Playing Tourist At Home!

by Anna Campbell

April was visitor month chez Campbell - not counting the Easter Bunny!

It was fun to break out into social outings and it was special fun to host an English couple I've been friends with for many years who have never been to my corner of the world before. Which meant we got to play tourist - and I got to play tour guide in places I hadn't visited for ages.

Great fun!

Anyway, I thought you might appreciate some of the photos we took. I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. It's on the east coast, about an hour north of Brisbane the state capital and about 600 miles north of Sydney. It's a resort area and we get lots of retirees because the climate is so benign (except for this year when it's generally done a good impression of a rainy bog). The coastal plain is a little like Florida - tropical vegetation and beautiful beaches and a lot of housing estates reclaimed from swamp.

It's the kind of landscape and lifestyle you don't get in England. So my friends used to love to come home in the evenings and drink gin and tonics watching the day fade over the lake at the bottom of my back garden and listening to the sea pounding in the distance. We also have an amazing selection of birdlife here and that was another thrill for my visitors.

Only about half an hour away, it's a completely different universe. Lush, rugged mountains with areas of remnant rainforest mixed in with beautiful green valleys and breathtaking views east across the coast or west across yet more mountains.

The first two photographs are of the Glasshouse Mountains, named by Captain Cook when he sailed past this coast in 1770. They're so primeval, I find them a bit creepy. But they're certainly spectacular.

The first photo of Mount Coonowrin (Crook Neck - you can read the Aboriginal legend behind these names here) was taken from a really cool cafe on the winding road up to a wonderful lookout where you can see all the mountains spread out before you like a magnificent canvas. The second photo is of Mount Beerwah and was taken on the road away from the lookout.

The Lookout Cafe has wonderful home-made desserts and great coffee and a view to die for across a field of mango trees to this volcanic plug like something from Jurassic Park. Perhaps even cooler, it had KANGAROOS! Yup, if you look carefully in the centre of this photo just above, you'll see some wallabies popping out to check on the visitors from far away!

And while we were there watching the wallabies, this cheeky butcher bird swung by to inspect us at even closer quarters. Butcher birds have the most beautiful song and are afraid of no man! I've had one sitting on my rubbish bin when I've been cutting back the garden a couple of feet away. He quite calmly watched me throw the cuttings into the bin without ruffling a feather!

Another wonderful place we visited was Mary Cairncross Park. This magnificent remnant of the original rainforest was donated to the public by two visionary sisters and named in honor of their mother, who was an early conservationist and suffragette when neither cause was fashionable in Australia.

This is a photo of the lush palm grove on the rainforest walk. It's a wonderful, hauntingly beautiful place to visit, full of breathtakingly tall trees and home to wildlife like small kangaroos called pademelons and many species of birds and reptiles.

For someone from England, this kind of subtropical rainforest is completely exotic and my friends were awed by the wonderful greenery and the sense of timelessness. Not only that, but you get a wonderful view of our old friends the Glasshouse Mountains from the entrance to the park!

So do you ever play tourist in your own home area and what do you show visitors when you do? If I was coming to see you, what would you take me to see to showcase the best of where you live?

When life gives you camels, get on! :: Michelle Styles

Last month, my family and I went to the Sinai Peninsula for a holiday. We had planned on going on several excursions, but not on camels. My husband dislikes heights and ever since the horse experience when we were on honeymoon nearly 22 years ago, I have never dared really suggesting that he does such a thing. So I want along with his suggestion that we book two snorkeling expeditions -- one to the Egyptian National Park at Ras Mohammad and the other to Tiran Island. The interest was more in seeing the birds than the fish as both my husband and youngest are keen birdwatchers. The proposed excursion to Ras Mohammad was no problem but the one to Tiran Island proved impossible. The tour company offered an alternative -- ride with camels in the desert, visit a Bedouin camp and see the stars.

So with very few expectations, we set off into the desert. The excursion turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Riding camels is very different to riding a horse. You get on the camel when when it is kneeling on the ground, and hang onto the pommel as it lurches upwards. You then have the option of riding astride or hooking one leg around the pommel. I personally found the hooking far more comfortable as my camel had a rather broad back. Camels also move differently to horses. They move two legs in tandem,when they are walking rather than each leg separately.


