IT'S ALL HAPPENING...

RED DUST DREAMS - 

THE BOOK

Five years 'down the track' - the book has finally gone to publication and I am looking at trying to organise a major launch for it, while also 'working' on the documentary of the same name.

Have to say that I feel - 'odd'. Sort of surreal if you like. I have loved doing the research - such an amazing way to travel the nation and see the outback - and I have seen a lot of that huge expanse out there but there is always more to see. Always.

It has been the most wonderful learning curve too. Every day I learned something new - some good, some not so good. I also met some fantastic people, both those on the stations as well as those who are participating but live in the cities or other nations. Have had some incredible experiences - again, some good, some I would prefer to forget. Have also ticked some items off my 'bucket list' - including seeing crocodiles (both freshies and salt water - the above is the latter) in real life. I finally flew in a small plane (still a commercial flight but the smallest one I have ever been in) and a helicopter - LOVE the latter.

Conducting the research for the book has been one of the best experiences I have ever had. One aspect that I have tried to help capture both through the book as well as in the forthcoming documentary - is some of our outback history, which is currently in very real danger of being completely lost. Everywhere I travelled I saw old chimney stacks, the only reminders of homes from days gone by. There were also some ruins in different areas but, in so many cases, the chimney stacks have been the only part of the buildings remaining intact to this day. What stories they could tell!

Something really good which seems to have been triggered through doing this is that it has inspired some of the stations people as well as a few of the retired pastoralists, to write out their own auto-biographies and histories, both of their own lives as well as that of their stations. All recording some of our history, which, as I say, was in danger of being lost and gone forever.

There are many aspects which have surprised me as I have travelled around. One of these being how different our 'language' is between states, in some cases. Or maybe it is pure ignorance on my part. But what I have grown up knowing as a 'dam' (water being stored in a large hole which has been dug in the ground by a grader and is surrounded with high dirt banks) seems to be called a 'turkey's nest' in some other states. And education, although this one is probably 'old' knowledge to those who are either learning or teaching through it - what I have always known to be the School of the Air is known as 'Distance Education' in some other states. Although this could be far more widespread and common than I am giving credit for. I have always known about Distance Education, but more in respect of further education - that adults and older students do once their school lives are over but if they want to continued learing, as in University and TAFE - and don't want to leave home. I am sure this still applies widely but hearing School of the Air being termed Distance Education was a new one for me. Again, probably showing my ignorance.

Ramp is another one, being known as 'grids' in many places but I think that is quite a common one and is nationwide. It is just that I have grown up knowing them as ramps.

And 'drop and drags'- which are wire gates and this term seems to be used in some other states. We have these on Pitcairn too - and I guess we do have a name for them which could be 'drop and drag' but I had never heard this term before. They are more difficult to open and close than 'normal' gates - those made of wire (on rural properties) but are enclosed in metal to keep them straight and easy to use. 'Drop and drag' gates are made of wire and droppers. And can take some effort to close them again, once they've been opened. 

I am sure there are more names but the above come readily to mind at the moment.

But now the end is in sight, for the book anyway. As I do prepare to return to the workforce on a part time basis next year (and hopefully, with a job involving lots'n'lots of writing) I am also trying to organise a great big launch along with starting the initial plans for the documentary, about which I will talk a lot more of in my next post. I am also involved in quite a few other things as well as plan to do even more next year. Lots of wonderful family commitments too.

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THE OUTBACK IS BEAUTIFUL - BUT THE NEED TO PREPARE IS ESSENTIAL - INDEED, CAN BE LIFE-SAVING

Make no mistake! The mighty outback of Australia is very beautiful, spectacular, stunning - and can be deadly. So if you want to see it for yourself (and who wouldn't...) - PLEASE PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE! This cannot be stressed enough and is so easily done. Correct and basic preparation/homework and does save lives.

There are lots'n'lots of things you can do to try to ensure your own safety and wellbeing - some are listed below and are from my own experiences - but there are a heck of a lot more than are mentioned below. Armed with as much knowledge as possible and the correct and basic preparation (much of which is pure common sense) your outback adventure could turn out to be one of the best trips you have ever made.

Among these, but worthy of being mentioned separately as well - find out the best and most reliable form of communication that can be used effectively in even the most remote areas. On the whole, mobiles are useless in the outback, irrespective of who you are with - although Telstra does seem to be better out there than others - but it is still useless in the very remote areas away from towns. A VHF radio is one of the best forms of communication - combined with at least one emergency long distance channel (Channel 5 and/or Channel 35). Please also bear in mind that there are penalties in place for general misuse of any emergency channels - also for interfering with an emergency call.

