SMUT I TELL YOU!!! SMUT!!!

Half way through my second full week at the express. WOOWOO!

Actually. I'm really enjoying being here at the moment. This job is a whole lot more interesting than my old one. Yeehah!

TOTALLY AWESOME STORIES I HAVE COVERED RECENTLY:

- The Ingham GOLD CUP! Annual race event, held in Ingham, big deal for the locals. And I got to interview the winning jockey. Personally I thin it's just coz the senior journalists wanted to have a chuckle at the 177cm new girl inteviewing a man child but meh. DOWNSIDE : working on a Saturday.

- Ingham "Carols in the Park". My first night-time photography assignment. What a disaster! Note that this was "Carols in the Park" not "Carols by Candle light". That's becoz they BANNED candles this year. Whaaaa? So - there was no light to take photos by because GLOW STICKS give off virtually NO LIGHT!! Also - more after hours work.

- Vox Pops! For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is when a paper goes out, and asks the locals to briefly answer a topical question, (eg - what should be done about the croc sighting at the local beach?) and then takes a snap of them. Note: nobody ever wants there photo taken. And they don't tell you until after you've taken a page of notes on what they've just said. My first vox pop assignment was the above-mentioned croc question. Interviewed local drunk who proceeded to give me a big hug and ogle my boobs.

- The end of the lychee season. Yup, along with sugar cane Ingham has a huge lychee farm located just out of town. Yesterday went to take end of season pics. Was expecting to get happy snaps of the local teenagers working their holidays in the packing room etc. Turned up just some huge disaster happened with there cooling device and got scowled at for half an hour. Decided to take some pics on my own and do a phone interview later that night. But pix of a bare lychee field are not much fun are they? Am quickly realising that to be a good journalist you have to learn to be ok with making a nuisance of yourself. So went and woke up the leading hand (who was asleep in bunk house) and made him pose for photos.

Anyway... that's just a few of the highlights so far. Have done lost of other not-so-memorable stories.

Tonight I am off to a meeting of sugar cane growers, havesters and mill owners to discuss sugar cane "smut"... Smut is a disease which damages crops with a blackish kind of stain, that lowers sugar yields. Big important issue for the locals, 70% of which work in the industry.

Despite my whingings though I'm actually really enjoying it. Always busy and out meeting new people. It's cool.

I think I could get used to this gig :-)

xox tegz

up datin ya

I've been working at the Express for almost a week now. So far so good.

I have written a few stories and I'm slowly getting used to the crazy News Ltd software that we have to do all our stories in (it all works on commands and you don't use a mouse... but it's the same for every News Ltd paper).

The paper here runs a lot of advertising features, and the journos are expected to help out by taking photos and writing editorial. So I've been doing a fair bit of that too. It's not much fun but it's a good opportunity to get out and meet people in the town.

Today I visited about 14 shops and took photos of their products. Then wrote cheesy editorial captions for all the photos. Lol. Oh well...

Also met the local State member today and did a story on an award he presented to a JP who's served he community for 25 years. We had a chat afterwards and he gave me a bottle of cab sauv with a picture of state parliament on the front, as a welcome to Ingham gift. Yay!

Am also being badgered to join the local theatre group. Hm. Not sure if it's my thing. I might do something else though. I need to meet some people outside of work.

Anyway. There's not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on right now. Just getting used to it up here. I quite like it so far.

Oh! And I'll be home for Christmas on the 23rd of November, staying until the weekend of new years. Sweet as. :-)

Catch you later when I got some more interesting stuff to say.

xox tegz

tidy beaches and rogue snakes

Had my first day at the Herbert River Express today. I was expecting to stand around and get in the way all day but I actually got to do some writing. Yeehah!

After paying the local police a visit with one of the journalists already working at the paper, I was handed a media release and a bunch of contact details and told to write a story. I swear I sat there for the first 1/2 an hour just looking around the office going "huh?"

I was ok after I got my bearings I think.

So yeah. My first story was about how Lucinda (a nearby coastal town) has been nominated for the QLD "Keep Australia Beautiful Clean Beach Challenge". Got to do a couple of phone interviews and stuff, which was fun.

It runs in tomorrows paper with my name to it! Hee hee! How exciting. Its not a big story but I can't help feeling a bit excited. Will have to rush out b4 work and buy a whole bunch of copies!!!

I think the people at the Express office would have a chuckle if they knew how excited I am about this.

Also wrote a small but riveting piece on the local fire fighters and how they had to remove two tree snakes from different location in Forrest Beach yesterday! :)

Anyway. It was a fun day. Everyone there is really nice and I think as I get a bit more experience under my belt I'll be able to do some chunkier stories. So far so good!

Just wanted to fill you in :-)

xox tegz

so this is ingham huh?