Once at the Bedouin camp, despite my fears that the experience might be hokey or even Disneyfied, the whole thing was thoroughly interesting. From drinking sweet Bedouin tea (tastes like sage but made from desert herbs) to smoking or rather choking on a shisha or water pipe to watching the sunset over the mountains and finally seeing the full moon rise, the experience will long live in my memory.

We even had an encounter with the Sheikh as my husband had brought his binos and various Bedouins wanted to take a look through them. In order to do that, they had to first have the permission of the Sheikh. At this point, I did think it a shame in a way that I am a historical author, rather than a Presents one!

So has anyone else been pleasantly surprised by an unexpected adventure lately?

Contest:

On 7 May, my latest book Compromising Miss Milton releases in the UK, I am offering a signed copy to the first name out of the hat on 21 April to answer this question:

What are the names of the hero and heroine of Compromising Miss Milton?

Send your answer to michelle@michellestyles.co.uk.

The back cover blurb reads: Marrying the Governess!
Buttoned-up governess Daisy Milton buries dreams of marriage and family life in order to support her sister and orphaned niece. But maddeningly attractive Adam, Viscount Ravensworth, is one distraction that shakes Daisy’s safe, stable existence.
Now ghosts from Adam’s past in India threaten Daisy’s future. Just what will it take to convince a tightly-laced miss to forgo society’s strict code of conduct…and come undone in the arms of a reformed rake?

And you can read an excerpt here.

UPDATE: Kirsten Steins was the first name out of the hat. I have sent her an email comfirming. Many thanks to everyone who entered.

A Stitch in Time (Travel)

by Anna Campbell

Do you like time travel romance?

I do. But it's a genre that has been through its ups and downs in recent years, sadly, more downs than ups.

I'm currently reading an advance copy of a really good one (which has elements of another in-and-out-of-fashion genre, the pirate romance), SAPPHIRE DREAM by Pamela Montgomerie who also writes fantastic paranormal romance as Pamela Palmer. SAPPHIRE DREAM comes out in July - keep an eye out for it.

One of the things I love about time travel romance is that they're part of another subgenre that has always appealed to me, the fish out of water romance. The time traveler is by necessity outside their comfort zone and they have to show all their courage and ingenuity and spirit to survive. They also have to open their hearts to their new world and that usually means opening their heart to a new love. There's inbuilt conflict - will they stay in their new world forever or will they return to their old one? And if they do, what happens to their love?

Oh, and there's also the fact that usually time travel romance involves a good dollop of great comedy as the time traveler learns to cope with the customs of the time they've landed in.

I've got a number of favorite time travel romances. There are the books in Karen Marie Moning's wonderful Highlander series. Who could forget Dageus, the Dark Highlander?

Another favorite is Jude Deveraux's A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR. It's actually double the fun as at first the hero comes forward into our age and falls for the glories of 20th century technology and then the heroine heads back into the 16th century. So we get two fish out of two waters - hmm, need to work on that sentence. This book is a great example of both the emotional conflict and the comedy that the time travel romance invites. You'll laugh and you'll cry in this great story.

I think my all-time favorite time travel romance is Linda Howard's fantastic SON OF THE MORNING which out Da Vincis THE DA VINCI CODE. Actually there's not a lot of comedy in this one - just nail-biting suspense and sizzling passion. This book breaks so many 'rules' of romance. For example, the hero and heroine don't meet in the flesh until well into the story although they have a number of searing dream encounters that will make you sit up and pay attention. The heroine translates a Templar manuscript that reveals the existence of the Holy Grail. The hero is a Templar living in the 14th century who is sworn to protect the Holy Grail at all costs. When he meets her, he decides he has to kill her for the sake of the greater good. Talk about high stakes romance!

Oh, and make sure you check out the latest contest on my website. No time travel romances but some great historical romance up for grabs in my I Heart Historical Romance contest. The prize includes signed copies of UNMASKED by Nicola Cornick, THE TROUBLE WITH MOONLIGHT by Donna MacMeans, A NOTORIOUS WOMAN by Amanda McCabe and TEMPT THE DEVIL, my latest release.

So do you like time travel romance? Do you have a favorite? Are there any other genres you like that aren't always in fashion?