove Peyton home to Chinchilla. It was a wonderful time away, and I have to admit I came away from it planning our next excursion to the coast.
But home has its attractions too, and there's something comforting about the simplicity of Chinchilla - the roos in the park enjoying their feed and the galahs in the gum trees - the downs stretching away into the distance, flat and baking.
I've included some photos of our travels. They're not fantastic quality, but they should be enough to convince you Australia's got to be the most beautiful place in the world...

Well, winter has finally arrived here in Chinchilla, and I must say, the temperature can get both impressively low and impressively high for winter. The biggest tip I would give to anyone spending a winter here would be to rug up in the morning and evening, protecting the chest and throat in particular. But be ready for warm, sunny days. Even when it's only 19 degrees outside, the sun is out in full force, and you can get really quite sweaty when you're working outside. The mornings can get down to negative two or three degrees, so a hot water bottle overnight is a must.
Other than that, it's the sunniest, most pleasant winter I've experienced so far. The other day was 25 degrees and positively balmy.

In the meantime, my husband and I attended Chinchilla Show, which is an agricultural community event. I performed on the main stage with some of my students and had a good time. Then the botanic parklands opened up in town, and they really are an oasis. Everyone adores them. The new water park here apparently cost six or seven million to make. The water is pumped all the way from the nearby creek and goes back there once it's been sprayed all over the delighted kids that assemble under it. There's a humongous watermelon bucket that fills up with liters of water and tips over every once and while. Peyton is terrified of it and prefers to bolt when it empties.

Anyway, when the botanic parklands opened up, I got to sing at that event too. I did my first classical numbers in this town, having a crack at Porgi Amor and Voi Che Sapete. I thought this might meet with ridicule, but the crowd seemed delighted with it, and many people were saying they'd never heard anything like it (in a complimentary way, I certainly hope).

In the meantime, Michael and I are hoping to settle here in the long term, and we're making plans to that end. We purchased a house for a very reasonable price, and it looks like it's going to be a great home. It has a fantastic tub which was actually one of my "must haves" because of the summers here. I can't exactly dance under sprinklers at the water park like the children do, as I don't think they really intended that area for adults. But I can lie in the tub with a cold one (Aussie lingo for chilled beer), and that sounds just fine to me.

The weather is a lot cooler than summer, so it's easier to move boxes this time round. I'm doing multiple trips across town to the new place, and it's beginning to look a little more homely.

Who could have known that I would love living in the outback so much? We took a winter trip to the Weir the other day, and the water level is getting pretty low. Kayaking might not be the best idea right now. But the bird life is incredible, and I saw several huge species I didn't know. The roos were watching us from their positions in the long grass. It's still a novelty seeing them.

If any of you read this and think it sounds inviting, you'd be right. I would heartily recommend a trip to the outback, and Chinchilla is a good place to visit, even if you haven't heard of it before. By the way, I'm still eating water melon, even in the middle of winter.

A little while ago, I posted about some holiday trips that my husband and I took, but I neglected to post about my fifth book, which released in February. Consort to the Shadows arrived in the post the same day my new Australian license did. I can tell you which one I liked the look of more (although arguably the license was more useful to me, even though I did look somewhat sinister on it). It's been a pleasure to hold this book in my hands, because this was the one I thought I would never get to. After my original publisher said I had to sell one hundred e-books a day to earn the right to publish my fifth book, I thought it would never happen. And yet, it now has. Consort has never been published before. And despite all odds, I've made it this far, and I'm determined to keep going, somehow.

So far, a number of New Zealand libraries have ordered the book, including Auckland Libraries and Christchurch Libraries. I'm not sure how many people have read it, as it can be hard to get people to read subsequent books in a series. Contrary to popular thought, not many readers are unwaveringly faithful to a long series. And I suppose it's fair enough. We all lead busy lives. But my books are busy too, and at $0.99, Rafen surely can't fail to please.

