About Me.

Me riding a young Nimbus.

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Nimbus and me - both of us a little older.

Me with a copy of Growing Up in Country Australia
and a photo of Nimbus.

Although my parents were Australian, I grew up in New Zealand, which is where I fell head over heels in love with Nimbus, the little white horse at the riding school where I learnt to ride. Nimbus was headshy, hard to catch, and hard to bridle. I absolutely loved him.

When my parents decided they would buy me a horse of my own I declared that the only horse I wanted was Nimbus and, since he wasn’t for sale, I’d just keep riding him at the riding school. My parents secretly arranged to buy Nimbus (it turns out the owner of the riding school was quite happy to sell him!) and I got the wonderful surprise of my own horse on Christmas morning.

Eighteen months later however, Mum and Dad decided it was time to move back to Australia and announced I would have to sell Nimbus. I cried. I wrote poems. I advertised Nimbus for sale like my parents said I must but, as soon as prospective buyers discovered he was headshy and hard to catch, no one wanted him. No one except me.

Eventually my parents, with the help of my grandfather, did the maddest, best thing they could ever have done: they paid for Nimbus to go on a cargo ship to Australia. Nimbus’s story is published in the Black Inc’s anthology: Growing Up In Country Australia.

Words have always been my way of trying to make sense of my world, and I’ve loved writing stories since I was little, but it wasn’t until I had a children’s reader published by Blake Education in 2010 that I became serious about studying the craft and striving to constantly improve. As a primary school teacher, I get to share my love of words and writing with my students, as well as getting to read and share many wonderful books! 

In 2015, I was lucky enough to win a place in the Maurice Saxby Mentorship Program, which is where I met the wonderful Helen Chamberlin, Pam Horsey, and Albert Ullin, as well as many other people who are passionate about writing and books. 

From there my secret love of writing has become something I own and celebrate with all my heart. I’m part of two writing groups and love attending conferences like the CYA Conference in Brisbane (and online) and the KidLitVic Conference in Melbourne.