It is often said that an author’s life is lived entirely in the imagination, but over the last two months, my reality has given my fiction a serious run for its money. If I have been a bit quiet on the newsletter front recently, it is because I have been living a double-sided travel itinerary that left my watch permanently confused and my heart incredibly full.
The adventure began with a long-awaited three-week trip from Melbourne to Oslo. My husband flew in from Zurich to meet me, and together we set off on a magnificent drive to the rugged west of Norway, specifically to the Fjordane region. Our mission? To pick up our daughter from her year of study at a folkehøgskole (folk high school).
For those unfamiliar with this incredible Nordic tradition, a folkehøgskole is a fantastic educational initiative focused on turning young people into well-rounded, grounded human beings. There are no exams and no grades. Instead, our daughter spent a year immersed in the tactile, traditional arts of sewing and knitting, learning independence and community living surrounded by mountains and fjords. Seeing the growth in her was worth every single mile of the journey.
A Dash Back to Melbourne for an Australian Art Legend
No sooner had I started to process the crisp air of the fjords than I found myself boarding a flight back home to Australia. I had a very strict deadline to keep: a Sunday afternoon appointment at the historic Victorian Artists Society in East Melbourne.
For the past couple of years, I have had the profound privilege of researching, writing, and editing the biography of the late, great Australian painter Ian Armstrong. Ian was a deeply revered, award-winning artist—a student of George Bell, a master of form and color, and an Archibald Prize finalist whose work commands a vital place in Australian art history.
His children, James and Maggie, organized a truly beautiful launch event for the book I authored, Holding the Line: The Art of Ian Armstrong. Walking into the gallery, surrounded by his vibrant canvases and the people who loved him, was an incredibly moving experience. It was an honor to help preserve his legacy, and celebrating the book’s release with his family was a moment I wouldn’t have missed for the world.
An Alpine Escape - Cost-neutral!!
I managed exactly five days on Australian soil—just enough time to let the jetlag truly set in—before a sudden, wonderful twist of fate sent me packing my bags all over again.
My husband has been working on a contract in Zurich since January and was originally scheduled to fly back to Australia for a ten-day holiday. However, he managed to pitch a brilliant, cost-neutral compromise to his company: instead of flying him home, why not use those corporate travel funds to send me to Europe instead?
They agreed, I was happy to take onboard the resulting jetlag, and suddenly I was touched down in Switzerland, embarking on a spectacular two-week road trip through the Swiss, French, and Italian Alps, down to the French and Italian Rivieras, and winding through the dramatic peaks of the Dolomites. We made a pact to completely avoid the toll roads. It was the best decision we could have made; it forced us off the highways and directly into the heart of the real, hidden countryside, punctuated by stops at a couple of legendary Swiss chocolate factories.
Even finding accommodation was last-minute and serendipitous. Being early June, the tourist season hadn't begun so we were able to book accommodation upon arriving in a region we liked, and usually less than an hour before we checked-in. Last-minute deals enabled us to experience the most gorgeous, eclectic, sometimes remote, and always different and charming, Bed and Breakfast accommodation.
Back in the Saddle
Now, I am finally back home, looking out at the familiar landscape and enjoying the solitude of my writing desk. I am currently keeping busy working on a couple of smaller, intimate memoirs, while simultaneously putting the final, polished touches on my next African-set romantic suspense novel, Wings over the Okavango.
The manuscript goes to my editor next Thursday, and I can't wait to share more of that journey with you soon. But for now, I am simply content to be grounded, sipping tea, and marveling at how a girl from South Australia managed to chase the muse across the fjords, the Alps, and the history of Australian art all in a single season.