In the meantime, I continue writing other projects, and the school I teach music at has also contracted me to teach some of their gifted and talented primary students poetry. This is going well so far. We've been working on season acrostics, which is somewhat hilarious in Australia, when people pick winter and try to write about snow. It certainly snows on some mountains in Australia, but it's not something you would see every day of the week. Still, recently I have had mornings when I have woken up and felt rather cold. So the temperature is still dropping here, even though many bushes are flowering as consistently as one would expect them to in a New Zealand springtime.

Anyhow, there's something of an update on my writing. I have been visiting many promotional websites and listing my books with them, but I have to admit, I don't enjoy it half as much as writing. In fact, it would be fair to say I don't enjoy it all, but if it helps move a few books and keep ensuring my future as an author, so be it. In the meantime, I can enjoy past successes and keep dreaming up new stories in my spare time, with my trusty writing companion Peyton.

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Rafen is still $0.99 USD
The Consort to the Shadows paperback is now available.

At the end of every summer, I always feel the same - like I never want those golden days with brilliant sunshine and warm waters to end. This year, it's like I've gotten my wish. I know that Chinchilla has a winter (a very crisp but swift winter, I've heard) but there's been no sign of it yet. We are consistently ten degrees cooler than we have been in the height of summer, which is a relief. But now it's very much like a New Zealand summer - mild, mostly sunny, and comfortable. We've exchanged eight weeks of 38 degrees for what's shaping up to be a couple of months of 28.

We're on the brink of term two here. The holidays have flown by, but not without some adventures. Michael and I took a trip to Brisbane where he met up with some teachers, and I met up with my author friend Russell. We had a day at the Brisbane State Library with his writer group, which was very enjoyable. The following day, Michael and I took a trip to the Sunshine Coast. Ironically, our first experience of the Sunshine Coast was rain, which was kind of disappointing. We headed into Sunshine Plaza, did some shopping, and had a nice date. By that time, the clouds had cleared up enough for us to walk down the Maroochydore river bank to where the waterway met the sea. I did some wading and "sitting in puddles" as my husband calls it. It's the simple things that make me happy.

We drove back to Chinchilla the next day and prepared for when Michael's family came to visit us. Then we spent five delightful and busy days with them, day tripping and touring the grand metropolis of Chinchilla (a little tongue in cheek, but Chinchilla is a fun town to walk around). Incidentally, outback towns can be pretty fascinating. For example, you see things you don't always see in the cities - heaps of kangaroos for example. And plenty of bats. Chinchilla Weir seems to be spectacular all year round, with flocks of corellas, cockatoos, and galahs settling in the trees and large numbers of pelicans gliding on the waters. Wild kangaroos bask on the banks of the Condamine, and kookaburras and frogs come out at sunset. It's one of the best recreational spots I know of on the Downs.
We took Michael's family there and showed them the sights. They also took several walks around Charlie's Creek, which is where Michael and I have seen a large python and a big colony of bats. Then we had a few day trips. One of the most rewarding day trips was out to the Bunya Mountains, where we walked for several hours through the rain forest. It was cool, refreshing, and dazzling. Near the camping grounds at the fringe of the forest, wallabies graze all over the place. They were so soft and furry looking that I just wanted to cuddle them. But then, I'm not sure how friendly they would be if I did that.
We also took a trip to Miles Historical Museum. Miles is a town half an hour down the road from Chinchilla, and in all honesty, I had always thought of it as a ghost town. The boom and bust cycle hit hard there, and the population is far smaller than that of Chinchilla. But I have to say, I was blown away by the historical museum. I expected it to be three old buildings and a steam engine. In reality, it was thirty old buildings and a steam engine. Plus, all the buildings were set up exactly as they would have been back in the day - an old style pub with shelves lined with liquor, a cafe with all the confectionery and old brands of chocolate set out, an old hospital with painful looking implements on display, and so on. It looked as if the town was still lived in, almost. Besides all this, the museum boasted an excellent Anzac Day display and the largest rock collection and shell collection I've ever seen. And I'm not just talking about any rocks. Precious stones of all kinds were polished to perfection behind their glass, some shaped exactly like crystal balls. It was certainly well worth the trip. A lady from Brisbane who was visiting went so far as to say it was the best museum she had seen.
So there you go - a big tick for the little town of Miles!

