Varuna - an enchantment! And it begins on that first curve of the driveway, the sunset colours of the house nestled amongst the colourful blooms of azaleas: peaceful. Down the road, a whip-bird calls to its neighbour, the carrolling of the pied currawongs and butcherbirds echoes through the valley, and kookaburras remind you not to take life too seriously.

What ambience! You can feel Eleanor's presence with you, imagine her seated in her studio, pondering her choice of words that will enchant her readers, welcoming her writing friends who now fill her house with words that travel by the speed of light. And her presence fills the very house, it alights on the very air that you breathe: words, word choices, characters, settings, light, dark, journeys, passions, life. And her life is shared in the photos on the walls, the choice of furniture, the glorious garden, the friendly atmosphere.

I am so grateful to Varuna for the chance of a lifetime: A week to write, plan, listen to others, add/delete/rewrite scenes, debate anything from writing to world events over a coffee or tea or wine, laugh. And the chance for that early morning walk from Katoomba Falls to Echo Point and gaze at one of the natural wonders of the world - The Three Sisters and the Jamieson Valley - and, in that quite stillness after dawn, remember that life is beautiful.

And it's back to normality after 11 days in New South Wales: 7 days writing at Varuna, 1.5 days in Sydney researching four changes in location for The Fatal Span, 2.5 days in the Katoomba-Wentworth Falls area researching two possible locations for a site that will be used in Hells Bells (book 2 of the Max Murdoch series) which included one day of R&R, i.e. bushwalking for pure fun.

So this week's been back to work, and I'm not ashamed to admit I had trouble settling back the first few days. It's hard to wake up early and NOT walk to the Cliff View lookout and around to Echo Point, talk to the scrubwrens, and just gaze in awe at the sheer beauty of the view. And walk on flat ground - THAT is strange.

Yesterday I think I've finally managed to fix up one scene that's been giving me grief all week. I'll print it after I've walked around Mount Barker Summit (half the height of Katoomba), walk away from the computer and go over it one more time. Then it's deciding whether or not I'll change one paragraph in Chapter One, then it's full-steam ahead for one more draft - then a break to really hack out the novella, The Isthmus, and the short-story (remember I said that) The Toy Man from Company B.  After forgetting my notes to take on the bus, I re-thought some of the order of things in books 2 and 3, and realised that two sub-plots need to be swapped around. NOW I can see both books working. At last! So forgetting things DOES have some advantages...including the passionfruit yoghurt that I had to try when I forgot my lunch on Thursday!

Sydney turned on the warmth (34C) and humidity for a fabulous day to make my hair frizz and wring out half my clothes. Seriously, some extra warmth after 18 cool months in South Australia was WELCOME.

So I hiked around Balmain East (caught the bus over), couldn't quite find the linking roads to get me to Ballast Point Park from the southern end of Mort Bay (some signage would be helpful - I had a map), so as it was pretty warm and my time was limited (and I'd seen BPP before), I hiked around the eastern end, down to Cameron's Cove (a lovely view) over to White Bay Park, around the fabulous White Bay Power Station, across the Anzac Bridge and into Pyrmont and Darling Harbour - all for the first book, and I found what I needed except for one bit - that requires choosing the "best option."

Darling Harbour certainly had undergone a bit of change since last night - with the rugby crowds gone and the faithful few cleaning up and removing all the "structures" (large TV screen, rugby goal posts in Cockle Bay) - but it looked most had a fun night!

Then it was an hour and a half of R&R before heading to the airport, and what better way to do that than enjoy a hot choc (dark, of course) at the Guylian shop on the corner of Argyle and George Streets, and walking back to Dymocks on George Street for some book hunting.

Bird count: Not much. A couple of willie wagtails (always fun), a koel (my first), and the ever present Darling Harbour ibis (who run the cafes and the pubs).

