This week’s post comes to you from Torquay, Hervey Bay. I’m up here for the week staying with my daughter. While I’m day-jobbing as usual, I’m fortunate that I can do it from here.

This part of the world is also my inspiration for the fictional Whale Bay in my new novel – well, here and Mooloolaba … it’s sort of a combo of the two. Speaking of which, the story is flowing out of me and I’m on target to finish the first draft by the end of this month – the first week of October at the latest. More unusually for me I’ve also loosely plotted it which, given I didn’t know “whodunnit” it until the second last chapter in the new Philly Barker (or, for that matter, the first Philly Barker) is promising.

We had our usual Writing Friday (the first and third Friday of the month at Maroochydore Library… message me if you’re on the Sunny Coast and interested in coming along) last week and as always the conversation and the writing were inspiring. Even better, my co-facilitator brought along some eggs from her backyard chooks. The blue eggs are from her Araucana chickens and are almost too pretty to scramble.

It’s been a busy one in the day job (when is it not) as the countdown is on until the office relocation I’ve been project managing. It’s at that point where logistics and what-ifs are keeping me awake in the middle of the night, but it is what it is.

The weekend was a very foodie one. Sarah was down from Hervey Bay for Father’s Day so rather than brave the crowds and the fixed price menus on Sunday we opted for lunch out on Saturday at Mapleton Pub.

The owners also own The Falls Farm which supplies amazing produce to restaurants all the way up to Hervey Bay. It’s one of those operations where nothing is wasted. That philosophy is in the menu at Mapleton Pub.

While there is a special menu that changes daily based on the harvest, we ordered from the classics – mainly because I wanted to try the veg plate and the fermented potato flatbread with Macadamia “waste” paste – essentially made from the vegetable offcuts. Both were amazing, but next time we’ll order the specials – just so we can try more of the veg-centric entrees.

The Pavilion in Mooloolaba was our choice for Father’s Day breakfast. With views of the beach, why wouldn’t we? In the pics below are Sarah’s pancakes (with lemon curd, raspberry coulis, Persian fairy floss and meringue), my eggs benedict on potato rosti and Grant’s scrambled eggs … and the view from our table.

Finally, I had a long overdue catch-up here in the bay with my friend Deborah. Over a drink at Bar Soma and a pizza next door at Bella Italia we chatted about books and writing, travel and work.

Okay, well I’d best go and log into the day job, but my goals this week are:

• add another 11,000 words to the as-yet-untitled Whale Bay mystery
• Write the blurb for It’s In The Stars (I know – it’s been finished and ready to publish for over a year)
• Send It’s In The Stars and Christmas at Mannus Ridge away for formatting
• Send a brief to the cover designer for Christmas at Mannus Ridge

I think I’ll be busy…