Birregurra’s Kazbah Coffee Roasters’ step by step guide to the full roasting process.

1. Green Beans
At the beginning of each batch, raw green coffee is loaded into the roaster. Once the roaster reaches temperature the batch is dropped into a spinning, hot drum to begin the roasting process.

2. Process
Each coffee has a precise final temperature and time of roasting, both developed through a mixture of intuition and experimentation.

3. Mixer
The green beans have turned to brown during the roasting time and are then cooled in the cooling tray ready for packaging.

4. Packaging
The beans are then bagged and delivered fresh to every customer on a weekly basis.

5. Serving
Fresh Kazbah Coffee roasted weekly and delivered to clients’ doors. Nothing’s better than the perfect cup of coffee.

15 December
Glades
Alternative pop group Glades will launch its new EP, featuring the work of multi-instrumentalist members Cameron Robertson and Joseph Wenceslao alongside vocalist Karina Wykes.
The trio’s music features atmospheric synthscapes, guitars and electro-pop beats.
The Workers Club
Geelong

19 January
The Jezabels
Sydney indie rock band The Jezabels has built a strong following since forming in 2007 thanks to the talents of Nik Kaloper, Sam Lockwood, Hayley Mary and Heather Shannon.
Now they’re returning to Geelong to play some of their crowd favourites and newer disco-influenced tracks.
The Wool Exchange
Geelong

20 January
British India
Australian indie rockers British India always puts on a great show, with its upcoming Geelong gig sure to be no exception.
Established in a Melbourne high school playground in 2004, the band has produced a series of hit albums as well as countless explosive live shows.
The Wool Exchange
Geelong

2 February
Human Nature
The harmonies of Human Nature are on the way back as part of the group’s The Ultimate Jukebox Tour.
Backed with a seven-piece band and dancers, the group’s show pays tribute to the legends of pop, Mowtown, soul and classic while also presenting some of Human Nature’s own chart-toppers.
The Arena
North Geelong

3 February
The Amity Affliction
At the spearhead of the Australian hard-core/metal scene, four-piece band The Amity Affliction certainly knows how to rock hard.
All the way from Gympie, where the group was founded in 2003, the band will play some of its alterantive hits as well as songs from latest albums.
Geelong Arena
North Geelong

5 February
Rufus
Rufus will visit Geelong as part of its Full Bloom Regional Tour around regional Australia.
The tour celebrates the one-year anniversary of number-one, gold-accredited album Bloom as the last chance for fans to catch the band before it sets to work on the next album.
Geelong Arena
North Geelong

NOEL MURPHY reviews some page-turners for holiday downtime.

CAREER OF EVIL
By Robert Galbraith

She’s back again, JK Rowling as her fictional author Galbraith, along with his fictional amputee gumshoe hero Cormoran Strike. This time round, Strike’s PA has been sent a box with a woman’s severed leg inside, throwing the pair of them into a tither.
Strike has four fiends in mind, at least one of them way too close to his personal life. As more parts appear, it becomes clear the killer, an especially nasty piece of work, is targetting Strike’s PA, Robin.
The pair’s awkward relationship, they like one another better than their partners, is front and centre throughout but the chase is as slippery and surprising as anything Rowling’s created. Ripper read.

GHOST EMPIRE
By Richard Fidler

And you thought the Roman Empire all came to a close when the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410?
Thing is, the empire had been ruled from both Rome and Constantinople for years – the latter was the actual capital from 330. True, Latin gave way to Greek, but the Roman Empire survived, as the Byzantine Empire, for another millennium after Emperor Romulus’s abdication in 476.
And Constantinople was the richest, most magnificent, city in the world for the entirety of that time. But war, turmoil, intrigues and staggering brutality were bywords for the empire, and the times.
Mighty effort by author Fidler to synthesise this staggering tale into just 453 pages.

HAMILTON HUME
By Robert Macklin

How Hume ever found his way to Geelong with Hovell navigating – he’d already sunk one ship and run another aground – is a testament to the explorer’s bush skills. But as a native-born Australian, the Brit hierarchy was reluctant to credit him ahead of Hovell.
Hume, however, had plenty of friends in high places and Hovell was stunned to find he couldn’t bluster his way out of his lacklustre performance in the great trailblazing 1824-25 overland trip from Sydney to Port Phillip.
Hume’s place in early Australian, long overlooked, is at long last redressed in this rivetting account.

