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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Fiona Lowe: I've Got to Go There!


OK, so I confess to watching 'A Farmer Wants a Wife' and last year one of the Aussie farmers was a pearl farmer living on the Western Australian coast, and the images of the area just blew me away.

The blue-green sea, water so clear you could see dugong, turtles, mantarays, massive schools of fish from the top of a cliff and the most amazing sight of red, outback dust suddenly changing to whiter than white sand are images that are burned into my brain. It was a place where the outback meets the ocean and the perfect place to take a French exchange student so he could experience both the outback and glorious beaches. I started planning a vacation!



We're just back from that holiday and it was spectacular. We were in the World Heritage listed Shark Bay and the recently listed Ningaloo reef and I got to swim with whale sharks, which was something I had never imagined myself doing. The experience will stay with me forever. There is something about swimming next to an 8 metre fish that makes you realise how tiny we really are!


Of course we wanted to visit this part of the world and we were open to everything, but it's different when you're 'told' you have to go somewhere or 'do' something. In my latest release, Career Girl In The Country, Poppy Stanfield is told she has to go to the outback and work in a mining town.

It isn't in a World Heritage area with amazing sceneary and it's a two hour flght from Perth. With the never-ending rest dust and the searing temperatures, Poppy feels like she's been sent to hell. She's determined to get out of town as soon as possible and back to her life in Perth, and her career dreams of being the head of surgery in a Perth hospital.

Nothing goes to plan and slowly, despite not wanting to, she starts to see beyond the moon-scape environment and starts to glimpse some positive attributes to the town; not to mention the gorgous but brooding ER doctor, Matt Albright.

So tell me, what situation have you been in where you were told to do something or told to go somewhere that you didn't wish to, but ultimately you realised it had been a good experience for you? Leave a comment and go into the draw to win a copy of Career Girl In The Country!


Fiona Lowe is an award-winning, multipublished author or romance fiction with Harlequin Mills & Boon and Carina Press. Whether her books are set in outback Australia or small-town USA they all feature small towns with big hearts fillled with warm, likeable characters that make you fall in love. When she's not writing stories, she's a weekend wife, mother of two boys who she's trying to instill in them heroic charcteristics like cooking and ironing. She's currently writing her 18th novel. She loves to hear from readers and you can find her on Facebook, Twitter and at her website.

12 comments:

Mary Preston said...

As an Australian I do have to say we have some spectacular sights & experiences.

The only time I think I ever let myself be pushed into anything, was a work conference. It turned out to be practical workshops that I LOVED. You never know sometimes.

Nas said...

Thanks for sharing such lovely photos, Fiona!

Congratulations on the release of A CAREER GIRL IN THE COUNTRY!

Fiona Lowe said...

Marybelle,isn't it great when you're pleasantly surprised!

Fiona Lowe said...

Thanks, Nas!

Jo's Daughter said...

Oh, I so much wanted to watch that show but they don't show it here on tv... There is another version of it, but I just wanted to see them all, you know all countries.

Rachael Johns said...

I must be brain dead cos I'm sure there are a few things I've been asked to do but haven't wanted to... unfortunately I can't think of them this morning.
As a Western Australian, I'm jealous you've seen these sights and I haven't. I also can't wait to read an M&B set here and with links to Perth as they seem few and far between :)

Laurie G said...

Last April, encouraged by my 3 college aged sons I climbed to the top of a rock wall!

Several years back when we were visiting a friend in Tucson, we took a trip to a cave. I'm extremely claustrophobic, but I went in and survived. I never want to enter a cave again. When they turned out the lights... yes it was lit! I nearly died of fright!

Laney4 said...

I don't like scary things. Won't read books about them. Quit watching/cover my eyes and ears/etc when watching scary movies.

A couple of years ago I went to a haunted house on Halloween night. I even paid to go in. Thought I would be scared out of my mind. I had the time of my life instead, although it gave me a fright when I was crawling through a hearse to get out of the place, and I placed my hand on what I thought was an old bag, but was in fact a young man lying down hidden in the dark. He got up with such a start and then got away from me as quickly as he could (although he was bent over, as I apparently touched him "there"). I'm still shaking my head at that and hoping I didn't "scar him for life", LOL!

Fiona Lowe said...

Jo, I think they do a US version and a USA version. You can probably track it down online. Thanks for calling by.

Fiona Lowe said...

RACH, Perth features in the book too!

Fiona Lowe said...

Laurie, Go You! I don't like heights and in Vietnam inside a tiny dark tunnel I found out I am a bit claustophobic too!

Fiona Lowe said...

Laney, you made me smile, thanks!