If driving alone or even with a friend or two:

*   Make absolutely sure your vehicle is in top-notch condition. Organise a really thorough service, naturally including everything throughout the engine - the petrol, water, oil, tyres (including the spare obviously) and anything else you can think of prior to departure and do explain to the people who service it about what you are doing, where you are going etc;

*   Try to get some basic mechanical knowledge;

*   Take certain tools with you, as well as a good first aid kit; ring and open spanners, high-jack, insulating tape, lubricating spray, screwdrivers, wire, an extra fan belt, set of hoses, radiator hose, spare bulbs, fuses etc;

*   Carry an extra jerry-can of petrol. When travelling, check your tyres, including that spare, regularly and always top up your fuel when you can, even if it literally is only a top up. It might be hours before you next get the chance;

*   ALWAYS take plenty of water - this cannot be stressed enough. Both personal drinking water as well as for the car;

*    Take plenty of sunscreen (SPF 50+ at least). Those UV rays are deadly. Make sure you keep soaking yourself in the sunscreen;

*    Take good sunglasses and equally good insect repellent - preferably a roll-on one;

*    Take a good torch and extra batteries;

*    Dress sensibly. Closed shoes (riding boots are best or sandshoes), long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Also always wear a good hat outdoors - preferably with a good, wide brim. Again, that sun can be a killer - Australia is also home to many very poisonous snakes that are not necessarily easily seen when walking along so adequate protection is essential;

*    ALWAYS notify the people at your destination what time you are leaving and the route you are taking, including your starting point. The people at your destination will then have some idea of your estimated time of arrival, even if you don't know;

*    Always watch for animals on the road. Both road-kill as well as animals that decide to wander across just as you are coming - which they will do and chances are high that they might decide that the road is nice and warm - a good place to settle!

*    Always drive with your headlights ON, day and night;

*   Plan frequent stops - fatique does kill;

*   Avoid driving on wet road, if possible. Fines are in place for driving on closed roads and these are usually signposted;

*   Most roads and tracks in the outback do pass through private properties (stations). Please stay on designated roads and respect any notices expressing the wishes and warnings of the station owners;

*    When meeting oncoming traffic, try to slow down slightly and veer over to the left side - the oncoming traffic should do this too;

*   If you do break down, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE. This should really be common sense - just think about it. When searchers begin looking for you - and they will do this provided you have followed these basic preparations, it is a lot easier to spot a vehicle than it is to spot a lone body - or even a couple of bodies;
*   Upon arrival at your destination, do let those know at your starting point that you have arrived safely. If there is no-one there then let your family or a reliable friend or relative or some person of authority, know.

Again please make sure you do your homework. While the above is from my own experience, there is a lot more that you can do and learn to make your trip as safe and enjoyable as possible. It's all on the net.

If travelling by public transport and planning to stay overnight at your destination, there are some more points to bear in mind. While not essential, they could certainly make your trip safer and more enjoyable. Again, these are derived from my own experience. 

As we all know, coaches, trains, planes and the like travel to schedules and these very often involve passing through the smaller rural and remote towns in the very early hours of the morning. Not a great time to find yourself stranded after being dropped off and watching your transport disappear into the night. It's actually a very scary feeling. Believe me, I've been there, done that! But a few pre-arranged plans could make all the difference.

*  Try to pick a coach or train which is not scheduled to arrive at your destination in the middle of the night or early hours of the morning - although sometimes this is unavoidable. 

*  Obviously the best idea is to try to ensure that someone (from your destination, preferably) is there to meet you but sometimes this is not possible, or something happens, or people do forget - in which case, it is important to contact the people at your destination to remind them of your arrival and again try to ensure that someone is able to meet your transport;
*   If you do not have a choice in the above, try to make sure you pre-arrange with your accommodation to have your room key left out for you, preferably somewhere you can find it easily (in the dark if necessary - or - remember that torch mentioned above) - but hopefully no-one else can;
*   Also that said accommodation is either very near to the place where the transport will drop you off or that you have checked out taxi services in the town and have taken note of the relevant telephone number. It is not a pleasant feeling being dropped off late at night or in the very early hours of the morning, complete with luggage and trying to haul it behind you as you walk the streets trying to find your accommodation;
*   If there isn't any accommodation, try to find an all night business - a service station, police station, hospital - anything;
*   Again, upon arrival, make sure you contact home, or a friend or relative, to let them know you have arrived safely;
*  Packing all the personal effects mentioned above applies here too.

As mentioned, there is a lot more that can be done and researched and prepared for a trip to the outback and this can be gleaned through the internet. The above is mainly based on my own experience and things that I have learned and heard about.