Murderous inmates, executions and daring escapes are all part of the 138-year-old historic tapestry of Geelong Gaol.
LUKE VOOGT and local historian Deb Robinson take a look the prison’s dark past.

Today’s prisons are luxurious compared to Geelong Gaol, says local historian Deb Robinson.
“Even when the gaol closed in 1991 and they went to Barwon Prison, it would have been like going to a five-star resort,” she says.
When the gaol opened in 1853, Geelong was a fraction of its size today and Victoria had declared independence from NSW just two years before.
Local prisoners rotted in four small huts in South Geelong or in hulks on Corio Bay.
NSW Clerk of Works Henry Ginn designed the gaol with 101 cells based on the Pentonville system, to keep prisoners in solitary confinement.
On the rare occasions, guards let them out, they would wear “silence masks”: white hoods with the eyes cut out.
The ghostly masks prevented the inmates from talking and learning who they were locked up with.
“You would lose your identity,” Deb says. “It sent a lot of them quite insane.”
John Gunn and John Roberts were the first Geelong prisoners executed at Gallows Flats, about 200 metres from the gaol, as 2000 people watched in 1854.
Gunn was convicted of stabbing a man in Warrnambool, while Roberts poured arsenic into a fellow servant’s cup.
“Laws at the time required executions to be public, as a deterrent,” Deb says.
When the laws changed, James Ross was the first to be executed behind the walls for the murder of Elizabeth Sayer, on 22 April 1856.
“Although, up to 70 witnesses were allowed in to ensure justice was done,” Deb says.
Authorities would execute four more men, ending with the execution of Thomas Menard or “Yankee Tom” in 1865. His remains still lie buried at the gaol.
Three wings of the gaol became a school in the 1860s, where “Matron Inch” taught 183 “street” girls, aged three to 16, sowing, cooking and cleaning.
Deb, a mother herself, says the idea of children going to school in a prison gives her the chills.
“In the newspaper of the day, there was a lot of outrage from the community.”
The school closed in 1873 after a Royal Commission in 1872 and amalgamated with a nearby industrial school.
Geelong Gaol became a hospital prison in 1877, housing some of the state’s craziest and craftiest old criminals.
In 1889 elderly inmates Christopher Farrell and Josh Clark escaped using a skeleton key and were on the run for two weeks before police caught them in Ballarat.
Henry Cutmore, the “Fire King”, was imprisoned for 12 months in May 1901 for begging and disorderly conduct.
“If you used to piss him off he would set fire to your haystack,” Deb says.
In November 1901, he jumped 6.7m from the top level and bounced off a crossbeam – leaving a dent which remains today. He died shortly after.
Local newspapers called the gaol the “Prison of the Ill”, while inmates dubbed it the “Seaside Resort”.
“Any prisoners in the state who were old, sick, debilitated or about to die – they would be sent to Geelong,” Deb says.
“We had a higher death rate than any prison in Victoria: one in 20 prisoners would die in the gaol.”
In the 1920s, the gaol was home to some of Squizzy Taylor’s most violent “Bourke Street Rats”.
Bank robber Angus Murray escaped the gaol in 1923, possibly with the help of the Rats, but would later hang in Melbourne Gaol.
Geelong “Street Rat” Percy Ramage tried to throw a warden off the third level of the gaol.
The short-tempered Ramage was in for larceny and assault, and served time in prisons and lunatic asylums across the state due to his violent outbursts.
When the gaol closed in 1991, it was Victoria’s oldest continuously running prison, and it remains an important chapter in the state’s history, Deb says.
“It’s great reminder of how brutal the early system was.”

Leopold’s Vicky King has given so much to local basketball. Now, as JARROD POTTER discovers, the sport’s giving back in Vicky’s time of greatest need.