Yesterday was somewhat amusing, because Michael and I decided to take a day trip out to Lake Broadwater - a natural lake thirty kilometers from Dalby. We hit the road, turned up at the lake, and were greeted with a sign saying the lake was closed to all forms of water recreation due to low water levels. Beyond the sign was a gigantic dusty, cracked basin of sand and weeds.
Oh.
But we had heard that the walk around the lake was good, so we made a start on that, only to be plagued by hundreds of flies, sticking to our faces wherever we went. Even by waving our arms constantly (I'm sure the campers in the nearby grounds would have been laughing at our antics) we couldn't rid ourselves of them. So we got back in the car and drove to Dalby, where we took a walk around Myall Creek. The park lands there have been landscaped beautifully, and it was a peaceful and rewarding experience. Not to mention, there was actually a lot of water in the creek. Parrots, cockatoos, and giant lizards greeted us at every turn, and the obligatory squawking bat colony was interesting to look at on one stretch of the journey.

We're certainly becoming more Aussified by the day in some ways. Both of us have our Australian licenses now, although people still misunderstand our accents sometimes - a problem I've had in New Zealand as well because apparently I sound like I'm from Germany or England. (??) Anyway, it's fun fooling people into thinking they know what a New Zealand accent is when they hear me. They'll be doubly confused when they meet other New Zealanders.
So tomorrow term begins, but the best thing about it is that we're still here. Almost exactly a year ago, we completed a trip to Victoria, where I had used to live as a child. It was that trip that got us thinking about moving countries.
I still can't believe that we're here, in sunny Queensland!

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Christchurch was my home not four months ago. And recently it has been a world news headline once again, with a mass shooting taking place in the CBD. It's devastating to see such violence and hatred within the city where I was born.

There's been plenty said on the matter, and there will be plenty more said. So I shall keep the things that are on my mind very brief.

I love Australia, and I love New Zealand. They are both my countries. As a dual citizen who has had many happy memories in both countries, I can say that with perfect conviction. So I'm properly grieved that this happened in New Zealand and that it was an Australian who perpetrated the attack. There's been a great deal of insistence that "this isn't New Zealand" and "this isn't Christchurch". I would also like to say that this isn't Australia. And fourthly, despite whatever Tarrant might have said in his manifesto, this is not Christianity. Perhaps Tarrant had some links to Christianity. He certainly made a great many excuses to justify his actions.
But this is not the face of Christianity. First and foremostly, true Christianity is not a white supremacist thing. It's a walk of life that spans all nationalities over the world. But if you want to be picky, it began in the Middle East, where Jesus Christ associated with the Samaritans, the tax collectors, and the "sinners" of his day - people whom the religious leaders despised. And then He gave His life for them and many others, before being resurrected and striking death its final blow. Christianity is about compassion, generosity, grace, and new life. True Christianity has ministered and always will minister to the vulnerable.
As I write this, I know that there will be Christian brother and sisters of mine, over in China or Pakistan or other countries overseas that will be suffering intense persecution. My husband and I support a missionary group in Pakistan, and we frequently hear of Christians there who have been abused, tortured, and even killed because of what they believe. So Christians know what it is to be persecuted. And I hope that true Christians will stand by Christchurch and the Muslim victims of this attack in this time, because of that knowledge. True Christians should empathize and be compassionate.
One thing that I've seen is a lot of people encouraging others in New Zealand to wear Muslim head scarves, to show their solidarity with Muslims in this time. I personally feel that perhaps this isn't the most helpful thing we could be doing right now. If a gunman had walked into my church and shot dead a group of Christians, I should feel uncomfortable if the government or another group requested that everyone wear a cross in solidarity, or that everyone get a T-shirt that says "Jesus is the only way". The fact is, not all of us believe what Muslims do, just as not everyone believes what Christians profess. And the response to this catastrophic event should be respect for religious freedom, not necessarily requests that everyone should wear a head scarf. In the light of this, people should affirm each other's freedoms to seek out the truth for themselves and to think what they wish to think. This is a fundamental human right. Secondly, those who are able should help the victims in more practical ways than donning a head scarf. Making meals for those who have lost a loved one, for example. Walking with Muslim women who are too afraid to leave their houses after the attacks. Offering company to those of the Muslim community who need it. Offering rides to those who would prefer not to walk the streets of the CBD at this time. Writing cards expressing your sympathies and well wishes. Praying for the victims of the community (for this event has highlighted the importance of freedom to pray). But whatever anyone does, it should be a practical sign of love and compassion for others.
The resounding message should be that we are all human, no matter what we believe, no matter where we come from. And we ought to love each other and reaffirm each other's human rights.

