My wonderful publisher has arranged with Romance Writers of Australia to give away not one, not two, but five copies of As Darkness Falls through the RWAustralia website.

So, if you’d like to be in with a chance to win, head on over to their giveaway page. The giveaway contest is open to everyone, not just RWAustralia members, and all you’ll need to do to enter is send an email to the address given on the web page. (RWAustralia has a strict no spam policy, so your email address won’t be used for any purpose other than the contest.)

I’m not quite sure when the contest closes – they’re usually monthly, but since the website has unfortunately been offline recently, I hope this one will be extended. I’ll try to find out and will post more details here when I do. But entering quickly is probably best!

ETA: The contest has been extended until the end of November, due to the website problems in October.

Sydney is such a contrast to where I live. It’s huge and noisy and crowded, with people, buildings, and vehicles everywhere. I enjoy visiting for a few days – getting a small dose of the bustle and vibrancy of the city – but I’m so glad that I don’t live there anymore!

I stayed in a serviced apartment, not far from the centre of town. This was the view from my apartment:

On the left of the reflection is the brand-new building I was in. On the right, the Griffiths Teas building – an old warehouse, originally built in 1915, and vacant now. I wonder when it will be redeveloped, and transformed to offices or apartments – or demolished.

Looking towards my left from the same spot – the massive amount of development that Sydney has seen in recent decades is evident in the sky crowded with tall buildings. But in the bottom left corner of the image are now-dwarfed buildings that have stood for 100 years or more – the pub on the corner, the Lutheran Church next to it, and the Goldsmith’s Guild building, the sign above the door proudly proclaiming ‘1788 – 1888′ – ie, commemorating the centenary of European settlement in Australia.

You might just be able to see, caught in the sunshine near the middle of the picture, one of the white and yellow turrets of the old Mark Foys building. It was a lovely old department store, opened in 1909, back in the glory-days of department stores. It has great tile-work all along the sides, and I do want to get a photo where it says ‘corsets…. costumes… haberdashery’, but unfortunately the lighting was wrong each time I walked past on this trip. Next time, maybe! The building is now used for NSW District courts – which is important, but it’s more fun to imagine elegantly-dressed ladies shopping for the latest in ‘costumes’…

I had a pleasant couple of days; a little shopping on Saturday afternoon; on Sunday an informal gathering of some people going to the Australian Romance Readers Convention next February; and on Monday lunch with a friend, and then meeting with my publisher before heading home on the evening flight.

I’m about to leave for Sydney for the weekend, but since I’m all packed and ready to go and have 10 minutes to spare, here’s a few wildflower photos from my recent Pilliga trip. We’ve had some reasonable spring rains this year, so the wildflowers were out in force. I’m not sure what most of them are – will have to ask more knowledgable friends when I return.

Off to catch a plane – back in a few days!

Baradine is on the western edge of the Pilliga forest area, about 50km north of Coonabarabran. The town has a population of about 800. To the east is the Pilliga forest; to the west the plains, where cattle and sheep are grazed, and wheat grown. Baradine once had a much larger population – around 1500 – and had 12 timber mills in operation; these days it serves as a gateway to the Pilliga, and attracts bird watchers and other nature lovers.

The Baradine Memorial Hall is the most impressive building in town, and sits at the east end of the main street. The motto above the entry reads “Fidelis ad urnam” which I think means ‘faithful to the tomb’ – but I’m happy to be corrected on that!

While the economics of running a business in a small town are challenging, evidenced by a number of empty shops, in a positive development since I was last in Baradine a few years ago, a new cafe/gallery has opened. I’m happy to report that the English Breakfast tea, served in a proper teapot with a china cup, was delicious, as was the raisin toast I had. So delicious that I was very tempted, on my last day, to drive the 50km back to Baradine for some more!

It’s been a mad week, but I promise that later today I WILL put up more photos from my Pilliga trip!

In the meantime, here’s this morning’s views around our place for your visual pleasure:

My DH had to go into work very early this morning, so I was on dog-walking and feeding duty. It was a cool night, with moisture in the air this morning and a light mist, so the sunshine rising and lighting through the mist was quite beautiful.

Right, now I have to get a dog with a sore leg into the car (it’s the one who doesn’t like going in the car) and go into town to see the vet. I’ll be back later!