Leopold’s Vicky King has overcome many challenges in basketball, from playing against the state’s best for Geelong sides to managing her sport’s Bellarine Peninsula association.
But nothing prepared Vicky or her family for the challenge of her new daughter’s diagnosis with a rare life-threatening condition.
Now eight months old, Kensi was diagnosed in April with congenital hyperinsulinism (HI), which Vicky describes as “the opposite of diabetes”.
The illness makes the body create excessive levels of insulin, producing dangerous hypoglycaemic episodes.
It has forced the family to monitor Kensi constantly day and night with blood glucose checks every few hours to ensure she’s in, as Vicky calls it, the “safe zone”.
“We have to prick her finger every four hours on a good day, or every few hours on a bad day to monitor her insulin levels,” Vicky says.
“We can really be caught off guard with hyperglacaemic episodes.
“We just ensure that we’re avoiding the risk or the long-term potential for brain damage or developmental issues.
“Everyone’s brain needs glucose to work properly – and it’s definitely the case when you’re 11 months old and developing – so we can’t afford for her to be hyperglacaemic multiple times a day or week.
“It’s all about protecting her brain development and long-term health.”
The family’s greatest hope for monitoring Kensi’s condition is to obtain a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), so at a moment’s notice the family can check on her condition and also alert them when she reaches any dangerous levels.
Within weeks of putting up a crowd-funding page, Vicky was amazed at the wave of support from the community to raise funds for the machine.
The family is now on track to raise $12,000 to purchase the CGM. They plan to donate the rest to Congenital Hyperinsulinism Australasia foundation to improve the living standards of those who have the disease and hopefully to find a cure.
“That ($9465) is just what has come through the GoFundMe campaign and probably had another $3500 come directly to us,” Vicky says.
“Overwhelming doesn’t even describe it – it’s very humbling to think that there are that many people out there that want to help us.
“It’s mind-blowing how generous the community can be; there are a lot of horrible things out there, but with human nature it seems like people just want to help.
“It’s really comforting to know I’m surrounded by people out there that care this much.”
Some of the strongest support has come from Vicky’s long-time Lady Cats teammates, the young families she helps with her off-court work for the Bellarine basketball association and from numerous life-long friends made through sport.
“Basketball certainly wasn’t something I did as a kid, but something that became a very large part of my life in the last 10 to 15 years,” she says.
“I wouldn’t take anything away from my involvement in netball prior to basketball. It has definitely led me to some lifelong friendships, not to say netball didn’t, but most of my close friends are from those basketball relationships.
“Sometimes, I like to think I’ve given as much to the sport as it’s given to me.
“I consider myself really lucky to have played BIG V for nearly 10 years. Some of those years were a number factor, being the number 10 or 12, while other years I played a bit more of a role.
“I’m fortunate to have played in two championships and played with some impressive players and, more importantly, been around some impressive people.
“Scrolling through the list of people who have donated, there are some decent basketball names among those.”
The Bellarine association has granted Vicky as much time as she needs away from her manager role to care for Kensi.
After eight and a half years’ service to the Bellarine Storm basketball community, the association supported her the way she’s always supported everyone else.
“We’ve received $1500 from the association, and they’ve been incredibly understanding of where I’ve been at, as to not being there, and some aspects of my job have fallen by the wayside in the last month.”
Vicky wants to raise awareness of HI to make dealing with it easier for the next family afflicted by the disease.
She wants the community to understand her daughter’s plight and how it affects the family on a daily basis.
“We’re not trying to push a sob story; it’s about raising awareness,” Vicky says.
“When you talk about blood sugar, everyone thinks it’s diabetes, and I wouldn’t take anything away from a type 1 diabetes patient, but our daughter very much has a life-threatening condition that if we don’t control it’s something you don’t want to think about.
“This is a condition the doctors don’t know much about, and it’s even more difficult going to Centrelink and other organisations for help as it’s not on the list of recognised conditions.
“If I don’t manage my daughter’s condition, she won’t survive, it’s as simple as that, so we want to raise awareness about HI.”
Anyone wanting to help Vicky and her family with a donation can visit gofundme.com/kenisking.