So I've been here for about a week now. Dad's been gone since Sunday and since then I've been hanging out on my own.

Dad leaving was sad. It was fun doing the touristy thing together, and getting my place set up. I'm really glad he came up and he was a huge help.

And now I'm all on my own in a strange town, over 2000kms from everyone (everyone of course being everyone I know and want to spend time with) !

I have to admit that I have had moments where I've thought... "Oh man... what am I doing here?"

Had I stayed in Newcastle this summer, I know I would have had an amazing Christmas and summer.

Last year's summer was one of the best ever. Hanging out with Luke in Parnelliville and the east end, going to the beach, snorkeling, taking photos, coffee with mates and generally having fun. Coming to Ingham meant not being able to spend this summer in the same way. I have to admit I feel pretty bummed out about that.

Also... I miss Luke, Mum, Dad and Kirra lots (and lots). Not to mention all my buds.

But I'm hoping it will all be worth it if this job goes well. And I will get to spend a few days in Newcastle over Christmas. I'll just have to make the most of them!!

Anyway - what can I tell you about Ingham?

Ingham is a small town, about 120kms north of Townsville on the Queensland coast. The town is supported by local sugar cane industry - every where you look in this town theres a rail crossing for a cane train line. In fact, there's a cane line running right behind my house.

I was warned about the noise by the real estate agency. But I haven't found it to be a problem. From where I'm sitting right now through my window, I can just see some cane fields in the distance. Gimme some sugar baby...

The town has a population of about 3000 people. It's big enough to have pretty much everything you could need in the way of shops and services including a local swimming pool (50m, no less), picture theatre and to my amusement even a scrap booking shop. There's a Coles and Woolies and Ingham is also lucky enough to host a KFC, Maccas and an Eagle Boys.

It kind of reminds me of Kurri Kurri, north of Newcastle. Wide, streets with lanes divided by huge median strips, lined with parking spaces. Lots of small businesses and little shops. A typical rural centre. The layout of the town is kind of weird though. The main street sort of forks in two different directions and run off in a millions other directions. (As a road designer I think dad found Ingham a tad frustrating).

My apartment is on the outskirts of town (though I'm still only a 5 minute walk from Woolworths). It's part of a block of 4 flats, which I share with two little old ladies and a contractor who's working on the local hospital and is only around 4 days a week.

On my first day here, dad and I were accosted by Ethel, the lady who lives below me.

Ethel was most upset as the land lady had asked her to move her "bonsais" (not really bonsais, just small trees in oriental pots...) out of the section of the carport which was apparently meant to be my space.

Not wanting to make any enemies on my first day here, dad and I assured her that we didn't want to upset her and that we really didn't mind if she left her "bonsais" in the car port. Later that day the land lady showed up to give me a remote control to the TV which she'd forgotten to leave. Dad and I told her we really didn't want to disturb Ethel and that we were quite happy to park elsewhere, but she told us Ethel had to move anyway.

Apparently after dad and I left went and told Ethel she had to move her gear, and then started shifting everything herself! (I'm sure that's breaking the term of the lease but anyway...)

Needless to say when we saw Ethel later that night she was not a happy camper. The poor things was genuinely upset and I felt really bad. She was out in the car port cutting down her clothes line with a knife and proceeded to tell me about what happened, whilst brandishing the knife about to punctuate her story.

Eventually it all got sorted out and the guy at the front said he'd park on the street. But yeah - I'm hoping to have a quiet time from now on.

Thought I might make Ethel a cake or something.

I start work tomorrow!!! Yea ha! I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the job and seeing what it's like. I had a call from the girls at the paper today and they've organised a welcome dinner for Dannae and I (Dannae is another journalist who's starting with the paper the same time as I am) on Thursday night. I thought that was really sweet.

I quite like everyone of met from the paper so far. Last Saturday night dad and I went to a calendar launch that the paper had organised to raise funds for the local footy team. Actually.. it was a nudie calendar (teehee). There were lots of photos of bottoms around...

But it was a nice opportunity to get to chat to everyone from the paper. Sad thing is most of them are leaving!! That's why they've hired Dannae and I. One is going overseas, on is having a baby and one is moving to the sunshine coast. Oh well. The paper's manager will still be there though and she seems pretty cool.

Tonight I'm meeting Dannae, the other new starter at the paper for a drink. I'm looking forward to meeting someone who is in the same boat as me - I hope she is fun.

Well. I have exhausted my blogging muscle for one day I think.

If you are reading and you haven't sent an email.. then get your act together!

xox tegz

the back story

I feel really self conscious about starting a blog. How exactly do you start one of these things?

I figure if you are reading this you already know who I am quite well so I'm not going to bother with an intro.

