National Carers Week – Why Do We Care?

National Carers Week has been celebrated in Australia since 1992. It aims to recognise and celebrate the significant contribution that unpaid carers make to the Australian community. This year the theme focuses on the stories of carers asking them the question -  Why Do You Care? 1 in every 8 Australians is caring for a …

World Smile Day 2020

Yesterday, October 2nd, was World Smile Day. I hadn’t ever come across World Smile Day until I was doing a bit of research into International Days. There are so many International Days that there is just about one for every day of the year, but this one, World Smile Day, is certainly worth celebrating. Especially …

Caring During Covid 19

Covid 19 has scored a sizeable hit on life as we once knew it. Businesses and services were closed. Many people lost their jobs. Travellers were stranded overseas and grocery shopping became the social highlight of the week. As schools closed and moved to online learning, many parents struggled to balance working from home with …

Giving Way to Emergency Services

You see some interesting things walking around the city streets. Discarded shopping trolleys. Motorists running red lights. Pedestrians pummelling the button to make the pedestrian light change sooner. (It doesn’t work!) But occasionally you see something that really makes your blood boil. I was waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green (and NOT pummelling …

Carnival of Flowers – Celebrating 70 Years

It’s the first weekend of the September School Holidays, the flowers are out in full bloom and the local parks and gardens are crowded with visitors and tour buses. It must be Carnival time. The Carnival of Flowers is Toowoomba’s premiere event of the year, a festival that celebrates flowers, local wine and food, and …

2019: Looking Forward

  Another year has come and gone. I don’t know where 2018 went. It seems like I had just settled into 2018, remembering to write an 8 instead of a 7, and suddenly it’s the end of the year. How did that happen? The older we get, the faster the years seem to zoom past. …

A Sticker for the Ow

One of the challenges of Dan's autism is his high pain threshold. We often don't know that something is wrong until it is very wrong. Recently Dan went to bed one evening  perfectly fine, but the next morning he could barely hobble to the kitchen table to have breakfast. What's wrong? Why are you limping? …

Bowling for Cancer

  Sporting achievement is not something that I am known for. When the sporting genes were being dished out, I was at the back of the line and by the time I finally got to the front, well... there was nothing left. I don't mind watching it, but years of compulsory PE lessons taught me …

Big Red Bash #6: Finally – the BRB

Finally, after travelling the Adventure Way, reflecting on the Burke and Wills Saga, and hanging out in Birdsville, it was time to head out to the Big Bash campsite. To ease congestion and prevent long delays, Roll In to the campsite had been extended over three days. We didn't take up the offer of early …

Caring for the Carer

Life is a difficult balancing act. Most of us are trying to juggle work and family commitments while also trying to maintain our own well-being and sanity. For the most part, it works, even if sometimes it’s a mad scramble and there are a few near-misses. Occasionally though, it doesn’t work and everything falls in …