Not another old house/pub/church Mum!

Much to my family's dismay, I adore old towns. Tasmania has many historic towns, and since I'm travelling alone I can spend as long as I like looking at every old house/pub/church/bridge... I want. Bliss!!

Wonderful Westbury.

Spectacular Stanley

When I was refueling at St Helen's, a man asked, "Didn't I see you a couple of days ago in LaTrobe? Taking a picture of an old house?"
Yeah. That was probably me.
Lovely LaTrobe.

Have fun. I am.
Helen

Crossing Bass Strait and into Tasmania

Yes they did get me up to disembark at 0510. That's, like, ten past five in the morning. Here is the sunrise to prove it.

The surf was up at Coles Beach.

Several historic houses.

Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Devonport.

Helen

From Port Phillip Bay to the Gulf of Carpentaria...

I've driven from Port Phillip Bay (Victoria) to the Gulf of Carpentaria (Qld) and east up Cape York to Cooktown, from less than 100km from the Northern Territory Border to the eastern coast, and just about everywhere in between in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

9847 km, 1386 photos, 44 days, 3 states, and one motorhome hauling my mobility scooter.

Yes, I had fun. Amazing, excellent, fun.

Ayr, Qld.

Cardwell Range Lookout, Qld.

Mount Isa, Qld.

Moree, NSW.

Mount Carbine, far north Qld.

Wandoan, Qld.

Australian Wildlife

These are crocodiles, not alligators. This one, Krys, was over 6 meters long.

Little green tree frogs everywhere.

On the Jump Up (mesa) near Winton, the scientists have discovered 6 new "animals" including a parrot thought to be extinct, and a red-back spider the size of a saucer.

Cane toads.

Lots of things that bite, including hugely enormous flies at Mamu and meat ants at Augathella.

Kangaroos, wallabies, emus, koalas and even cows wandering on the roads in the Outback (no fences there).

And, of course, scrub (bush) turkeys.

I'm loving the heat (high 90sF, 36-37C) and the travel.

Helen

Trees and Flowers

I love looking at interesting trees and pretty flowers although I don't know much about them. So enjoy.

Scribbly Bark Gum. The "writing" on the tree is caused by caterpillars eating the bark.

In Charleville, Queensland.

Grafton, New South Wales.

Gosford, NSW.

Ghost Gum, Barcaldine, Qld.

I'm almost at the Gulf of Carpentaria, and still heading north.

Helen

Heading North: Old Buildings

Bairnsdale, Victoria.

Cobargo, NSW.

Poet, Henry Kendall's House, Gosford, NSW.

Slab hut, Orbost, Victoria.

Moruya, NSW.

I'm having fun. I hope you are, too.

Helen Woodall

Ben Boyd and Twofold Bay

This is Twofold Bay, as seen from my aunt's kitchen window. Stunning by day or night, ever-changing, always amazing.

Twofold Bay (in New South Wales) was historically one of the few safe deep-water ports along the coast here, so there are still plenty of old buildings to look at, as well as a huge National Park.

Ben Boyd's Tower is where sailors used to watch (100 years ago or so) for whales, and where locals kept watch for bushfires and other dangers.

Here's a section of the National Park. Does it remind you of the enchanted woods in a child's fairytale?

Helen Woodall

North into the Desert

Everyone knows I like hot weather, and in winter it's not so easy to find. But the days in the desert are gloriously warm. And the nights - well they require lots of woolly blankets. But the days make up for it.

Look at that wonderful red dirt!

Far horizons.

Occasional salt lakes.

And kangaroos, emus, and goats instead of cows and sheep and people.


Then, after driving for five or six hours, without so much as a petrol pump, a bustling mining town.

Happy days.
Helen Woodall

Locks, Weirs, Paddle Steamers

One hundred years ago, before the roads were much more than cart tracks through the dirt, supplies and people traveled the length of the Murray River by paddle steamer and barge. Due to differing water levels this meant locks and weirs were built.

This is the lock at Robinvale.

Meanwhile the river runs on, serenely beautiful.

And today's tourists enjoy trips on houseboats and paddle steamers as well as more modern water vehicles.

Helenm Woodall

Following the Murray River

Did you ever watch the TV series "All the Rivers Run"? Or read the book by Nancy Cato on which it was based? The show was a massive success in the 1980s.

It's set on the Murray River, which is the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Back at the time of the movie life there was pretty adventurous and there is still a genuine rivalry between the states. Don't try fishing in the river with a Victorian fishing license. You need a NSW one.

My latest journey is following the river from Albury where it runs into the Hume Dam, all the way back across Victoria and NSW into South Australia.

So here are some pictures of the Hume Dam as I begin this, my latest adventure.

Helen Woodall

Words that are their own opposites

I found this article about words that are their own opposites and it absolutely made my day. Such fun!

Did you know there is actually a term to describe such words? “Contronyms”—words that are their own antonyms.

The article opens with this: “Because of the agency’s oversight, the corporation’s behavior was sanctioned.” Does that mean, 'Because the agency oversaw the company’s behavior, they imposed a penalty for some transgression' or does it mean, 'Because the agency was inattentive, they overlooked the misbehavior and gave it their approval by default'?

Mental Floss lists 25 contronyms but I’m sure you can find more.

One of my favorites is Trim. It can mean either adding or taking away. Are you decorating something or taking bits of it off. And the context doesn’t always make it clear. If you’re trimming the tree are you using tinsel or a chain saw?

For all 25 contronyms go here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/57032/25-words-are-their-own-opposites?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Partner&utm_campaign=AK


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Halloween quiz

I’m a little late but oh well…

Here’s a fun Halloween Quiz from Grammarly (https://grammarly.com/grammar-check) to find out what literary monster you are. Are you a really bad person? Or just misunderstood?

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Be yourself

Stop comparing yourself with other authors. You know, all those lucky people whose book trailer goes viral and they make an instant million dollars. For every one of them are the other billion videos that didn’t go viral.

For every book that hits the Number One spot on the New York Times Best Seller list are a million or two that didn’t.

While you are exhausting yourself to write blog posts just like Successful Author, or make book trailers like Millionaire BookTrailer Maker, or to research and write a book exactly like Latest Best Seller, you will always fail. Every author has a voice. Write your own book. Write what is your passion. Craft your book as best you can in your own way.

Then polish it, get it professionally edited, have the cover made professionally, get it formatted properly, and then send it out into the world knowing it’s the best book YOU can offer right now.

And instead of slavishly staring at its Amazon sales rankings and biting your fingernails to the quick over clicks on your blog or every review on Goodreads, switch the internet off, put your butt in your chair, and start writing your next book with the aim of making it even better than the previous one.

There is only one you. Be yourself. Just be the very best you can be right now.

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

20 French Phrases You Should Be Using

Way back in 1066 the English language, already a mish-mash of a dozen different dialects, suddenly doubled in size with the Norman conquest. French became the language of the government and hence of the ruling classes. “Pig” now only meant the animal. The meat became “pork”.

Even today, almost a thousand years later, French words still make up almost a third of the words in the English language. Almost everyone knows what déjà vu means, for instance.

Mental Floss has come up with a list of twenty lesser-known French phrases. Most of them I’d heard of, read in books, and knew the meaning of. Remember the hero riding ventre à terre to rescue his heroine in the old-style bodice rippers? Some of these phrases really are too good to disappear such as honi soit qui mal y pense and revenons à nos moutons.

Enjoy reading these: http://mentalfloss.com/article/60462/20-french-phrases-you-should-be-using

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.