Happy Australia Day! To celebrate our wonderful country a group of writers and bloggers are participating in the Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop.
Thanks to Shelleyrae from Book’d Out and the crew at Confessions from Romaholics who’ve put the hop together. Drop by either of those sites for links to other participants. There are more books to be won than you can poke a stick at!
I’ll be celebrating on the 26th January the way I know best – I’ll be literally flying an Aussie Flag on the tail of a Dash 8 to Port Moresby and back. Gotta love my job 🙂
But what about the locals? How will they spend the day?
Here in North Queensland the rain’s been pouring down by the metre for the last few days. The beef cattlemen will be
waiting with trepidation to see whether the rain will be a welcome drink or a ruinous downpour. A month or two ago they were watching their properties burn as thunderstorms tossed lightening bolts into tinder dry pastures. Now they’ll be hoping the rain doesn’t wash the topsoil off the fresh growth in the paddocks.
You can bet that the dairy farmers on the Atherton Tablelands will be up at the crack of dawn because those pesky cows will still turn up at the milking shed to be relieved of their load of creamy milk.
No doubt the banana farmers will be trying to prevent crop losses in the Tully region as the rain batters their plants. Maybe they’ll knock off early for a beer or two but there will still be fruit to pick and boxes to pack.
The lads on the prawn farms will still need to check the ponds – their precious seafood just might make a break for freedom with all that rising water. Or the crocs will be swimming in for a free feed!
I’m betting the crop farmers outside of Mareeba will still be working to fill orders for mangoes, lychees, and avocados. We breed ‘em tough in the country and Australia Day is most likely another day at work for many rural folk. Sure they’ll celebrate, but many will take time out of a work day to do that rather than starting off with a sleep in and a leisurely breakfast.
So how are you planning on spending the day? A bbq? A weekend long party? Or is it just another day at work?
Giveaway details
In honour of our farmers I have three wonderful rural lit stories to give away. These ladies are writers who all live in rural areas and bring true authenticity to their stories.
To go into the running to win one of the books firstly you need to have an Australian postal address (unfortunately Australia Post knows how to charge for overseas postage…) Then email me with the name of the book you’d like to win. Send your entries via the contact form at the top of the page.
If you head over and ‘like’ my author page on Face Book you’ll get double the chances to win one of these great books. Of course, if you’ve already ‘liked’ my page then let me know and I’ll triple your chance!
Entries close Monday 28th Jan at midnight. I’ll post the winners on Tuesday 29th January on a new blog.
For more chances to win great Aussie stories check out the list of blogs over at Confessions from Romaholics or Book’d Out. So many fabulous books are up for grabs.
For more information about these three books visit the author’s websites:
Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. I’m busy flying today but I will draw the winners tonight and announce their names in a new blog post.
Happy reading and I hope you’re dry and safe wherever you are in this wonderful land.
Semi-homeless, Cathryn? I hope you find a corner to claim again very soon! We’ve survived the rain but watching the images from SE QLD is heart breaking…
Thanks for this, Helene! Sorry I missed all the fun and games. Still semi-homeless here and finding it very hard to keep up with everything.
Hope all is well in the tropics and you’ve survived the rain.
Sam, you’re in the running for Fiona’s wonderful story. The weather’s calmed down in NQ now although it’s pretty darned hot, but the south east of the state is being deluged…
Feast or famine in Australia…
Hi Joe, thanks for dropping by! I think you’re right that the Australian countryside has a romance all of its own! Good luck in the comp 🙂
I’ve only just got ‘into’ Aussie rural romance, so I’d love to win the Fiona Palmer. I hope you’re okay with all the rain – been looking at the ABC website and it’s pretty scary!
Thanks for the giveaway 🙂
Nothing like an Aussie romance. And like many of or great writers have pointed out, the great Aussie countryside brings the romance of the bush as well. Thanks for the chance to win a copy of your book, Helene, regards Joe Jeney
Hi Teddyree, I’d love to explore New Guinea but sadly we do a one hour turn around and head back to Cairns. My dad spent a lot of time around Lae in the 1970s and he thought it was wonderful.
Sorry to hear you were washed out on your camping trip – I guess that pretty much runs true to form for Australia Day though. It seems to rain more often than not!