Anyhow, these are the thoughts of a Kiwi in the Australian outback at this particular time. I shan't be wearing a head scarf on Friday, because I believe in freedom of belief for all - Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and all other religions alike. But each night, I remember Christchurch and all the Muslim victims of last Friday's shootings in my prayers. I particularly think of the family of Mucad Ibrahim, who was only three when he was cruelly shot. And I pray New Zealand will see better days as the horrible fresh pain of this event begins to subside.
God defend New Zealand.

It's been a while since my last installment on our Australian adventures. We are gradually getting used to life here and enjoying it very much. There are always new challenges, but also new joys. I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching bats fly against the orange sunset. It's an unusual and yet fascinating sight.

One thing that I have almost forgotten with the ordinary and enjoyable day to day life here are the many adventures and complications that brought us here. What I mean, of course, is that immigrating isn't an easy thing. We seem to have fallen on our feet on the other end. Good jobs, wonderful people, a great church, a good community. It's not everyone's experience.

The journey here wasn't quite as smooth and was filled with a huge sense of risk. For a start, being a New Zealander immigrating to Australia is a somewhat risky thing. There are many New Zealanders going back to the land of the long white cloud because they have run out of money. In simple words, they lost their jobs or never got one after immigrating, and the government here will not support any New Zealanders on Newstart. Unless they've been unemployed for years. Then to the best of my knowledge, they give you Newstart for perhaps six weeks. And after that, you're on your own again. So both of us giving up very decent jobs in New Zealand to immigrate to a place on a set schedule without knowing whether we would have jobs by the time our flights came around was pretty daunting.
It was made less daunting by the fact that I am an Australian citizen, though. If either of us run into financial hardship, our income should drop below the threshold enough for me to get a little help from the government. So that is good. But it would be just enough for one person to live on. Better than nothing, but not necessarily everything needed in a tough time.
Once upon a time, New Zealanders flocked to Australia in hordes. It was a land of better pay and opportunities for many. New Zealanders even used to be allowed to collect the dole here in Australia, well over a decade ago. Then the Australian government changed the rules. They allowed New Zealanders to keep living here indefinitely. But they cut most of them out of opportunities for citizenship. So many tax paying New Zealanders here cannot vote and cannot get income support while they are jobless. They are entitled to Medicare cards, but apparently (I've not ascertained how true all this is yet, but it's something I've heard) Australians still get more perks. Some New Zealanders insist they've been denied some healthcare subsidies that other medicare card holders have gotten. Who knows? Time will tell for us. It's still a privilege to be allowed to live here.
We were advised quite strongly by a few people not to go, and I certainly did take that to heart. I never do something without worrying about it ten times first. But at the end of the day, both of us felt the urge for a big change. We made a decision that we hope will benefit us and possibly any children we have (who will be allowed dual citizenship because of me). 
The first step on our journey was to check what sort of teaching job my husband could get. As I'm self-employed, I need to build up my income over time. Not all Australian states accept New Zealand qualified teachers indiscriminately. For some of the states, you have to do a whole lot of extra paperwork to get in. So that narrowed down our choices.
Originally, we looked at most of Australia - excepting Tasmania (too cold) and Northern Territory (too many crocs). Then we cut out the states that didn't offer mutual recognition for New Zealand teachers. That unfortunately knocked out New South Wales and Victoria. After that, it was a serious toss up between Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland. We had our sights set on Adelaide for a while. Then we wondered about Perth - less hay fever and warmer seas. At last, we settled on Queensland somewhat reluctantly. The jobs were better around Brisbane, with more plentiful opportunities. I was concerned about the humidity and the termites, which are sometimes worse in the North.
We looked specifically at Brisbane but also looked at towns scattered around about it, which was how we came up with Chinchilla. A job at the Christian College was being advertised. Chinchilla looked like a great place to live - comfortable, cozy, and outfitted with everything anyone needs for day to day life (except a maternity ward, but thankfully people here don't pop out a baby every other day). Michael's mutual recognition had come through by the time he applied for this job, and he had paid for Queensland Teachers' Registration. It was quite extraordinary to see this all come through in the mail. So he emailed a few recruiters and applied for the Chinchilla job. He was accepted for the Christian College here relatively quickly. It was extraordinary that by the end of August, he had a job to go to, and we knew we were going to be financially okay in a new country. The relief was immense. We had already committed to immigrating (he had resigned from his previous job), so it was good to know things were looking positive on the other side. Much later in the year, the recruiters got back to Michael and offered him a potential position in Townsville (which is probably still partially underwater currently) or Mount Isa (which is so remote it may as well be on another planet). Chinchilla is probably the place for us. Besides which, Townsville has crocodiles, and I'm not quite ready to go level up on my Australian challenge yet.
After Michael got the job, I was also offered work at the college teaching singing and piano. This meant a lot of paperwork for me. In Australia, everyone is required to pay for a blue card when working with children. It's like getting police vetted in New Zealand, but it's not free. It costs a decent amount every three years. So that was step number one. Then to get an ABN (Australian Business Number) and a TFN (Tax File Number) all so that I could get personal indemnities insurance. This is so that if I accidentally burn the school down, I'm covered for the damages. All this took quite a bit of time.
We visited Australia in September and stayed in Chinchilla for a few days. Unfortunately, one of our first introductions to living in the town was viewing rentals in the newer areas of Chinchilla. It's not all bad, but it is worth saying that some places were built pretty quickly during a mining boom, and it does show. I felt thoroughly depressed after viewing a couple of places.
I'm pleased to say our current rental (an older home) is a better fit for us. It's better built and more solid.

