Welcome again to the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge, a year-long challenge set by the good folk at Long and Short Reviews that anyone can participate in. Check out the site to see who else is playing along.

This week’s topic:

The last place I travelled to and why

My last trip was back in January when I journeyed to my hometown of Mount Gambier in the lower south-east of South Australia to visit family.

It’s just under 1400 kilometres from Newcastle to Mount Gambier and we road-tripped as we always do. It’s a fairly easy drive once you get past Sydney and I adore the run through western Victoria. The landscape is stunning, especially between Hamilton and the border. It’s lush and rich and filled with fat cattle and sheep and magnificent old trees and lovely little towns. It’s where I set a lot of my stories because I want the rest of the world to fall in love with this unsung area too.

This trip, rather than stay in Mount Gambier, we stopped at the tiny fishing village of Nene Valley, about 35km to the south-west, where Mum and Dad once had a beach shack. I spent an enormous part of my childhood here, so it was lovely to be back. One of these days I’m going to write a story set in a place like Nene Valley. I have a couple of ideas churning around my brain although none are ready yet. Only a matter of time!

Here’s a couple of piccies.

Me freezing my butt off on my morning walk. This is the height of summer, mind. But when there’s nothing between you and Antarctica, the weather can get a bit dodgy.

I was very excited to see a seal taking a rest! A rare thing for here, but I’ve read that there’s been a fur seal population explosion further along the Coorong (a series of lagoons extending 130kms or so south-east from the mouth of the Murray River – and a very tranquil and unspoilt place) and perhaps they’re expanding their hunting grounds. Or it got lost.

Whatever the reason, it made my day.

It’ll be wonderful when we’re able to travel again. I miss going on adventures, but everyone staying home and taking care has meant Australia has weathered Covid-19 reasonably well. Fingers crossed we continue to do so.

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