So I'm back home again, thanks to Virgin Australia for a safe trip, thank you Varuna and Arts SA, thank you to Marele and my writing colleagues. By the time I arrived home at 8PM, I had only enough time to unpack, ignore the washing, send a quick email or two, and fall into bed. And now, it's back to my real job...

FOOTNOTE: Katoomba had bushfires on Monday (24 Oct) just below the Prince Henry Walk where I hiked every morning. Thankfully, no houses badly damaged at time of writing (or people) but what about the fauna and flora? This is one of the most beautiful areas in the world. I really hope some scums didn't light that fire, or some thoughtless idiot who carelessly threw away his/her cigarette.

I'm really sad to leave such a beautiful place like Varuna, but today we all departed, closing the door on a week's worth of memories, fun, laughter and hard work. Thanks once again to Marele Day, all the team from Varuna, the October Crime Gang 2011 (Tamara, Catherine, Ben), and from me: thank you to Arts SA for helping me fund the trip over.

Yes, I did do some writing this morning, plus I reworked a scene on the train (still not great, but improving).

So, to finish up:

This morning, I was going to hike along the Prince Henry Walk, not look at birds, and get back within an hour (for once). That all fell to pieces at the Cliff View lookout, when a juvenile shrike thrush hopped up over the edge, then hopped around my feet. THIS TIME I had my camera already ON, so I have a photo of it plus a bit of video. Think I saw the rock warbler (or I reckon I can ID this bird now), saw thornies, crimsons, curras, clogs, and a swag of scrubbies – one group
brought their babies in for me to mind while they fed them!!! HOW CUTE IS THAT??? Saw Echo Point Willie Wagtail telling everyone off (what else?), heard whipbirds, the Kiosk kookas and butcherbird, SAW a white-throated tree creeper (!), plus heard the usual bunch that I have no idea what they are as they’re black silhouettes in the trees. Bloody boids. Got a bit teary when I was walking away from Echo Point. It’s hard to leave the fantastic vista behind, plus all those boids.

Now for Sydney:
I'm researching three changes/slight alterations to sites for the first novel, "The Fatal Span," and this hunt took me to Waverton, Ultimo/Pyrmont and Glebe (to photograph the Anzac Bridge). Check out The Coal Handler building at Balls Head, Waverton. They're doing some fabulous sustainable work there. I walked through an old tunnel under the old coal handling area, and came across more SCRUBBIES. A kookaburra ignored me (obviously I had no BBQ'd snags).

Walked my feet off around Pyrmont and Ultimo, then picked up the trail along Blackwattle Bay and into Rozelle Bay to photograph the Anzac Bridge. Caught the Light Rail back to Darling Harbour, avoided the crowds waiting for the rugby on the big screens in DH (go Kiwis), took one look at the meals (and prices) and walked out on what was my favouite cafe in DH - so bought an Angry Angus burger from HJ's and an icecream for tea.

Tonight, Sydney threw a 5-10 minute fireworks in DH at 9pm - wonderful!

I'll start with the bushwalking/birding:

For some odd reason, I saw only a few scrubwrens along the Prince Henry Walk this morning. HUH? But I did see a bunch of scolding thornbills (cute), heard the whipbirds sounding off against each other (Cascade St vs Katoomba Falls), saw currawongs, think I heard a pied butcherbird in the area where I saw the juvenile bird, didn't hear Elvis until I’d gone a long way past, BUT I did see (what we think is) a red-whiskered bulbul (i.e. like a large whipbird, but it’s in trees). I heard bark cracking and rustling, and stopped. Sure enough, there it was tearing the bark off and getting grubs, and digging into other bark bits. But the funniest part was a TINY thornbill shoved it off. It didn’t go far, but that was pretty neat.

