Sometimes you get a trip that’s a once in a career sort of opportunity, and I think the Brisbane Writer’s Festival Write Across Queensland regional tour was exactly that. 

We visited lots of schools around Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Yeppoon in Central Queensland. Having grown up in that area, for me, it was a nice example of life looping back on itself. (And also an example of how weird life is – because if you’d told the teenage me that I’d be there one day speaking as a published author, well … I would have been happy, but believing it might have been a different thing).

But the real bonus was working with the students, who were fired-up, passionate, open-minded, inventive, creative, kind and … you get the gist. Excellent Human Beings. I learned a lot from them. So shout outs and thanks to the students of:

St Luke’s (Bundaberg)

Gin Gin 

Bundaberg North 

Rosedale 

St Joseph’s (Rockhampton)

St Brendan’s (Yeppoon)

St Ursula’s (Yeppoon)

The other bonus of the trip was that I got to hang out in a mini-bus for six days with Gus Gordon (Author/Illustrator), artists & performers Thom Browning and Verena Curr, and the irrepressible Molly Ward, project manager (the photo above was taken by Molly, and shows our caged-bear reaction to being let out of the bus). 

I miss those guys already.