Before we visited Chinchilla in September last year, I had this not-so-bright idea. If we bought a car, we wouldn't need to pay for a rental. So we bought a car, literally over the phone. It's actually an excellent car, so we were pretty lucky. But the major issue came when we wanted to drive it away. I didn't have an Australian driver's license or address, so I had none of the vital identification documents to register as the car's official owner - and most of my New Zealand ID did not count. A friend let us park our car at her place for two months while we were back in New Zealand prior to moving, and I had luckily put her address on the insurance documents for the car (which were hopelessly difficult to get from NZ as few companies wish to insure a car when the owners are still living in another country for a few months). So with the digital copy of my insurance statement and my Australian citizenship certificate, we pulled through, after about an hour of waiting at a government agency. My writer friend Russell Proctor kindly drove us to the government agency and then also took us to town where we verified my bank account in Australia.  The Commonwealth Bank here allows you to set up from another country. But you still have to verify your account in the middle of a large city. However, it did mean we could transfer funds into our account before arriving, meaning we had money to spend.
Without good friends letting us park our car at their place or driving us around in Brisbane CBD, we would never have made it through.

After our return to New Zealand, we spent most of three months preparing to move and finishing up our work. We had originally chosen to leave our dog behind, but I wound up deciding I would miss her too much. The day before she traveled, we received an invoice for her flight, detailing a transit to Melbourne. That freaked me out, and I got on the phone really quickly.
"Oh, it was just a mistake," the pet transporter told me, rather casually. "I meant to write Brisbane."
Phew.
The good news about transporting a dog from New Zealand to Australia is that there is no quarantine for pets from New Zealand. The main reason for this, I suppose, is because New Zealand is so busy being clean and green. And it has way fewer pests than Australia overall. No poisonous spiders. No snakes. No termites. No biting ants. And so on. So we got to pick Peyton up the same day she traveled.

There was a time when I spent every available moment researching how New Zealanders immigrate to Australia. Now we're here. When I look back, it seems awfully hectic. But we're still here and settling into our beautiful new home in Queensland.