This afternoon, I took a more relaxing stroll (for me) along part of the Prince Henry Walk. A heavy haze hung over the mountains (burning off?). Didn't see many birds until I heard something "cracking" alongside the path, and could hardly believe the source: a glossy black cockatoo calmly crunching on the melaleuca (?) bushes. I could hear but not see other GBs alongside it. WOW! Took a couple of photos and a short video - not real great but I'm so excited! Saw some (either) swallows or tree martins (not sure which), crimson rosellas, heard galahs (!), heard the Kiosk kookas, heard the Elvis bird and I think the rock warbler. If I'd had binoculars, I might've ID'd him/her. Never mind.

And Varuna: The last full day and it's going to be hard to leave. This morning, Tamara and I joined in with Marele's Masterclass: From Rough Draft to Final Product. That was a blast. A lovely group, very funny, and Marele showed us some great writing exercises so there's never an excuse to say "I can't think of anything to write." We all left with a short story (or longer?) to bash out, and some great ideas. And we had some fabulous examples from Marele's own work that she generously shared with us, and we're ALLOWED to let the first draft be "rough" - without guilt. Get the ideas DOWN! Thank you, Marele and Varuna, for the generous sharing of your time and such a wonderful environment in which to work.

Well, that's almost it from Katoomba. Tomorrow we all head back home. Varuna's an amazing place.

And now the explanation of the title: The Cliff View lookout one at 6am, the other around 6pm with the haze/smoke

What an exciting way to finish the week! Two writing sessions with Marele, the first with the group (Tamara, Catherine and Ben), the second: a one-on-one with each of us and any queries we had.

In the first session, we presented our "homework" to the group. For most of us, that meant working on Marele's suggestions from Tuesday and bring a insanely improved manuscript to the rest of the group. How we've all improved! Mine was a little different, and I admit to being apprenhensive. I had to "drip-feed" some important information for one of my major characters over the space of about four chapters. Mercifully for the others, I didn't read it all, just the sections where this had occurred. I did rewrite one scene; for all the edits I had a secondary character divulging all the information when asked - so where's the conflict or the tension? How much did I learn from this: HEAPS. And I'll use this device to do the same in the rest of the manuscript.

Oh, and I've reworked Chapter One, and moved one major piece of infrastructure, and relocated two large compounds on the north shore further east. Won't they be surprised when they wake up in the morning?

I gained so much from this and the one-on-one session this afternoon, having discussed several things with Marele, learning more, developing ideas for one character and one location.

And we all improved: One outcome!

How valuable has this week been? Incalculable! And add to that the wonderful environment at Varuna, and it's truly sensational. And there's still tomorrow's Masterclass, more writing, and three more walks.

Okay, so today's walks: Left early to do my favourite Prince Henry Walk to Echo Point. I left at 6AM - and it was warm!?! Saw those gorgeous scrubwrens (and their young ones - so cute), a juvenile grey shrike-thrush (who was still working on its call), crimson rosellas, black duck (!), the Kiosk Kookaburras (3 laughing sessions, and yes I SAW them...by the barbeque of course). HEARD: fantails, thornbills, what I think is a rock warbler, 3 whip-birds (answering each other), and some little bird (shape of a robin but smaller - and in silhouette so I have no idea of colorus etc) but with the most magnificent range of songs that would rival Elvis. I've named it The Elvis Bird until I find out what it really is. I could've listened to it all day. The view from the walk is just stunning, defies description really.

This afternoon I walked down to the 1/3-way point lookout of the Katoomba Falls. Yep, ventured down the Furber Steps (I can manage those) to the Under Falls Walk, slushed through a couple of bits - but it was worth it. Not that I want to even TRY to look over the edge, but just that section is amazing. And I saw a King Parrot on the way back - skimming near the cricket oval.

Oh yes, the Chainsaw continued into Day Four, but we think it's done. I've added a photo of the guy at the top of tree (sorry about the distance, but less than a minute later, the tree-top fell).

It's going to be so hard to leave here on Sunday...

