Captain's Log.

You're considering visiting Silver Sands Resort.  There are rumours about and you want to know the deal.  Is the trip worth it? Will the stay be plagued with issues?  Just to make sure we're talking about the right holiday destination: This is Silver Sands Resort, Mandurah, Western Australia . It's not to be confused with another place in America or Africa. Ivan Hill manages this (plus) forty-year-old resort. It's part of the Classic Holidays group — built in the eighties when time-share resorts were popular. Silver Sands Resort has fantastic potential — but it's limited by one thing. Its leader.  Ivan Hill has produced a toxic workplace — in turn, it's become a toxic vacation destination too. The guests are complaining and unsatisfied with the resort's standards. Ivan Hill continues to mismanage the place. His actions remain unchecked by head office.  Morale is low at SSR. This flows onto everything that functions within the resort. The sta...

  You're considering visiting Silver Sands Resort. Is the resort worth it? There are rumours and you want to know the deal before making a decision. Just to make sure we're talking about the right holiday destination: This is  Silver Sands Resort, Mandurah, Western Australia . It's not to be confused with another place in America or Africa. Ivan Hill manages this (plus) forty-year-old resort. It's part of the Classic Holidays group — built in the eighties when time-share resorts were popular. Silver Sands Resort has fantastic potential — but it's limited by one thing. Its leader.  Ivan Hill has produced a toxic workplace, turning it into a toxic vacation destination too. The guests are complaining and unsatisfied with the standard of the resort. Ivan Hill is untouchable and he goes unchecked.  Morale has been low at SSR ever since he was appointed the job and this flows onto everything that makes up and functions within the resort. The staff dislike Ivan's ...

When it comes to righting the wrongs of the past, the Catholic and Anglican Churches are last to take their place in the National Redress Scheme. Q. Do you know why? A. The Church isn't as celibate as it claims to be! As more investigations reveal the extent of pedophilia that took place while the Church had charge of children at various institutions over the last century, it's clear that few Clergy (if any at all) were indeed celibate. Historic child-sex abuse crimes are but only a precipice of sexual activity that has and does go on regularly in Church, in all churches. Let me tell you, Priests f*ck! They really do! Nuns bang too! Brothers get down and dirty! They all do it. They have to. I'm not being blasphemous or anti-religion by saying so, nor am I adding a sarcastic tone to these words. Sex is not weird, it's bloody natural! I say good on 'em for breaking through, figuring that part out instead of enduring some bullshit masochistic routine...

Living in the suburbs equals wild birds. Mandurah has some exotic birds species visit it frequently. The most prevalent species has got to be the cheeky Pink and Grey Galah.  There are also Ringneck Lorikeets, Kurrawongs, Doves, Pigeons and the odd King Parrot, but it's the Pink and Grey species who occupy my feeder most of the day. I've a few regulars - one couple sit in a branch above the feeder throughout most of the day - while others come and go. The great difficulty in keeping caged animals is that it complicates matters when it comes to leaving the property for any length of time, like for vacations.  Feeding and watering birds during any lengthy absence worries me - but having a feeding station instead ends all that worry. I am free to come and go. The birds are free to do their thing too.  I never overfeed them - they get a cup of seed in the morning and another (sometimes not) in the evening. Those that don't take advantage of it move on and ...

Sex Before Marriage. It's The Devil's Work! A.D. 1202: Europe is coming out of its darkness. The Middle Ages witnessed the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of The Church. It was a disorganized, brutal period in history but The Church held up a shining light with its promises of a royal life after death. The Holy See, protected by its loyal soldiers and ideals, offered hope to the poor, lost and lonely. The Vatican became the authority of everything. A.D. to NOW-ish: History  shows that thirty-nine Popes were married! Oh? Nobody mentioned that, did they? For over a millennia, Popes, Bishops, Cardinals, Priests and any clergy who had a desire to wed, could do so, no questions asked. Sex was allowed too. Sex before marriage was fine. Sex wasn't an unholy act. It was allowed on any day, on every day if that's what you liked. Sex was never an issue. That became a topic of debate much later - when it suited the Church to do so. Control Se...

What's a writer do when he's not thinking up kooky ways to end the lives of his characters? Karaoke is one thing he might do... Karaoke is a hobby of mine and in Mandurah, there are plenty of venues offering karaoke and I still get out 2 - 3 times a week to belt out a tune or two. That's not me singing at Murphy's Bar. This is: I usually go for Meatloaf, Robbie Williams, Elton John or something from Billy Idol. They are in my range and I enjoy singing this material. This is one of the many things I do between writing and waiting for the next round of edits to come through for SEETHINGS. Another project I'm working on is my home. I recently bought a beach house and am renovating it. Shortly after we moved in, I built Margo a potting shed out of old glass doors. She set about  planting a vegetable garden and now we've got herbs, vegetables and citrus on the grow. I then ripped out the original sliding door...