Parkwood Motel and Apartments recently upgraded a seating area outside its rooms.
Guests can now enjoy new paving and decking in the area, overlooking a central outdoor swimming pool.
The convenient location of Parkwood Motel and Apartments at 8 Lily Street, North Geelong, is just 3km from the central city area and close to Geelong’s waterfront and Deakin University campus.
With Geelong a sports hub, Parkwood is also close to golf courses, tennis and indoor cricket centres and go-carts as well as Mill Markets.
Eco-friendly using solar power, Parkwood Motel and Apartments offers affordable, clean and comfortable accommodation. Customers enjoy fully self-contained apartments with items including toasters, kettles, fridges, TVs, electric blankets and more.
A fully self-contained house is also available for reservations. It caters for up to 10 guests, so group bookings are welcome.
Parkwood motel offers a 24/7 friendly customer service, free wi-fi and Foxtel in the rooms plus free guest-laundry use.
Easy parking is available free outside each unit. Ample space is also available for large vehicles, trailers and vans.
Parkwood Motel and Apartments achieved a AAA rating in the 2016 Gold List of Australian Accommodation and a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence this year as well.
Accommodation costs start at budget price, with great pricing for families, couples, groups and clubs.

Beauty, brains and big hearts – ELISSA FRIDAY meets three local girls who shone bright in this year’s Miss World Australia competition.

East Geelong model Siobhan Liston loves getting back to “reality” on the family farm.
The Miss World Australia national finalist enjoys cooking a roast dinner with lamb from the farm – but admits mum does it better.
Siobhan, 23, has lived in Geelong for five years after growing up with her parents and three younger sisters on the family property, between Albury and Wagga Wagga in southern New South Wales.
“I’m glad about my decision moving to Geelong. I like that it also has a country feel to it” she says.
Studying arts/law, majoring in journalism and history at Deakin University, Siobhan hopes to graduate later this year.
Siobhan’s love of travel makes her passport a favourite possession.
“Visiting countries is the key to learning”, she says.
In her early teens Siobhan and her family visited Turkey, a memorable holiday she describes as “eye-opening”.
In Istanbul she bought an ornamental, hand-sized, glass evil eye to symbolically ward off evil, she explains.
The eye now hangs over her front door.
Siobhan began modelling part-time with a Melbourne agent around a year ago.
“The pageant was not really something that had ever really crossed my mind before,” she says.
By chance Siobhan was in Melbourne at the time of the Miss World Australia castings.
“So I went, with little knowledge of pageants,” she says.
The “overall friendliness” of the other girls attending helped ease her nerves, she says.
One of three Geelong girls in the Victorian finals in Melbourne, Siobhan was the only one who progressed through to the nationals.
“I was shocked and surprised to hear my name announced,” she says.
The state and national finals presented contestants with various challenges, including an “absolutely exhausting” fitness component that Siobhan now regards as “challenging and fun”.
She also raised money for children’s charity Variety, which left her pleased that the pageant embraced “beauty with a purpose” through fund-raising activities.
“It’s nice and gives the whole competition depth,” she says.
Siobhan recycled her Year 12 graduation dress for the state finals, donating the money she saved to Variety.
The pageant was a “once in a lifetime opportunity”, she says, although she felt the pressure of upholding the pageant image and wearing high heels all the time.
But she will be “looking to do other things” after completing her degree.
In the meantime, she’s spending most of her time in the “library or gym”, so snickers and casual wear are more her style, she giggles.