Az
On the Bird Front: Not much to report this morning, except it was obviously National Bird-Scolding-Birdwatchers Day, i.e. lots of them telling me off for being around (I apologised). The “worst” offenders were, of course, the scrubwrens, but the thornbills were doing a pretty good job too. The crimsons rosellas enjoy dropping seed pods on my head (fair enough), and the Kiosk Kookas laughed at me on my way out. Heard whipbirds, black-faced cuckoo-shrikes etc. I STILL can’t see one bird at the Cliff View Lookout which has a lovely loud call (probably 2cm long). Amazing how LOUD these little birds are. Are they all voicebox?

On the Walking Front: This afternoon, I made it around the (shortened) "Round Walk" at Katoomba Falls. For me, the direction's important, viz. DOWN the Furber Steps (not scary) and UP the metal staircase past Juliet's Lookout. In the morning, it was the Prince Henry Walk to Echo Point. I love it. No monarch (bird) today (the other one's in Canberra), but a myriad of beautiful calls, and of course, THAT superb vista. Away from the cool air by the waterfalls, it was actually WARM, and this was before 7am. HUH? Again, the weather's been fabulous. What a joy.

It’s Day Three of the Chainsaw + mulcher. This is the slowest tree removal I've ever seen. Where's  a storm?

On the Writing Front: I've improved one thread by "drip-feeding" information as Marele has suggested. The trouble was finding the best place to insert the (small) flashback and have it still make sense. It meant removing one scene but hey, I can live with that. I'm about to rework that opening chapter.

And I must mention the azaleas. Katoomba is LOADED with the most magnificent display of azaleas I've ever seen. Back home, they burn off in a week, but here, there seems no end to their flowering - and the colours! I took the photo (below) in the front garden at Shelton-Lea B&B; I'll add the beauties from Varuna when I take some photos tomorrow (thought I'd done it, but I haven't).

I'm so excited! On this morning's walk I saw an immature spectacled monarch (which is a bird for the uninitiated)! And even more amazing was where: At Echo Point, the touristy bit, hopping around my feet! Okay it was at 7AM. How cute is that? (Thanks to Mum, who helped identify it).

A great birding morning, not sure if it was a bit cooler but there were squads of them fighting/playing/courting, viz: crimson rosellas, eastern spinebills, white-browed scrubwrens (of course), new holland honeyeaters ("clogs"), and white-naped honeyeaters (I think). Not fighting: more scrubwrens, sulphur-crested cockatoos, black-faced cuckoo-shrikes, maned (wood) ducks, plus a swag of other birds I heard/saw but can’t identify. BUT I DID SEE an eastern whipbird (apart from hearing quite a few more). Heard fantails and the Kiosk kookaburras and Willie Wagtail.

It’s Day Two of the Chainsaw. Yes, THIS WEEK a huge pine tree across the road is coming down, and at the rate they're going, it'll take all week. Together with the mulcher, it really adds to a possible Chainsaw Murder by the end of this week (well, we ARE crime writers).

Oh yeah, the writing. We're all working on fixing up our manuscripts as per Marele's (and the group's) suggestions. One bit on mine I'll work on when I get home, the other I'm working from the printed version. Looks like a mess at the moment, with arrows and annotations and extended annotations and extra pages added in... And of course, one bit is reverting more to its original version - and the reason why you never throw away your "old" scenes (and I didn't).

Of course, I couldn't NOT write about Sheila and her amazing meals. Monday's was curried pork (I think, but it was fabulous), yesterday was a fish to die for and APPLE meringue pie, today is Mexican, tomorrow is pasta. We are SO spoilt.

And to end: The Weather. Still gorgeous. Blue blue skies today...what a dream to stay here.

Today's two writing sessions focussed on the finer points of our manuscripts.

Each of us had a one-hour "one-on-one" session with the lovely Marele Day, discussing the good points of our manuscripts, and the areas where we could improve. Yes, we all have "homework" to do, and we'll re-present this (about 10 pages) to our colleagues on Friday. I have to differentiate one of my main characters from another by language, mannerisms etc, so I'm writing these changes on paper (!) to see what works the best.