I think it is also relevant to provide a couple of examples. First scenario applies to both transport and accommodation and occurred during my very first research trip. I thought I had organised everything perfectly, but I realise now I had done everything but. You can do it a heck of a lot better and more safely than I did. Knowing that I would be arriving in one town very late at night and then departing again, on a different coach and in a different direction, in the early hours of the following morning, I did book into a motel hoping that I might get a nap or at least be able to freshen up. Unfortunately, the coach was late leaving its departure point and while the driver tried, she was not able to make up that time. Our ETA at our destination was about 11.30 pm. We clocked in at 12.30 pm. I had to catch my next coach at 4 am. Once we had arrived, I began the search for a taxi and ended up sharing one which was absolutely fine - I was lucky. I was dropped at my motel and was very relieved to see that it was lit up - thinking that meant the office was still open or they were expecting me - which they were. The taxi vanished into the night and I found that I could not get in - office door was locked. I could not access anything - and strangely enough, everyone was asleep. So there I was, a stranger in town who ended up sitting on one of the lovely chairs on the front veranda, cuddled up to my luggage. Thankfully it wasn't a cold night but it was a Friday and this motel was situated on a corner - there had obviously been a lot of people out and about and quite a few staggered up the road and past the entry. I tried to shrink back into the shadows and not be seen. Either it worked or I had given myself too much credit and no-one was remotely interested. A valuable lesson learned.

The second scenario occurred in Qld. We were well into station country after leaving Cairns and heading west. The coach pulled up at a dirt road that led off the blacktop in a 'T' junction. There was nothing there apart from a little tin lean-to thingy. Couldn't call it a shed - was possibly where mail, the newspapers and milk were left for some stations. It also seemed to be the drop off point for a young backpacker who had also been on the bus. It is not the responsibility of the coach drivers to ensure that their passengers are safe after drop off - the drivers have done their bit by then - but I think every driver that I had (across the nation and there were quite a few of them) acted above and beyond the call of duty when feeling that they couldn't just leave these young backpackers there - stranded - when there was absolutely no-one and nothing in sight. No human, animal, car, house - nothing. Just the sort of scene that I love but for this girl - not good. I understand she was due to go out to one of the stations, presumably to work and she had arranged for someone to meet her. She was wearing thongs, a singlet top and very short shorts. No sunscreen oil, no hat, no sunglasses, nothing. No protection whatsoever. She took out her mobile and tried to make a call - surprise, surprise - no signal. Her 'lift' had either forgotten or was very late. The driver tried to use his two way to ask someone to either ring the station or come to take the girl somewhere safe - he also offered to take her on to the next town, which was a good couple of hours away. She declined, saying she was sure the people would turn up and she would be fine. The driver had to get moving. I have no idea what happened but did find myself listening to the news that night hoping that I would not hear an item about yet another young disappearing backpacker. 

So - again - PLEASE, I cannot stress enough the importance of ensuring you do your homework, research and PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE before heading into the outback. Really just a few common sense pointers and you should be able to have the most memorable trip - in all the right ways. But - again - do not just rely on this info - go to the net and start googling.

Thank you and enjoy.

THIS IS IT

I'm quite gobsmacked. At myself! Doing what I have been doing for the last few years is, to me, sure proof that age can be irrelevant - you can pretty well do anything you want to do, regardless of your age. Yes, there would be limitations to that - legal and health issues would come into it. But for me - at the ripe young age of 55 (I think it was - I am now 60) I had an idea - a lightbulb moment I like to call it - a window of opportunity where I realised I could FINALLY combine two of my passions - writing and the outback. It seemed like a true light-bulb moment at the time - but, I guess I never really thought I would actually go through with it - and have such a book published. But - guess what - that is exactly what is about to happen and I don't think anyone is more surprised than I am. 

(Sorry - not quite sure what happened to the first paragraph, apart from me trying to be 'smart' and experimenting a bit. Won't do that again. Hopefully you can read it enough - the rest is better, I think)

It's been going on for about four years now and has had many 'working titles' attached to it, some non-repeatable. But we have finished up with the official title of 'Red Dust Dreams'. And what a journey it has been and continues to be - so much so that I have had trouble putting on the brakes. I continue to absolutely thrive on it - on everything about it - the research which has been incredible - meeting and interviewing and getting to know heaps of wonderful people and - and - the list is endless. And what a way to see the nation - so off the beaten track. Much of my transport was by coach - letting someone else drive and do all the worrying while I sat and enjoyed the passing scenery.

Dad's book 'The Sawers from Pitcairn' was the official trigger for this book. Actually, that's only partly true. It certainly helped but my passion/addiction for writing and for the mighty outback probably had something to do with it. This, along with a long held curiosity about the lack of knowledge and education - and interest - that many (not all) people in urban Australia and overseas seem to have about this great expanse. For example, ask many in the city about education in the outback - a lot will suggest that schools in country towns are not a lot different to those in the cities. I guess so - I don't know much about schools in country towns either. But that's not what I am talking about. This is about education on the stations out there - the way education is conducted on properties that are kilometres, sometimes hundreds, from the nearest public school. These children have to be educated too - but how? Some of those in the urban areas did think about it when I put it to them - but overall it went into the 'too hard' basket. And then - where does meat come from? Well, obviously the butcher - hang on, try the meat section in the supermarket. And milk? Again the supermarket, but from a different big fridge and it comes in a plastic or cardboard container and - hey - it comes in different flavours. Power? Fuel? Shopping? Ok, they're lost. Don't even bother with the too hard basket.