Well, it's been another week or so here in Queensland, and my love for this place continues to grow. The countryside is beautiful, and the town feels like home already.
The heat is pretty consistent. Last week on Wednesday, it was forty-two degrees. I survived the day, but my work printer - for music teaching - did not. Unfortunately, the studio that I normally teach in climbed to about forty-five degrees before I moved from the dining room to there and flicked on the air con to begin teaching. By this time, it was already too late for my printer. The fronts of the cartridges had melted within, and all the printer wanted to do was repeatedly groan and flash its version of hazard lights at me. So that was frustrating. This Wednesday, it's going to hit forty again, and I will be keeping my printer somewhere other than that studio.
​Over the past weekend, my fifth book released. I'm looking forward to when it arrives in the post and I get to hold it and put it on the shelf with my others. We've also put Rafen, book one, on sale for a dollar. So if you want a cheap read, it's there, and it's no more expensive than throwing a coin at a street musician.
Other things happened on the weekend too. It was Chinchilla's famous Melon Festival - their twenty-fifth anniversary too! Thankfully it was only thirty-four degrees outside, so it wasn't a bad day to walk through town and watch the parade. Numerous floats came down the packed streets - and I mean packed: it was like Brisbane CBD for a day. A lot of tourists came to see it. The floats were decorated with... you guessed it, melons. But they were also festooned with green, red, and pink decorations. People dressed up and had a ball. A whole fleet of vintage cars drove down the street. And hundreds of market stalls sold all kinds of things (not just melon-related either).
The day contained a number of events, some of which we glimpsed, and others of which we gave a miss because we had to drive to Dalby to get some help with our printer. You would be amazed how many things you can do with a watermelon. For instance, the Mad Dash for Cash - a race in which the competitors charge down the main street and back, clutching a large watermelon each. When we watched this, someone dropped their melon by mistake, and it smashed on the asphalt. They were sadly disqualified. There's also Melon Bungy...??? And Melon Skiing, which is famous. We got to watch the set up process for the Melon Ski. Helpers spread a long tarp down on the field and slosh huge buckets of overripe melon all over it. Sometimes someone just runs out of nowhere and hurls a water melon at the track, where it smashes and dies in a spray of red flesh. I managed to get a picture of the warning signs around the area. Notice the emphasis on "there will be injuries". Everyone falls over in this event. It's kind of to be expected when you stick your feet in watermelons and then get pulled top speed down a tarp with more deceased watermelons smeared all over it.
The night before the weekend, they also had the watermelon Weigh In. We didn't witness this competition, but I've heard the watermelon this year was the biggest ever: 100.5 kilograms. How you grow a watermelon that big, I shall never know. Steroids? And do you eat it afterwards? Or smash it on a tarp? Your guess is as good as mine.
Later in the afternoon, we headed an hour down the road to Dalby (a town of 15,000 people instead of the 6,000 we have here) and got some help at Harvey Norman. We probably had some ulterior motives for getting out of Chinchilla. Unfortunately, the water mains broke down partway through the morning that day, so the entire town was without water. Imagine 10,000 extra people all needing to go to the toilet when the water mains are broken down. Additionally, just washing your hands or getting a drink becomes a problem. I had luckily put some water in the fridge earlier in the day, so we had that when we came home for a bit. But other than that, it's a bit hard to know what to do when so much of your life requires water and there is none. So Dalby was a good option until the water came back.
The man at Harvey Norman removed our damaged cartridges from the printer, and now we're waiting on new ones. Excitingly, on the way there I saw a twister of red loam soil in a nearby field. These occur quite often in the dry conditions, apparently. I was mesmerized.
In the meantime, I've gained a few more music students and hopefully sold a few books over the weekend. Things are slowly coming together for us here - my husband's medicare card arrived and the woman who rang me from medicare finally believes I'm an Australian citizen (long story which I'll tell maybe next time). So my medicare card should be coming soon. And on the weekend, we relax at the Weir. We've found a branch of the waterway that the motorboats don't go down as much. There, the pelicans, cormorants, and kangaroos gather, and we enjoy a leisurely paddle, watching them.
Until next time!