Our group critique formed the second session, which each of us commenting on each others' work (always scary), and again, so excellent points were raised. It's amazing how you can look at/read out loud/rewrite something and still not see the bleeding obvious, like "...when did he get off the train...?" (about three edits ago...)

And I managed to fit in a couple of short walks: early morning to Cliff View lookout, then along Falls Road (etc) to Echo Point (not a soul there except me) and past an amazing monument to the men and convicts who built the Great Western Highway. This afternoon, Tamara and I walked over to the Katoomba Cascades and around Reids Plateau. I finally saw the "Orphan Rock." I can't believe I said, "Which one is it?" [it's the one standing out on its own, dopey (see photo)].

Bird count: a bit low today, scrubwrens, crimson rosellas, sulphur-crested cockatoos, currawongs, and a host of glorious tweets that I naturally couldn't see for the foliage. But I was laughed at by the Katoomba Falls Kiosk kookaburras (again)!

But the really important news: Katoomba DOES have a Willie Wagtail - seen over by the Katoomba Falls Kiosk (which is currently not open but up for lease).

The next two days will be non-stop writing, then another "show and..." on Friday.

So what does this mean? With many thanks to Arts SA, it means I'm at Varuna, the Writers' House in Katoomba, and I've been writing a conversation between my left and right hands (I'm right-handed) that formed part of an exercise by our fabulous writing mentor, Marele Day. "Unfair!" said the left-side of my brain. "Not used to working, eh?" said Bo. Without giving too much away, I'm definitely going to use this exercise, starting tomorrow. Easy to do in such a peaceful setting.

And providing a peaceful atmosphere to concentrate on your writing is what Varuna's all about - that's in addition to the encouragement from the wonderful staff (thanks Vera, Lis, Joan and Kathy), the picturesque setting, the enormous library, the beautiful grounds (thanks Rod), the amazing meals (thanks Sheila) and the new friendships. Hello to [in Dewey order of author] Ben, Catherine and Tamara.

A special mention must go to the resident Black-backed Magpie who insists on swooping us. You have chosen to pick on CRIME WRITERS, you nincompoop bird, and we can think of 27652 ways to dispose of you without a trace...[we won't, of course]. At the moment we're trying to think up a suitable name: "Stuka" comes to mind...

Today, Marele gave the four of us an overview of the areas where we call can improve. Tomorrow's crunch-time (apologies for the cliche), with our "one-on-one" critique sessions with Marele. Half of me can't wait, the other half is terrified and positive I can't write a word.

This morning, I hiked over part of the "Round Walk" by Katoomba Falls and back on part of the Prince Henry Walk. Saw scrubwrens, thornbills, a sulphur-crested cockatoo digging out a hole in a tree branch (needs a Black&Decker), heard fantails, a treecreeper (?), and a host of others that I still can't identify. Oh, and the pied currawong at the Katoomba Falls lookout who appeared out of nowhere when I opened my lunch bag...How to shoo him/her off the environmentally friendly way: I brought out my camera. It worked!

I forgot to mention that, on Saturday's walk, I heard a group of Bell Miners in one patch of scrub underneath The Three Sisters - just in one patch, nowhere else on that section of track. Bell Miners are known affectionately in our family as "DINGS." If you've ever heard them, you'll know why.

Thanks to Jenny and Paul at "Shelton-lea Bed and Breakfast" in Lurline Street, Katoomba. Wonderful hospitality, fabulous food and a beautiful suite. If you're ever in Katoomba, it's definitely worth staying there. Here's their link: http://www.sheltonlea.com

I thank Varuna and Marele Day for the fabulous opportunity to come here and WRITE, and also thank Arts SA, who, through their generous Independent Makers and Presenters (IMP) grant, have funded my travel and accommodation expenses. Thank you Arts SA!

Now, back to writing...