A combination of the lot saw me take this on - the biggest challenge of my life so far (after marriage and motherhood) - and one that I am absolutely thriving on. I feel I am ageing backwards on the whole - I began in my mid-50s and am now heading toward 61. Proving that on the whole age is no barrier. Nor is gender. Not in many things.

Once I had decided to write this book (working titles were 'The Stations Book' or 'The Book on Stations'), now officially titled 'Red Dust Dreams', it was a matter of - where to start? I really needed a list of sheep and cattle stations throughout Australia. So I turned to GOOGLE. And kept turning to GOOGLE for a good few weeks (on and off - between other things) - I tried looking up 'property' - and founds heaps of real estate around the world. 'Stations' - I learned a lot more about 90% of the railway and coach stations around the world - and petrol stations. 'Station Stays' - more farm stays were revealed than anything and while that is all rural, it was not what I was looking for. 'Landholdings' - and a heap more until the computer got sick of me and started making its own suggestions. First was 'entities'. Huh? 'Entities'? Ok. I'll try anything once. So I did - BINGO - lists of rural and remote properties nationwide. YES. After printing off most of it, I then looked at each state in turn - mainly going by the postcodes. The higher - or lower, depending which way you look at it, but number (ie 6150 was definitely suburban, whereas 6750 meant outback - not rural, but remote, in most states). Next I went through the stations bearing the relevant codes - choosing ones that were not (at that stage) station stays nor company owned. However, like some other aspects, this has changed as we have progressed along this road and now there are several station stays involved.

I have never strayed from the original focus for 'Red Dust Dreams ' - the domestic side of life out there. Nor the aim - which is and always has been to try to help raise awareness about that sort of life, educating people about it, helping tourism - and as much else as possible. 

Next was to send an introductory and explanatory letter to the chosen stations, along with a form for the interested ones to complete and return to me in the provided SSAE. About 20-30 were issued per state - Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT are not included because, while some do have stations, normally these are too small to be considered isolated and overall, their rainfall is much higher than in the outback. Most are near enough to towns for the children to attend their local schools and not have to rely on home-schooling (unless through choice), people can socialise and shop easily. Emergency services are more accessible. Neighbours are generally within sight from somewhere on each property. All these being aspects that those in the more remote and isolated parts of Australia do not have. Anyway - back to the letters. Many of these were ignored, which was expected but initially about four stations per state responded positively.

I then set about organising the research trips, state by state. This involved flying to the capital city in each state, then travelling by coach (normally) to the first town and, hopefully, meeting someone from each station there. On the whole I would stay for two nights and one day, mainly taking heaps of photographs and also chatting to the owners/managers and their families and staff, for those who had staff. Doing this, I worked my way around SA and NSW together, followed by Qld a few months later, a quick visit back to SA, zooming over the border to Broken Hill and then back up through the NT to Darwin. And finishing off with four trips to cover the stations in WA. For the first one, I went by train up to Kalgoorlie, hired a car there to get out to the station and back and then coached back to Perth. For the second, I drove my own car up to Exmouth and back. I was meant to visit a couple of stations east of Carnarvon but I came down with a virus of some sort and then my little car went out in sympathy. So I finished up completely missing those stations and hightailing it home instead! The third trip was to coach up to Broome, then my eldest daughter accompanied me out to a station in the Kimberley - then back to Broome and coached home again. Finally, I actually joined a coach tour to Mt Augustus - fabulous fun - and back again.

Most of these stations are now involved - all but three I did manage to visit and these three are coming on board by email. All told, there are two in SA., three in NSW., eight in Qld., one in the NT and five in WA. Also included are interviews and photos about the participating retired pastoralists, backpackers, shearers, an Optometrist, Dental Nurse, an explosives expert who has and does work in the outback, a rock star who has toured in the outback of WA (and has just been nominated for a Grammy), two Indigenous people, three governesses, travellers, two authors and more. Aspects in the book include entertainment, employment, education, communication, loneliness, isolation, health issues, shopping, transport, infrastructure, holidays (what holidays?), even down to the nitty gritty such as sewerage and treatment and maintenance of same. 

Hopefully, it will be an interesting read, fun and educational. Not all good, not all bad - just true and factual. And we are also hoping to make a documentary once the book is published - this will provide a visual presentation of the written word while also showing how the content for such a book is collected.


And now I have been nominated for two awards for my efforts - and have begun doing the occasional media interview. All very welcome.

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