Just back from Sydney where I received an award for public service and advocacy from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) and performed at their awards dinner cruise in Sydney Harbour.  Thank goodness for sea-sickness pills (I am Piscean but hopeless on boats!). It was wonderful meeting so many people who work in psychiatry all around the world to help people who are bipolar like me.  Thanks to Marylou Selo for the photo of me performing on the boat with my partner Christian Dunham.  My award is a massive block of glass with a chunk of lithium suspended in it which thankfully I managed to get past Virgin Australia’s hand-baggage weight check.

Now after the hustle and bustle of Sydney we’re back in our ‘real world’ of trees, cattle, horses, wallabies and bellbirds up in the hills behind the Sunshine Coast.  Amazing how quickly you lose your immunity to the city.  It was fun but I’m so glad to be home…

Our goats are in disgrace. They may look cute but they are in fact extremely cunning. My mother-in-law left the gate open by mistake the other day and they saw their chance… not to escape but to tip over a barrel of grain and roll it until the top came off (I kid you not). They then proceeded to gorge themselves on a hundred dollars’ worth of top-quality feed. This of course led to terrible indigestion and diarrhoea on an epic scale. They haven’t been out in the paddock since and are lounging around the dairy looking very sorry for themselves.

It’s quite hard being a Buddhist in the Australian bush. The flies are out in force because of the rain and they love dive-bombing my face. The more you swot them away the more they come after you. I’m learning it’s best to leave them be unless they are in your eyes or mouth. I am just a bit paranoid about them laying eggs in my hair (what’s left of it).

We’ve cleared out the yurt. Christian built it for my birthday back in 2004 and it used to be my meditation and songwriting space. I can’t believe the wood and tin is still standing after all the tropical storms of the past 10 years but it’s pretty sheltered by two huge lychee trees. Inside we found the debris of a decade of rubbish – old building materials and stuff piled high in boxes full of rats nests. We wore boots and gloves and thankfully no snakes were in there, only two enormous spiders that gave us both a fright. The yurt is too far gone to start using it again so the plan is now to rebuild it.

What was really lovely was finding a load of old photos from when we lived here before – all the gigs we did here when I was just starting out as a singer-songwriter. I hope we’ll be playing again in Australia before too long. If any of you have any suggestions for small venues or house concerts here please contact us.

Yesterday we went to Brisbane to buy a double-bass for Christian but came back with a gorgeous cello for me. I felt like a kid at Christmas when I woke up this morning! You can see me playing it on my Instagram feed.

I hope all’s well in your world.

xx

 

Yesterday I saw my first snake.  I’ve been dreading this but the fact that it was only about a foot long and we were inside the car was a big relief.  I could even say that it looked sweet. (The snakeskin we found draped over the rafters on our porch is somewhat bigger but I am trying to be brave.)

We’ve been clearing the enormous veggie garden which hasn’t been used for a long time so the beds are all full of huge weeds.  We can only do this either at the beginning or end of the day as the sun is so hot. We are going to start planting in the next few weeks as it gets cooler.  We’re coming into autumn here now.

Coolabine is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘place of koalas’.  There are only a few houses dotted here and there along the valley – you can’t see any from the shack, only the back of a barn in the distance.  It’s part of the Obi Obi valley, a sacred meeting place for the south-east Queensland tribes who used to gather here every few years.

I’ve been writing songs on my beautiful Maton guitar which has been a bit neglected over the last few years as I got obsessed with writing piano songs.  My keyboard is still on a ship heading to Australia so in the meantime I’ve been remembering how much I love playing guitar.  I’ve written four new songs, one of which you will definitely hear on an album someday.

I hope all’s well in your world.

xx

It’s 4.30am. Still jetlagged, I’ve just finished my meditation practice and made myself an enormous cup of coffee. The cocks are crowing but it’s dark outside. I can hear the sound of cicadas and the crazy kookaburras laughing in the trees. Earlier a dingo was howling in the hills that surround the shack.

After 11 years in a sterile, creatureless flat in England, we are back in the Australian bush. Here wildlife dominates every waking moment. Even if it wasn’t for my snake phobia I’d still be mindful of every step, of the spider webs lying in wait between the orange trees. Yesterday morning we were clearing up a pile of maggots. Last night I trod on a bee.

It’s getting light. The darkness fades leaving a mist over the Obi Obi valley. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be here.

Hope all’s well in your world.

xx

 

 

It’s been six full-on days of clearing, dumping and packing.  It’s amazing how much stuff a one-bedroom flat can hold.  I can’t believe we arrived 11 years ago with nothing but 2 guitars, a bag of CDs and the clothes on our backs.  Now I want to travel light again.

2018 has been an incredible year of highs and lows.  I’ve enjoyed the gigs we’ve done so much.  I didn’t enjoy so much having pneumonia and dealing with Australian Immigration.  But now we’re leaving for Australia in a few weeks’ time with no idea of what’s coming next.  It makes me think of my favourite poem (see below).

Thanks to you all for your amazing support of my music.  I will be writing songs again in my yurt and look forward to playing them to you when we next meet.

Wishing you all a very happy new year.

xx