I will say though, that I've started this blog as a record of my travels to Ingham in Northern Queensland, to pursue a job as a journalist. It's a record for myself more than anyone, but also for the people I know and love in Newwie who want to keep tabs on me.

So there you have it. One small note though before I commence - no, I am not crem. Crem (short for Crème Brûlée) is a 20cm tall plush hippo that was given to me by Luke before I left. I decided to dedicate this blog to Crem in honour of his excellent cuddles.

Right - I'm already here in Ingham and I have been for about a week now. Here is the backstory (pardon the past tense):

After 13 months of working for Bradken Resources Pty Ltd as a Marketing Coordinator, and feeling pretty bored and grumpy (as far as work went - not otherwise) for most of them, I finally received a job offer as an entry-level journalist on Friday the 17th of November (a little over two weeks ago…).

In fact, I actually received two phone calls that day from two separate papers. Crazy but true…

For a moment, it seemed all my Christmases had come at once.

The only problem was – I had to move to Queensland, and I only had two weeks in which to do it.

I spent the weekend deliberating… Swinging between going and staying. Deciding which paper to work for. Whether or not to leave my awesome boyfriend, my family and my friends. Whether to leave my lovely apartment in Hamilton. WHAT TO DO????

After lots of talking with Luke, and my family, sighing, umming and ahhing I decided I had to go. This was too big an opportunity to miss… The position is a maternity leave contract for 8 months and it’s with News Ltd. My decision to go was based on the fact that it will be great experience and hopefully a foot in the door with a paper closer to home at the end of the process.

The week between accepting the job and actually leaving was a really hard one. It went by way too fast, in blur of anxiety and snotty tissues.

I spent it packing, wondering if I had made the right decision and trying to cram in as much time with Luke, my friends and family as possible.

I resigned from Bradken on the Monday and came down with a raging case of the flu on Tuesday.

Apologies to all my mates who came out on Wednesday night to wish me farewell and got coughed on. I don’t think I was much fun that night. Two beers had me under the table (I blame the truckload of pain killers taken earlier that day) and I piked at 10pm. I promise to make it up to you all at some stage or another.

I was all packed up by Wednesday afternoon, so Thursday was spent hanging out with Luke and my family. Lots of cuddles and a big family dinner that night.

After some teary goodbyes on Friday morning, Dad and I set off on out three day journey.

The whole thing from Newcastle to Ingham took THREE DAYS. We left on Friday the 24th (my 23rd birthday) with our first overnight in a pub right on the NSW/QLD border. We spent the next night in Rockhampton, and then travelled all the way Ingham, arriving late Sunday afternoon.

What a haul. I was originally going to write about each day in detail but it was just going to take too long.

Highlights of the trip though included:

- Trying unsuccessfully to find accommodation in Byron Bay in the middle of schoolies week.
- Pub stay at the “Hotel Victory” on our first night. Awesome pub in the middle of nowhere. See my flickr account for pix.
- Driving through Brisbane in morning traffic
- 3 days worth of chain-store junk food
- Road tripping with dad! An awesome travel buddy.

So! Dad and I arrived in Ingham on Sunday afternoon. Driving into Ingham was kinda cool - it was all overcast and the clouds were hanging low over the hills as the sun set. The highay into Ingham is lined with lush green cane fields and that afternoon as the sun set it looked absolutely spectacular. It was a nice way to arrive.

The streets of Ingham were completely deserted when we arrived. The town shuts down at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon and doesn't wake up til business hours on a Monday, so we booked ourselves into "Motel Ingham" for some well deserved sleep and ordered pizza delivery from Eagle Boys, the only shop still open in town.

Next morning we went to the real estate agency and checked out a few houses. We were looking for something furnished (as I didn't want to have to invest in white good and couches for an 8 month stay) and furnished we found!

The second apartment we looked at was cute, furnished, and more importantly had air con and lots of fans (a total must have in QLD... extremely hot 24/7). So I applied straight away, and by the next day we were moving in! Only thing it needed was some beds, which we picked up cheapo at a second hand furniture store in Townsville, and some mattresses which we got from the kind folk at clark rubber.

Dad and I spent the rest of the week doing the tourist thing, taking lots of photos and visiting all the local beaches. I'm really glad he was there for the first week with me - when I started missing every one he was there to give me a hug. Many sooks have been had in the last two weeks. So thank you dad for being so great and never failing to cheer me up.

In the week dad was here I also went in to the paper and met everyone I'll be working with. They all seem really lovely, and my boss seems pretty pretty chilled out as well. I think it' going to be a great place to work.

Anyway... I've left out heaps of details so as not to bore you (or myself) but I'm still sorry if this first post was less than riveting. There was so much to write!!

I promise to only write short, witty and poignant posts from now on.

til then

xox tegz