Fellow Miss World Australia competitor Kim Fyfe also studies at Deakin, but for a double degree in nursing and psychology.
The 21-year-old from South Geelong admires people who “help others”.
Kim’s a volunteer for charity Share Me a Dream, raising money for children’s cleft-palette surgery.
She wants a career in “helping people”.
A couple of previous pageants and some modelling helped prepare Kim for her Miss World Australia experience.
She was second runner-up when representing Australia in a 2014 Muty Ng Pilipinas pageant, in the Philippines. Kim was also involved in a Top Model of the World pageant last year, which included an opportunity to spend two weeks in Egypt.
“It was a great experience,” she says, participating in photo-shoots, dinners, and visiting sponsors.
Now wants visit Europe in the near future, France in particular.
Kim was “really surprised getting chosen” for the Miss World Australia state finals, so she had a little celebration at home with family and friends.
She particularly enjoyed the Miss World challenge of presenting herself as a confident young woman.
“You tend not to really show those aspects of yourself in the same way in everyday life as you would do in a pageant,” she explains.
The onstage questions and answers were the most nerve-racking experience, she says.
“We didn’t know what questions were going to be asked.”
Kim also raise money for Variety.
Proud of her mother’s Filipiono heritage, Kim borrowed her gown from a Filipina fashion designer.
The “beautiful, sky blue colour” dress featured a hand-painted floral design, she explains.
Wearing it was Kim’s way of representing her community “through the gown they had designed”.

Spending a couple of days a week with her horse, Starsky, is quality time for busy Year 12 student and budding model Brittany Fowler.
“Starsky is an 11-year-old gelding and I also have two dogs and chickens,” Brittany enthuses.
Juggling her Miss World Australia experience with the final year of high school left the 17-year-old with little spare time so far this year.
But she’s looking forward to a gap year, including four months travelling in Europe.
“After that I’d like to do a chef apprenticeship. I’ve always wanted to be in the food industry,” Brittany says.
The foodie inspiration comes from her grandmother, who Brittany credits as a “great influence” with her baking and dessert.
“Family and friends are treasured in my life,” she says.
Brittany has always enjoyed “doing things” for the community and wants to spread her goodwill to one day volunteering in Africa.
But Miss World Australia was her first modelling experience, other than wearing an edible food crown made of chillies, brussels sprouts and flowers for a food festival, she says.
Initially scouted at Emirates Stakes Day races, Brittany was “so surprised” and “excited” to reach the state finals of Miss World Australia.
She was thrilled to meet other like-minded contestants who thrived on fund-raising for charity.
As one of the youngest contestants, Brittany considered the other girls “role models”, she says.
She was particularly thankful for their support during her most challenging stage of the pageant, being called up on stage to answer a question on the spot.
Now when people approach her about Miss World Australia, Brittany says she would enter again.
“It’s not just about outer beauty,” she explains.
“Girls who do the pageant are humanitarian. It had a nice vibe about it.”

With a background in nursing and a love of literature, author Nicki Edwards has vast inspiration for her unique series on romance between medical professionals in the bush. Now she tells her own story to ELISSA FRIDAY.

Pictures: Louisa Jones

Had you always wanted to become an author?

Good question. I think, like most people growing up, you have a list of things you want to do. It went from wanting to be a policewoman to wanting to be a journalist to ‘I want to do nursing’.
At school I enjoyed writing but never thought about a career in it, other than perhaps journalism that I toyed with a little bit.
I woke up one day and thought, ’I’d like to write a book’ and thought, ’What’s stopping me?’
I don’t have a bucket list of things I’m ticking off, I just thought I’d like to write a book and that’s how it came about.
I had no idea where to start. I read a lot and had loved reading Australian rural romances, so I thought maybe I’d try writing one.

When did you first start writing?

In January 2014 and my first book was published in January 2015. Jokingly I said, ’I’m going to write a book and have it published in 12 months’. It was a 12 month turn-around from first writing it to being published.
As soon as I finished the first one I started working on the next, so by the time they’d published my first book I was already straight onto the second one. The first few came out quickly, one after the other.

How did you come up with your first book idea?

My first idea became the book that was published. I knew I wanted to write something that included medical themes – I’m a nurse. Somebody once said to me, ’Write what you know and write what you love’, so I thought to myself, ’I know nursing, I’m a nurse, I like romance, and I love happily-ever-after endings and the sweet story of boy-meets-girl-lives-happily-ever-after’.
I like that chic-flick, rom-com without anything being too dramatic or too suspenseful or too sexy, so I thought, ’Yes, that’s what I’ll write’. My story started essentially with the main character being a nurse and it just evolved from there.

Is the main character in your first book anything like yourself?