In a former life, I raised racing pigeons . My early teenage years were spent breeding pigeons to fly in competitions. Their unique ability to find their way home from long distances totally amazed me. Fast-forward to March 2008: Mark and I were on a sailing a trip from Woody Point to Sandgate in his unusual-looking trailer-sailer for a meat pie at Doug's Cafe . On the way I noticed something floating in the water ahead. I wasn't sure what it was, but I asked Mark to navigate towards it anyway. It was a baby pigeon! Only a tip of beak and a bit of a tail was left above the surface. The chick was in distress and completely exhausted. My best guess was that it fell from the nearby Hornibrook Highway bridge (They nest underneath the support structures) and fell while trying out it's new wings. Yes, it was a toddler learning to walk.  Baby pigeons aren't perfect on their first flight. They mess up and fall down, staggering about just like a toddler test...

Do 'smells' affect you as much as me? 'Smells' go straight to memory, My father was a sailor with the Australian NAVY. He'd often go away for months at a time. I could tell when he was set to leave because he'd switch after shaving and then press his uniform with starch the night before. I rarely saw him leave but the starch and aftershave left good reminders of his presence. On returning to Australia, he often brought back gifts from the ports he'd visited. Singapore was a regular trading post. There was always another quirky-shaped bottle of after shave brought back as well as gifts for mum and the kids. Our family often enjoyed the best of what the Orient offered and what the crew of a naval ship were allowed to bring back. Sydney Harbour was his home port back then. The city wasn't unusually smelly to me. That's not strange because I was a kid from the area. Nothing stood out... not to my nose, not until the ship had arrived. That...

Brisbane: Research and Reunion Helen turned 50 and a surprise birthday was planned for her in Brisbane. Thanks to her husband's deviousness, he thought to invite all my sister's close friends and family to unite for a secret night of celebration and frivolity. They were to come from everywhere around the state of Queensland. In my case, from the other side of the country. How could I not make the trip? I hadn't seen her in five years! A plan was made. Whistle stop touring from the opposite end of an Aussie continent isn't easy. What does one do when arriving from a distance? There's a long haul flight that changes everything - considering whether to stay just for the party or hang around longer and try to make a holiday out of it. Could I afford the time for one? If so, prioritize what, who, where and when to visit when there? I decided my trip would be broken down to five main elements and pursued with vigor once I got there: Birthday party Vi...

Have you got problems with your G2? Me too...  I swear, this pool cleaner will be the end of me. I spend hours studying it's movements and still can't figure out why it keeps stalling!  Don't get me wrong, I'm totally amazed at it's design just the same. I pay respects to those engineers who've looked at its buoyancy, surface friction, suction, hose flexibility/curves, etc, and measured it so everything is just right. Let's face it. Any pool cleaner is a marvelous work of physics. There's a delicate balance of forces to overcome, to create, to propel the thing forward and to keep it bouncing around all the surfaces for up to eight hours a day. Picking up debris so a pool can look sparkling all the time is a real challenge.  Okay, so that's the sucky part over. Whilst I respect the science behind the G2 (and all other cleaners), I know I shouldn't need to know why it works, just that it works. But I have to figure out th...

If you recognize more than one of those three words then you were once probably knee-deep in the 70's revolution - a mix of afro-hairstyles, flared pants and solid-gold dancers. That's how it was as I felt as though I revisited the 70's this past week, strolling through the suburb of Cooloongup just south of Perth. Australian seventies homes are distinct. It doesn't matter how subsequent owners have tried to mask their home's past by rendering their walls and painting them white. Changing the texture and the colour doesn't hide what a 70's home is. Back in the day, it was all about brown. Brown wallpaper, brown bed covers and brown tiles moved throughout kitchens and bathrooms. Chunky brown brick, arch frontages and textured amber coloured glass windows featured in almost every one of these 70s homes. It was Australia's way of bringing a bit of the Mediterranean Downunder during the era of disco. Timber, brick and mission brown...

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  1979: Space Doom or Excitement?  If you remember this map and those three red orbit lines published for newspapers in 1979, you'll also remember that Skylab's fall back to Earth was both exciting and dangerous for Earth's citizens.  Would it crash on a populated area or plop harmlessly into an open sea?  Did you know that money was offered for pieces of the wreckage? As a small boy living in Logan City, Brisbane, I wasn't anxious but excited. I wanted it to crash into my backyard! They said it could fall anywhere. My home was anywhere . Like other parts of Australia (and World), Brisbane was in the possible crash zone. I ignored NASA's statements that it'd most likely fall into the Indian Ocean. One of Skylab's final orbits tracked over my house. To me, that was the drop point, not some boring ocean! It'd fall somewhere over Woodridge perhaps, and my parents and I would go and pick it up in the morning. Scientists...