And great to see you’re part of the Aussie Blog Hop. Anna Campbell is one of my all time favourite Australia authors and whoever wins her book will be in for a treat!
Thanks, Marcia, it blew a gale all night and from the north so for a change we turned the aircon on. Will be an entertaining day in the office today 🙂
Happy Australia Day Helene, we lived in New Guinea/Panguna for a number of years, many years ago, my father worked in the mines. Safe travels and enjoy your trip.
We were camping for the long weekend but only stayed a night, thought we were going to be washed away with the deluge 🙂
Great giveaway Helene. I hope that humidity eases of for you soon 🙂
I will enjoy my day, Jess, no matter what the weather throws at us 🙂
Fee, Cathryn and Rach are three of my favourite rural authors and it just seemed appropriate to me for an Australia Day giveaway.
And yes, Zeus and I were battling it out stand in front of the fridge…
Jeanette, I’ll be seeing more of it than I thought. Apparently I’m flying to Horn Island and back, then to Weipa and back to Cairns. I’ll be criss crossing the Cape all day! Sunday I take the flag north to Port Moresby 🙂
Enjoy your weekend.
Thanks, Fiona.
I had an extra copy of your book as I bought one for a friend and then discovered she already had it so I thought this was a worthy cause!
Thanks for dropping by, Alissa. Enjoy your weekend too!
Happy flying tomorrow, I hope the weather’s not too crazy for you then. You’ve got some great books in your giveaway; I’ve heard such great things about all three of them.
Poor Zeus, but at that temp with that humidity I don’t blame him, I’d be trying to climb into the fridge myself.
I would love to see Australia day from the air!!!!Enjoy the view. I’m with Jenn no need to enter me in draw, all good books.
Great Aussie Day idea Helene. Will pass it on. 🙂
Hi Helene,
Happy Australia Day flying:) Am already a page fan:) All the very best with moving aboard your yacht.
Happy flying. No need to enter me. I am happy to let a reader win the books – all very good authors. Wow!
Paul, thanks for dropping by. I’ll enter you in the draw and keep our fingers crossed for you. I love Tolkien myself, although not a huge fan of King…
Fantastic to hear you run a bookstore. I hope you have many happy customers who still enjoy the printed word. Sadly, as we’re moving about a yacht soon, I only buy hard copy books as presents as there simply won’t be room for all those stories when we’re afloat.
Brenda, predictably the rain has gone and we now have a steamy 36 degrees with humidity in the high 90 percent! Zeus keeps trying to climb into the fridge any time the door opens…
Thanks, Tracey, I need to check out the other blogs myself. I think it will be my reward tonight with a glass of good Australian white wine in my hand 🙂
Thanks, Cath. You can always give it away to a soon to be rural romance fan!!
Hi Helene,
I just wanted to pop in and congratulate you on this giveaway. I think any of these books will make a great present for someone.
While I don’t necessarily read romance stories (I worship at the altar of King and Tolkien), I run a bookstore and know that many of my customers would love a book like these, so, if I were to win, I would hold a giveaway of my own to introduce my customers to a new author.
Thanks for the wonderful giveaway Helene! Hope you have a wonderful Aussie Day, and you’re not getting too much rain up there…it certainly sounds ominous! Take care 🙂
Wonderful giveaway! I’m off to spread the word 🙂
Tracey (Carpe Librum blog)
Hi Helene,
Happy flying Australia Day to you!
What a lovely post. I just had to drop by and leave a comment because it was so good 🙂
Please don’t put me in the draw as I have those books.
Cath xo
Thanks for dropping by, Jenny.
Really enjoyed your new release ‘Mistaken Engagement’ – a perfect story for a long weekend!
Helene
I so enjoyed your post. Hope you have a wonderful Australia Day!
(pls don’t pop me in the draw. I’ve already read and loved these books)
And Happy Aussie Day to you too, Rachael.
Congratulations for making number 10 on the Booktopia Favourite Author list!!! Wonderful news 🙂
Enjoy your Aussie Day Helene!! Although I’m not entering the contest I wanted to say HI. Great giveaway. Will spread the word. xo