No, ha-ha, and people say that all the time. I don’t think she is. When I first said I was writing a book some of my work colleagues, whom I don’t think realised I was writing fiction, had to have it explained to them that the main character, Kate, is not me.
A lot of the scenarios my main characters go through in the story are real-life stories that have happened to me as a nurse and that’s where I get my inspirations. But I’m definitely not my main characters.

Prior to writing books was there anything else you had a passion to do?

I’m very project-driven – I put the blinkers on and just say, ’Here’s the next project and this is what I’m going to work on’.
When my youngest started school 10 years ago I decided I wanted to be a nurse, so that became my project. For the next few years I studied and then did post-graduate study.
For a while it was, ’I’m going to train for a half marathon and that’s my project, I’m going to write a book and that’s my project’. Right now we’re renovating a house and that’s my project.
Sometimes they’re big projects and sometimes they’re short.

Tell us about your calling to become a nurse?

When I was in Year 10 or 11 at school I always thought nursing would potentially be a good career pathway and one I’d like. My auntie, who I’m very close to, is a nurse and her auntie was a nurse, so nursing flows through the family blood.
It wasn’t until my eldest started school that my husband Tim said I had always talked about being a nurse so why don’t I do it.
I questioned if I was I too to be a mature-age student. I feel that nursing is my calling and this is what I’m supposed to do.
I don’t regret that I didn’t begin earlier because I’ve done so many other things. I know that I’m in a career that I love.
Writing, in a sense, is a hobby that I also love but I don’t foresee myself giving up my career, my calling, as a nurse to write.
If writing or nursing ceased to be fulfilling I’d say, ’OK, what am I going to do next?’
Life is too short to be doing something you don’t want to do.

Where do you work as a nurse?
Mostly at the new Epworth hospital in intensive care but I also work at St John of God in the emergency department, so I go from acute, really unwell patients to the unknown in emergency, which I kind of love.
Probably most of my stories do come from the random things you see in ED. I remember saying to someone one day that no-one would believe some of the things we see as nurses and I’m going to write about it. People say that truth’s stranger than fiction and that really is the case.

What’s your preference: writing or typing?
Definitely on the computer. My kids laugh because I go through so many keyboards – I really bash away at them.
I worked as a legal secretary for years, so I can type at a million miles an hour, ha-ha.
I work full-time and have four kids, so life is really busy and I have to fit in writing wherever I can.
If I wake up in the middle of the night and I can’t sleep, I’ll just get up and start writing. I’ve even typed on night duty in my breaks, whatever I could.

Tell us about your kids

Our children are Jeremy, who’s nearly 22, Chloe is nearly 20, Zach is nearly 18 and Toby’s nearly 16.
Chloe’s studying performing arts – she’s a very creative person. She’s read all my books, loves them and she writes very well but whether she will choose to write I don’t know.
My eldest is studying education and is also very creative, always has ideas, like saying he’d like to write a movie.
My next son is a photographer and again super creative.
Our youngest has the sporting gene – he’s a brilliant sportsperson.
We also have the best border-collie in the world – she’s amazing and the kids are trying to talk us in to getting a second one.
We also have a Burmese cat that rules the world.
I hope that, as a mum, I show my kids anything is possible. Going back to university as a mature-age student and writing a book – I’m just trying to say to my kids that if you have a dream, go for it.

Where did you grow up?

At Mt Duneed, on a few acres, and always had horses. Tim is from Newtown, Geelong, we live at Highton now.
Horses were my main passion all through school and I was riding from around age seven or eight. I also rowed at school, which I really enjoyed.
I’m not a ball-sport person – my hand-eye co-ordination is terrible. I can’t throw, catch, pitch or kicks. I was never a particularly athletic person, so it was funny years later after I’d had all my kids when I said, ’I think I’ll try a half marathon’. Everyone questioned what I was doing, saying I’d only ever ran as a far as the gate.

What about your own romance?

Tim and I have been together since we were 17. We have a strong marriage. I’m not advocating that marriage is right for everyone but I think that something deep within every person yearns for love, however it looks.
I like my characters to fall in love, get married and have babies but I understand that’s not everybody’s idea of love.
My husband is my romantic hero. He’s read all my books and thinks I’ve modelled some of the characters on him, the characters that aren’t very well-liked, so I have to keep convincing him they’re not him.

