I am not a Ronan Keating fan girl, but he had it right when he sang "Life is a rollercoaster, just gotta ride it." To be more precise, yesterday was a rollercoaster. But I wasn't keen to ride it. I slept badly, which wasn't a good start. I also ill-advisedly asked my travel agent to... Continue Reading →

I don’t know why a buff young bloke was wearing black hot pants, a gold headdress and a vaguely gimp-ish mask at the function I attended last night. My friend Sue isn’t sure either. But we shrugged our shoulders and got our photo taken with him. As you can see I was slightly more standoffish... Continue Reading →

I got to do something a little different last night - I went to the 2025 Sydney Film Festival for the very first time. I was invited to raise a toast to the very glamorous The Glendronach Lounge at the festival, in celebration of the distiller’s new partnership with the event. The Lounge is set in the... Continue Reading →

Both my kids have an assortment of auto-immune-related issues, which could be blamed on genetics or environment or microplastics or I don't know what. They soldier on without too much complaint, but I feel terribly guilty to have delivered them into the world with so many ailments. The youngest has been freezing in her university... Continue Reading →

How nice would it be to laze in a bedroom like that? Mine looks like a bomb site at the moment because I haven’t had a spare second over the past week to do anything other than fling clothes on and off. I made it through another loooooooong work shift yesterday - finishing up at... Continue Reading →

My sister stayed with me last night and we had an unexpectedly fun time exploring the suburb that I've lived in for the past few years. I say unexpectedly because I don’t tend to go out much locally. I mostly head up DD’s way. When I’m at home I tend to cook something for myself.... Continue Reading →

Two of my (many) obsessions are to see the northern and southern auroras and to dance in waves of bioluminescence. They’re magical things and my heart yearns to be dazzled by their surreal beauty in real life, not just pictures. But I keep being thwarted, being so near and missing my moment. A massive geomagnetic... Continue Reading →

I’ve had such a crazy few days … even for me. I am a bit shattered. I flew to Melbourne on Thursday afternoon to attend the Australasian Reporting Awards. The timing of the awards serendipitously coincided with DD's Melbourne-based workplace hosting a big celebration dinner, so I scored a free hotel room and transfers to... Continue Reading →

I started my reporting career 40 years ago at the Newcastle Herald and today I'm off to a very different kind of reporting event. Its called the Australian Seminar on Reporting and it has the theme of 'Moving Forward into a New Era - The Pace of Change is Accelerating’. Sounds pretty sexy, huh? But... Continue Reading →

I went to the 2025 NSW Sommelier’s Wine List of the Year awards last night. Ironically, Drinks Digest didn’t score an invite, I was attending for my day job. The 2025 awards were held at Strangers Dining Room in NSW Parliament House. NSW Parliament House is a funny old place, quite unexpectedly casual. They put... Continue Reading →