Life on New England's North Coast

Lynne's story is a personal review of a series of blog posts about one slice of life on the north coast of NSW. I have included the link here because it provides a snap shot of regional life. This may not be for you, but then it may be.

Experiencing regional difference within Australia

Writing of Grafton, Lynne wrote:

  I should like to travel more and see more places, more towns. There are  subtle differences between towns and communities and I like this town- and would like to see others.

The photo shows performers at the Grafton Jacaranda Festival. I have to say that these are very pretty girls!

Lynne is right about the subtle differences across Regional Australia. I do love them.  

Derek Bullock's Camp Oven Cooking in Australia

Many modern Australians have forgotten how to cook outdoors. I was therefore pleased to discover that Derek Bullock's Camp Oven Cooking in Australia was keeping the old art of the camp oven alive.

Regional living - the lazy person's approach to gardening 6 a new start!

Back in March 2008 I began a new series, Regional living - the lazy person's approach to gardening 1 introduction. This series got sidetracked because living in Sydney as I am at present I lost my garden because the family wanted to move to a bigger house.

Knowing that we were moving I lost heart. Then, when we moved, we ended in one of those current Sydney small block places. You know the type, all crowded together with a tiny garden patch that has been manicured - paving and all - into what we might call an outdoor living space. Quite nice in summer, but cold in winter, this was the final kiss of death. I did plant a few herbs, but most died.

We have now moved to a new house. I have a garden again, we know we are here for eighteen months, so I can do something. Having moved Tuesday, I am starting my lazy person's approach this morning, just to illustrate what I mean. I will report as I go along. I am also taking some photos as I go, although it may be a little while before I load them.     

Introductory post in series. Previous post. Next post.

Job opportunities in Regional Australia - July 09

During the week the Law Council of Australia released a report on shortages of legal professionals in Regional Australia. At a time when big city firms are retrenching, 43% of those surveyed in Regional Australia say that they have insufficient lawyers to meet client demands.

This is not an isolated example. A recent survey of businesses in a substantial NSW regional centre found that something like half the businesses surveyed had job vacancies that they could not fill. Again, this holds at a time when unemployment in major metro centres is on the rise.

Not all regional communities have vacant jobs. Some especially dependant on mining have recently seen lay-offs. However, for those facing an uncertain metro job market, now is not a bad time to consider a move to Regional and especially inland, Australia.  

What food did the Aborigines eat in New England?

Keith asked in a comment on Australian Regional Food - Bush Tucker and the Australian Aborigines:

I would love to learn more about bush foods in the New England area, especially around here in Armidale. Most of the wild food information covers Queensland and the Territory, where there appears to be far more bush foods available.

I really don't know. More precisely, I know some of the birds and animals they ate, but not the vegetable material. Something else that I must find out!

The nuts and bolts of preparing a local or regional development strategy - a new series

From time to time I get asked about the best way of preparing a local or regional development development strategy.

Most of these strategies, and especially Government funded ones, fail. They generate a report but no action. The reasons Government funded ones especially fail is that the terms of the grant usually focus on the report, whereas effective planning is all about process.

Peter Drucker, the management guru who did so much to define strategic planning, described it as the futurity of current decisions. By this, he meant simply that planning was effective to the degree that it influenced what we did now, taking the future into account.

Over the next few posts I propose to provide a nuts and bolts guide to the whole process, drawing from my previous writing and experience.    

Reason for the pause in posting

It is a very long time since I last posted. I have not lost interest. It's just that I have been busy and also working out how best to use my various blogs.

Not really a good excuse I know, but its true. Watch this space.