I live with my wonderful family on four and a half acres in Yankalilla, a coastal town in rural South Australia. Over the years we've designed and built our passive solar house, incorporating our passion for alternative technologies. We're also interested in education, permaculture, technologies, gardening and computers.

Take a peek at our home page, Bungala Ridge Permaculture Gardens, to see how we fill our days in this wonderful and picturesque part of Australia.

My family arrived in Australia from Portsmouth, England in 1963, four and a half years after my birth. My lack of memory of my ancestral home has caused me some consternation and grief; like many migrants I feel I have lost my roots. I am endeavouring to carve new roots to nurture my descendants (I am forever hopeful of some arriving one day!)

I began writing seriously about eight years ago, editing and producing home education newsletters and writing articles for homeschooling and alternative lifestyle magazines. I love writing - it is my life and I'm at the keyboard writing something - anything - each and every day! It doesn't really matter what I write, I have this obsession to ferret words away somewhere!

I write to help people find a sense of personal empowerment through re-discovering their innate ability to learn, and because I love to put words together to create feelings move me, word-pictures that excite me and shakes my senses. If my words do this for me then I hope others, too, can enjoy them. My writing is an expression of who and where I am: personal landscapes, images of emotion condensed, scratches of colour, of feeling, of intensity and form barely glimpsed. I am encouraged by my friends at the South Australian Writers' Centre and my growing band of wonderfully supportive readers.

The inspiration for my first novel, The Chimaera Conspiracy, published by Greater Glider, came from helping my children write short stories for a competition based on Aquazone LEGO. I decided to write one too, and the story grew and grew until I realised I had achieved my childhood goal of writing a science fiction novel for young people!

My confidence for writing came from my experience as a pioneering member of the home education movement of Australia. We began homeschooling in 1986. In 1989 I began the South Australian Home Based Learners network and newsletter, and  in 1995 started the Fleurieu Home Based Learners Network. I enjoyed several stints editing both newsletters, as well as writing articles for Australian and overseas magazines, such as Stepping Stones for Home Educators and Life Learning. My first self-published book, Getting Started with Homeschooling, was followed by Learning in the Absence of Education. My subsequent self-published titles, Practical Homeschooling Booklet series, Home Education Reports, and Diaries,grew out of the demand for Australian information and practical support for home educating families. Just recently I began the Learning Without Schooling website linking South Australian homeschoolers with each other. My monthly e-newsletter, Homeschool Australia, first published in November 2003, is also popular and has subscribers from across Australia as well as overseas. I devote much of my time to writing and expanding my collection of home education books.

My experience educational experiences include working with toddlers to adolescents in both school and home learning situations. I studied Early Childhood Education at the University of South Australia and Professional Writing at the Adelaide campus of TAFE. I believe education needs to be flexible and dynamic and to always reflect the needs and interests of the learner in a social context. I'm a firm supporter of the right of parents to determine their own family's educational needs.

I'm in my late forties, have three wonderfully supportive children in the early adult stage of life, and an ace of a partner. Life simply couldn't be any better...

You can find my site on Australia resources - Australia related news, books and regional resources.

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