Gold Coast - sunny one day ...

During the past year I have been wondering about why I live on the Gold Coast. When I decided to buy a house I didn't have any clue where I wanted to live except the climate had to be warm. During the past twelve months I've been distracted with thoughts of why I chose to live in this area and I am so glad I live here.

As a service wife, I've lived in Sydney, Wollongong, Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Brisbane, Townsville, Canungra, USA, and as part of an around Australia trip, in Melbourne for several months. I didn't handle the cold weather too well. Just ask my family. So somewhere warm was number one on the list.

I wanted to be close to the beach and the rainforest. I visit these environments when I want to let the stress of my day drain away. I wanted to feel the energy of the city and its people who aren't afraid to live life their way and get on with it. I wanted a progressive city that looks to the future; Gold Coast is hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games and to me this means they are looking forward. I don't dig sport...at all, so sport wasn't one of the reasons why I live here.

I like the great eating places and tourist attractions that I love to share with family and friends  when they come to visit from out of town. There are also the great film and theatre productions and writers whom I like to meet with, talk writing, sip coffee and swap ideas.

There are long walks along lots of beaches and I've just discovered the Botanic Gardens is a great place to start my day with a morning walk, and a coffee of course. I'm never lost for anywhere to take time away from my writing and blow the cobwebs away.

These are just a few reasons why I live where I live.  I'd love to hear why you live where you live. Leave me a comment below.

Growing Macadamias

Kate's Choice  takes place in Germany, Townsville and on an experimental macadamia nut farm at Giru about an hour's drive south of Townsville. During my research this is what I found out about macadamia nuts.

Green and ripened macadamia nuts.

Macadamia nuts are an Australian native. They love to grow in a subtropical climate and flourish when temperatures are between 20 and 25 degrees celsius.

The trees present with shiny dark leaves and grow to a height of 12 to 15 metres. Flowering happens in early spring and nuts begin to form in early December maturing to a well-formed nut by early March. The nuts are encased in a green crust which splits open when the nuts are ready for harvesting. This splitting enables the kernel inside the brown woody shell to dry and separate from the hard shell. Hitting the  hard shell with a hammer to open it will reward you with that delicious smooth nut that has a buttery flavour.

Kate's father, Dominic, feeling the effects of drought felt he needed to diversify his farming, so he sold most of his cattle and planted macadamia nuts as an experiment. 

Giru's temperature is a little too warm and the rainfall can be unreliable for growing macadamias but he wanted to try with the help of trickle irrigation. He planted the small saplings and some of them perished in the heat while the stronger ones held on. With time the trees adapted and grew but not to the height of those that grow in south east Queensland. The leaves didn't have the same depth of green, but he got a crop. He persevered and over the years he planted up to 2,000 trees. Alex, Dusty's brother, is a research scientist. He worked with Dominic to help him through the highs and lows of the experiment to achieve his desired result. 

Whether to take up the challenge to diversify and what new crop to plant has to be one of the most difficult decisions to make in farming. Farmers are on a huge learning curve as they come to understand the life cycle of a new crop and its needs to thrive and whether it can become a viable business venture. The amount of time a new tree crop like Macadamia nuts takes to bear is also another factor. Dominic was willing to take the risk and with Alex's help was able to create a new source of income from his land.

Are you willing to take a risk on a new project and see it through to the end no matter the challenges?

I Love Macadamia Nuts

Macadamia orchard

I love macadamias. Their buttery flavour and soft crunchy texture are hard to resist. When I was a child we had a macadamia tree in the back yard near the chicken coop. I was always happy to see the sweet-smelling white blossoms form in early spring. I waited patiently as the bees came to collect the nectar and then in December I became excited as the first nutlets formed on the tree.

Every day I fed the chickens watching the nutlets grow bigger until they were round nuts quivering in the breeze until about March when they were too heavy to hold on and fell to the ground.

