Catch up 2 - Author Tour of Sydney and Gosford

At 3am on the 20th of March I set out for the airport for a whirlwind tour of the Sydney and Bathurst.  Iarrived in Sydney at 7am and plugged in at Sotto on West in North Sydney to write and drink coffee.  It is amazing how much work I can get done when someone else is making the coffee!  After a suprisingly productive couple of hours (bearing in mind that I had been up since 4am) my intrepid publisher, Alison Green, swung by to grab me and we set off for Bathurst.

Now we had hoped to lunch at the Hydro Majestic Medlow Bath, where Miles Off Course opens, but to our dismay it was still closed for renovations.    We stood for a moment at the locked gate, looking for signs of life (as opposed to the clearly visible signs that said NO ENTRY) in the hope a kindly builder would allow us to look around and take some photos.... for the sake of my beloved readers of course.... Sadly the place was deserted.

"I don't suppose we should just break in?" I murmured, certain that Alison would not allow me to flout the law in such a way.  She is, after all, a responsible member of the publishing industry.  I'm a lawyer-cum-crime-writer - nobody expects me to have good judgement.

"We could probably scale the fence over there," she replied.

And so we trespassed... and explored and filmed and were transported back to the glorious 30s.... until the police arrived....

Miles Off Course: The scene of the crime from Pantera Press on Vimeo.

 

Now we did have a back up plan in case we were arrested, but that proved unneccessary.  As Dominic Knight (ex The Chaser) would later tell me.... it's okay as long as you move on when asked (and of course he'd know!)

That evening I spoke at the Bathurst Library and had dinner with the lovely ladies from BooksPlus who organised the event.  Another 3am start and Ali and I arrived in Woy Woy, to speak to a group of writers and readers gathered by Mandy and Anna of Book Bazaar, Umina Beach. We sped off to Gosford from there, to drop in on the delightful Katie of All Good Book Store. Then on to Sydney to pop in at Dymocks (George Street)  Better Read Than Dead, (Leichardt) and Gleebooks (Glebe) before speaking with Dominic Knight on the ABC that evening.

Friday began with a bit of a sleep in before a literary lunch at the Glen Street Theatre organised by the very charming Scott Whitmont of Lindfield books. 

The afternoon was soon filled with a visit to Cammeray books which is located very near the Simon and Schuster offices.  It was wonderful to tour this little part of Simon and Schuster and meet the people who are so integral to getting my books onto shelves.  That day was finished off with a delightful dinner with John and Alison Green, at which we all partook of several deserts.

My last day on tour began with a signing at Berkelouw's Baglowah, in the fabulous company of Maria Channells, then a flying visit to  Berkelouw's Dee Why before dropping in on Pages and Pages in Mosman where Chasing Odysseus and Trying War have found friends.  Finally we stopped by Shearers where I met and was interviewed by the lovely Pip Newling.

And then, after days of being driven around to meet warm and wonderful people and being fed and watered exhorbitantly, Ali bundled me onto a plane and sent me back to the hills to write.