There’s a review in the Age saying her role isn’t exactly demanding, thank heavens!!

After the Jane Austen season on ABC I’ve been re-reading some Austen. In the last week I’ve zipped through Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. I still can’t decide which is my favourite, but this time around I’m leaning towards Persuasion (this has nothing to do with Rupert Penry-Jones, nope, not at all).

I’m by no means an amazing photographer, but once I learnt the rule of thirds* I found that I started getting photos I liked enough to keep and have around.

*The one and only thing I learnt, haha.

Read any great books lately?

Is your bedside table groaning under the weight of all those classics and literary masterpieces still waiting to be read?

Do you ALWAYS finish a book you start, even if you’re not enjoying it?

Is there anything that would make you throw a book at the wall?

And lastly… corner-folder or bookmarker?

Ballarat is full of history: the 19th century buildings, the collapsing mine shafts which occasionally pop up in the news, the goldfields, the reminder via the city’s name that there’s thousands of years of indigenous history behind the most recent 200. I love that the city has such a solid base to it. I love that we still fly the Eureka flag. I love that we have arts and music and books, along with the footy and soccer and netball teams. I love that we’re within 1.5 hours of Melbourne yet surrounded by the hills and the bush. I love that everyone gets so worked up about our poor, empty Lake Wendouree! I love that at night, you can really see the sky.

Ballarat has its downsides, of course: it’s not the most progressive of cities (which others, no doubt, think a good thing), and it can be unpleasantly insular. Running into friends means running into not-quite-friends-anymore, as well. There’s a layer of pretension which makes me a bit teeth-grindy. But on saying that, there are lots of small, down to earth communities situated within half an hour of the city.

When I first moved here (sixish years ago, from a very small country town), I was adamant that I wouldn’t be staying longer than I had to. Now, I reckon I will. The good points more than outweigh the not-so-good. And I’m still discovering new things, which is perhaps more important than anything else I’ve listed so far!