March Quarterly - 2024 - Newsletter

Dear friends,
 
Welcome to the first newsletter for 2024. I hope Christmas and the New Year were filled with family, friends, merriment and that 2024 has started well for everyone. The Festive Season and New Year celebrations seem a distant memory now. For us, the celebrations went on into January, the 26th being our national holiday to celebrate Australia Day.

A recent news item grabbed my attention when Police in Sydney, New South Wales, busted a criminal syndicate planning to export hundreds of lizards to Hong Kong illegally. The police found these poor creatures concealed in chip packets, handbags, and cereal containers. By coincidence, Book 4 of the West Series, Survival, (released February 2024) is about animal trafficking in this part of the world.

Charlotte Clifford is working to finish her degree at a wildlife park in Far North Queensland when she unwittingly becomes involved in illegally exporting Australian wildlife to Hong Kong. Jamie West is investigating the wildlife park. Jamie and Charlotte work to bring the perpetrators to justice.

If you have read – Destiny, Book 1 of the West Series, you’ll be familiar with the Australian outback opal mining town of Coober Pedy where Dan West finds Ellie after they part company at the Bear Lodge in British Columbia. Coober Pedy has always fascinated me. It’s like you’ve left Earth to visit some far-flung planet. I’ve never understood its fascination to those who live there. The land is barren, hot and opal has never done it for me. It wasn’t until a friend decided to live, work, and marry an opal miner invited us to stay there. Meeting some of the locals I began to understand the appeal Coober Pedy has on people.

Rubbing shoulders with the locals spiked my imagination. I saw not only how mining becomes a drug but also how hard it is on the body. Add a harsh climate, the peril of falling into open shafts, and little water; you have an excellent setting for a story. Estimates are that more than 1.5 million open shafts dot the area.

Again, another news item caught my attention. A 47-year-old man fell down an abandoned thirty-metre (100 ft) opal mine shaft. His wife alerted the authorities after he didn’t return home, he was found 24 hours later. Country Fire Service (CFS) volunteers and the Coober Pedy Mine Rescue squad took three hours to pull him out of the mine. He was lucky only to suffer multiple broken bones. Most people don’t survive the fall, and many are never found. Tourists often laugh at the quirky signs dotted around the Coober Pedy region. They tell the unsuspecting person to watch where they put their feet. If you ever visit, take heed.
 
I will sign off here and be back with the June newsletter. So, until next time, stay safe.

Suzie