Sometimes the husk cracked while the nut was on the tree, most times though the husk cracked after they had fallen to the ground. Beneath that plump crust was the woody shell that protected the delicious kernel inside. Sometimes, when I had been feeling impatient, I peeled off the green husk then I cracked the nut with a hammer. Much to my disappointment, the flesh hadn't dried sufficiently so it was stuck to the shell and I would have to dig it out of the shell. It just wasn't the same as putting the full flesh into my mouth. When I was patient and waited for the husk to fall off which is important for the drying of the kernel, I'd be rewarded with a delicious round easy to remove kernel just right for eating.

It's easy to get impatient waiting for a macadamia to dry, but it is really worth the wait. When I was young there were few macadamia farms. Now they are grown in northern New South Wales and south east Queensland and further north to Bundaberg.

My new novel, Kate's Choice, due for release on 4 April 2016 is set on an experimental macadamia farm at Giru, south of Towsville. One of the main characters, Alex Mitchell is a research scientist. He is keen to continue Kate's father's work of developing an experimental macadamia orchard. Kate's father planted the trees ten years earlier and they are just beginning to yield enough nuts so that they can make a living. When Kate's father dies, Alex is keen to continue his work on the farm helping Kate while her husband, Alex's brother, Dusty struggles with PTSD.

Macadamias are a delicious versatile food that can be prepared to make savoury or sweet dishes. As Christmas is only eighteen days away, I am looking for ways to serve this delicious nut this summer. Watch this space and my Facebook page for some recipe ideas. They are extra delicious when coated with chocolate. You get double the buttery taste.

How about you, have you had an opportunity to munch on this delicious treat?  

The Next Chapter Unfolds...

Life in the tropics.

It's happened, before I thought it would!

Almost twelve years ago our family left Townsville to live on the Gold Coast so that our son, who is an IT guru, would have opportunities to work in that field. Our time on the Gold Coast was an interesting time full of challenges but a fun place to call home. Our son is now an adult and well on his way to an interesting career in IT.

Knowing he was settled, left me wondering where my future lay. Yes, of course, I'm a writer that was obvious, but where do I feel the freedom to write with no distractions. Part of our travels around Australia was to find the place where we were meant to be. Leaving my life behind on the Gold Coast was quite a challenge, but I also found it exciting to work out where the next chapter of my life was about to unfold. Living down south was exciting, but it wasn't for me climatically, so we headed north to the warmth, and discovered we belong up here in the tropics with humidity, balmy nights, open spaces, palm trees and the beautiful Great Barrier Reef at our doorstep. We were scuba divers at another time in our life.

Extended family living here also strongly influenced my decision to live in Mackay. In my adult years I've never lived in the same town as family, so Mackay has offered this wonderful opportunity for me to connect with them.

Another bonus was meeting author, Rose Dee, whose first book will be released in mid-November, 2011 by Even Before Publishing entitled Back to Resolution. It's great to meet and support each other on our writing journey.

So, it's official, we've decided to make Mackay our new home. Our house on the Gold Coast is on the market and we're searching for our new place to put down roots. We've lived in Townsville on three different occasions in the past, so it's no surprise we've returned to north Queensland. Mackay has regular flights in and out which are relatively cheap with lots of flights daily. The hour and a half trip to Brisbane means our son can visit often when he needs time out from his busy schedule, or I can return to the Gold Coast when I want to catch up with him and old friends.

My change of lifestyle isn't as dramatic as Gina's in my book, African Hearts. Gina was a woman with courage, understanding her strengths and moving forward to grasp new experiences. I learned from Gina that fear is real, but it can be overcome and there are many advantanges to going places that seem way too scarey.

Travelling in the van has given me the opportunity to meet many people throughout this vast country; connect with my readers and other writers; and to give me new fodder for my future projects.

I haven't been to Western and central Australia, but those places are still on my list of places to visit. It's time for me to be still for a while and focus again on my next work which is almost complete. When the time is right, I'll step out and seek all that the great central and west has to offer.

Where are you in your journey of life? Are you in a time of being, or are you caught up in the excitement and stress of change? If you're in the latter, hang in there, you'll soon be in that new place. I encourage you to hold on tight and enjoy the ride. You'll grow from the experience and have new resources to call on in the future when you next take a leap of faith.