My characters in book two are in the amazing Kakadu National Park at the moment. So as I sit in the café in Melbourne, the rain thundering on the tin roof. I can’t help feeling the weather getting warmer and more humid with every word I type. The buzz of people around me fuelling my fingertips.
What a wonderful place Kakadu is, whilst I was working there I was lucky enough to share accommodation with three Aboriginal Australian girls. They were amazing spirits, such energy, always smiling, laughing and joking, always so much to say and always so dramatic.
There were many Australians from far and wide and immediately I recognised their accents as very different from each other. There were a few Kiwi’s and some European’s, Indonesians, Malaysians. What a wonderful soup of souls we were.
As with a lot of lifes rich experiences I took it for granted at the time. When going back to the diary I kept, I was much more interested in recording the wildlife and surroundings than the late night deep conversations of these wonderful people. Oh how we change! If I could travel back in time I would record all of our chats, the facial expressions, the little nuances of these colourful individuals.
I have so many questions to ask of these people that have now probably little or no memory of me. I will have to rely on my recollection and add a bit of artistic license to a few stories. That is the beauty of writing, the thin line between fact and fiction is really only there for the writer to know and reader to guess at.
So as I wonder around the streets and cafe’s of Melbourne, excuse me if I bump into you, I’m not reading my iPhone or trying to get your attention. My mind is simply in Kakadu (Gagudju) National Park. The heat is burning my shoulders, as I scan the red dust for snakes. Watching the heat haze on the horizon which makes the gum trees look like a mirage. The escarpment seems to reach so far, I can see the curvature of the earth. I climb to the top of Gunlom Falls my back wet with sweat and dip my toe into the cooling water, wondering if Crocs can climb. Then I immerse my body in the refreshing serenity of the pool. The huge boulders acting like armchairs to sit upon. If I am about to be eaten by a Croc what a wonderful place for it to happen!
Melbourne is a distant memory, just the place my physical form inhabits as I type away at my laptop. I may be present in Melbourne but my presence is undeniably in Kakadu.
My book Sharks & Lovers is available to download here: