Back to the same Toowoon Bay, NSW, site where we began our new on the road life over 5 years ago

Nubie and Roy...

an ongoing bromance

Delightful Mullumbimby (near Byron, NSW)

Great place to sit out those pesky and expensive school holidays

Friday market day at Millumbimby Showgrounds

'NEWBY' Our beautiful bichoodle companion on the road

SPOT what's wrong in this lovely pelican shot? (Port Macquarie, NSW)

A fishing spindle hooked in a wing

Eagle-eyed Brenda spotted more than a beautiful photo opportunity in this pelican.
Walking down the breakwater to town, I stopped to take my first photo.
Hours later, on the way home, I was surprised to see the bird in the same position.
A closer look revealed the poor bird's condition.
I wonder how many others noticed?
(I popped into the nearby police station and asked them to call WIRES).
Bird has gone now.
Hope he's flying high.

"I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day.." A 'sermon' in the form of a Big Red Bus, Port Macquarie

Ian Rosendahl, modest, unassuming man who helms this admirable project - a heart as big as a bus

Holidaying at Port Macquarie on the North Coast of NSW, we came upon the Big Red Bus.
Free BBQ, espresso coffees, conversation (if you want it). All welcome, families, backpackers, pensioners, especially youth....
This is enlightened outreach. 
No agenda. No pressure. No sermons. 
Some people come along for weeks before asking Ian and his team: "Why do you do this for others?"
Big Red Bus is there at the main beach every Tuesday afternoon (except school holidays).
Supported by several organisations, but they need all the encouragement they can get.

THE BIG RED BUS reminded us of the classic poem:

I'd Rather See A Sermon
Edgar A. Guest 

I'd rather see a sermon
than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me
than merely tell the way.
The eye's a better pupil
and more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing,
but example's always clear;
And the best of all preachers
are the men who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action
is what everybody needs.
I soon can learn to do it
if you'll let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action,
but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lecture you deliver
may be very wise and true,
But I'd rather get my lessons
by observing what you do;
For I might misunderstand you
and the high advice you give,
But there's no misunderstanding
how you act and how you live.

WHY AN RV IS THE PERFECT WRITER’S CABIN in the mountains, desert, forest, at the beach...

A guest blog by my husband and author Roy:

The moving pen writes...

It works.

The moving pen writes...

Or the mobile MacBook does, in my case.

I have successfully made my literary journey a literal journey.

We sold a five-bedroom house and hit the road a few years ago.

With an Internet connection, hotspotting our iPhones, we can function on the dark side of the moon.

Or even in the Australian outback, about as close as you can get to a moonscape.

As well as writing and publishing some twenty novels on Amazon Kindle, it has even inspired me to write an Australian outback escape novel that includes an RV motorhome, a world apocalypse and a family’s escape into outback Australia!

It’s called THE HERO VIRUS

I can also happily write fiction about ancient Egypt on the road – the Egypt of the Mind doesn’t require me to be in Egypt, although we’ve made numerous research visits and I’ve been studying the subject for most of my life.

Oh, and the perfect writer’s cabin also makes the perfect reading room – a chance to read those books on your Kindle or iPad.

In fact, I call this mobile lifestyle 'iPad Living'. Compact, imagination-friendly, clever.


Remember when computers were socking big boxes on your desk?

How much space do you really need in your life?

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van (long wheel base) has front seats that swivel around to make soft armchairs and there’s a club lounge and table at the back. The double bed comes humming down from the ceiling at a press of a button – no making up a bed, or living around one. And the club lounge ‘downstairs’ spreads out to become another double bed at the press of a button.

As for the view from my itinerant writer's cabin – that changes at will to a mountain vista, a desert landscape, or a tropical beach.

Not for everyone, I suppose, if you’re tied to possessions. But hey, that’s only stuff...

Experience is more inspiring.

An Australian outback escape novel, an RV motorhome, a world apocalypse - "THE HERO VIRUS"

On Amazon Kindle (click here to sample)

it was amazing

Hero Virus

GOODREADS: "THE HERO VIRUS" “5 stars for being so different from other apocalypse books."

“What an interesting story. Reading their blogs and each viewpoint was unique. I felt like I was with them on their journey.”

AMAZON KINDLE

And now a new Australian novel from Roy Lester Pond (on Amazon Kindle)

Underneath the most parched continent on earth, Australia, lies a great freshwater ocean of aquifers larger than South Africa or Iran.

But it becomes a poisoned well for one family when a high-powered and ruthless overseas company plans to build a nuclear waste dump on their property and tempts them with an offer of money they desperately need.

Can a rebellious daughter and her mysterious new allies prevent a disaster?

And what is the deep secret from long ago that poisoned the family well?

“A huge idea... with a monstrously current and entertaining premise.”

Gramp and Gram in the Grampians, Victoria

Grampians Jazz Festival, Hall's Gap

emu for our camp lunch

Roy has written a new novel - an apocalyptic on the road adventure!

It's on Amazon Kindle (click here)

I suppose in a sense this new book has taken Roy five years to write as we traveled around the rugged continent of Australia.

It's quite a diversion from ancient Egypt!