Corindi – Page 2 – Jenn J McLeod – small-town storyteller

Posted on 19/09/2014 by Jenn J McLeod — 10 Comments

You’ll never believe this birthday blog

On the occasion of my 54th birthday I thought this little bit of information about the place I am now living in the caravan rather interesting.

Corindi (as in the small northern NSW township) is from the Gumbaynggir word ‘girriida’ meaning…

Can you believe this…?

“Place of Grey Hair”.

How very appropriate!

So, where are we exactly? If you look at the picture below and find the last white spec to the north, that’s us! And the big round thing/corn circle/alien spacecraft landing spot? The old Corindi horse race track. Today we discovered a looooooong boardwalk winding its way to the beach, found a brown snake (dead!), caught a brim (just one – but legal) and had a big Barcoola birthday burger and beer feast!

And here is the big Barcoola birthday burger and beer feast.

What a terrific day. I guess if one has to turn 54, this is a pretty good place to do it.

Cheers for now

Posted on 11/09/2014 by Jenn J McLeod — 4 Comments

Barcoola just got bigger.

Yes, I am working – editing – and getting Season of Shadow and Light in order. But today our planned extensions were completed, so we are very excited. The nice guys from Coffs Canvas came out and set up our new annexe – purple gables included!

What a difference an annexe makes!

The kangaroos have been very inquisitive. And these frantic little guys (bush turkeys??) dropped by to check us out, too.

Having spent the last three days tied to my desk inside the van and reading through my book-three edits aloud, it is a double celebration. (‘The J’ says Season of Shadow and Light is my best yet! I cannot wait to see the beautiful cover Simon and Schuster come up with.)

BONUS! Today I met a lovely reader. Meg and hubby are from Albury and she loves Aussie authors, so she now has House for all Seasons, a list of all my favourite authors, and a link to www.anaustralianruralromance.com .

All in all a good couple of days.

coffee in the courtyard — Coffee in the puppy courtyard

Posted on 29/08/201429/08/2014 by Jenn J McLeod — 4 Comments

Happy Barcoola Anniversary to us!

It’s one week since the house settled and WE settled into our new mobile home for life on the road.

Okay, so we are not ON THE ROAD exactly. We travelled about an hour north and stopped at Corindi Beach Caravan Park. We will make this lovely spot our base for a while as we find our ‘caravan legs’.

Dad is visiting a couple of times a week now as we are only 10 minutes up the highway (and he brings scones every time he visits!)

This last week has tested us, though: the notorious east coat low has brought five days and nights of pelting rains, lashing winds, thunder, and lightning strikes that saw the van park in black out for four hours. (Dad will be bringing scrabble when he next visits!!) Mind you, we got lots of reading done: Greg Barron’s Lethal Sky (another riveting read from Greg), Dawn Barker’s Let her Go (love, love, loved it), and about to start Anna Romer’s highly anticipated Lyrebird Hill.

Apart from having so much reading time, there are LOTS of things to get used to.

Good things: the roar of the ocean only twenty paces from our door, the endless entertainment provided by wives frantically waving hands at husbands for the Van Reversing Ritual that takes place every evening, and stare-offs with the local roos.

Not so good things: limited data for Facebooking and blogging and drinking too much coffee (yes, the coffee machine came with us!)

The pups seem to have settled in just fine and tonight we christened the Weber Baby Q because the weather is finally being good to us. Tomorrow I will be hitting the book again. Edits for Season of Shadow and Light going well.