Are you ever inspired to write stories based on things you hear through the grapevine?

Yes, definitely, things I see or read or hear. For my book The Peppercorn Project I vaguely remember hearing this idea of country towns that were dying and for $1 a week you could rent an old farmhouse and they were given to people who needed to get back onto their feet. That resonated with me – I thought, ’That’s cool but, instead of people going to the country town to help the county town, what if the country town offered $1 a week to help people that were struggling?’

What about you would surprise people?

A lot of people don’t know that my husband and I pastored a church. We ran a church for 10 years until about 2011 and he was the senior minister, so every Sunday morning I’d lead the singer, give the message or preach. I was a stay-at-home mum but would help while he was pastoring.
I did my nursing studies and he went and did school chaplaincy. Life changes in an instant and it wouldn’t surprise me if one day we were back pastoring a church again.
At the moment Tim’s working as a school chaplain at Geelong College. I’m embracing being introverted because for so many years I’ve put myself out there, having a public role alongside my husband.

What’s your favourite genre to read?

I love the whole rural romance, the medical romance.
I tend to enjoy reading women’s fiction. I love reading anything from Liane Moriarty to Jodi Picoult. I enjoy reading real life stories about real life people and what they journey through.
Everything I write is a blended mix of scenarios that I have experienced being a nurse. My brand is small-country-town romantic elements with medical scenes and dramas, that sort of thing.
My new book is Critical Condition. Operation Mistletoe Magic, a novella, comes out in November as an E-book only.

From its bluestone exterior to its richly toned interior – not to mention the rabbits everywhere else – Barwon Park Mansion remains true to its intriguing heritage. LUKE VOOGT takes a tour.

Barwon Park Mansion feels “more like a home than a museum“ despite its rich history, says property manager Trudi Toyne.
For Trudi, the bluestone mansion seems still occupied by its orginal family from the 1870s.
“Only two families have lived in Barwon Park Mansion, so it’s in real original condition,” she says.
“There are not many 140-year-old properties in such good condition.”
Tourists can wander back in time at the mansion with its collection of 19th century clothes and paraphernalia.
“The wardrobes are open so people can see the fashion of the time,” Trudi says.
“You can walk into all of the rooms and have a very close look at the furniture.”
For eight years Trudi has co-ordinated the volunteers who keep the “mansion is looking as good as it possibly can”.
“Barwon Park Mansion and a lot of National Trust properties rely heavily on volunteers – they do a fantastic job,” she says.
“We have some volunteers who have been there for decades.”
One of them, Winchelsea 75-year-old Mick O’Mara, has been involved with the mansion since 1974, not long after the National Trust took over.
Mick and his wife began attending the mansion when the trust started using it to host balls in 1975.
Often he would help with maintenance jobs or run nightly check-ups with his labradors, who would “chase away the ghosts”.
After a decade-long absence Mick returned in 1985 to run tours at the mansion, which hosted his daughter’s wedding in 1991.
The property’s old dairy room and shearing shed fascinate the long-time farmer.
“They’re beautiful old relics of 100 years ago,” Mick says.
“It’s just a beautiful house and so much of it is original.”
Like Mick, Trudi is still captivated by the mansion’s architecture, which she says also impresses tourists.
“When you walk through the doors and see the beautiful staircases, stained-glass windows and lofty arches it’s just outstanding.”
“People are often surprised something as grand as this mansion is just sitting in a paddock.”
The mansion, just outside Winchelsea, remains remarkably close to its original state from 1871, Trudi says.
New downpipes and guttering, an upgraded kitchen and some indoor repairs are the only changes in nearly 150 years
“It’s a striking building, both inside and out,” Trudi says.
The mansion’s builder, English settler Thomas Austin, migrated to Victoria from Tasmania in 1837.
He staked out 32,000 acres of property, naming it Barwon Park and building a small log cabin. He went on to make his fortune breeding English sheep and exporting wool back to Europe.
When the Victorian Government began a crackdown on squatters, new laws allowed Austin to buy the land cheaply.
“They either had to give it back to the government or prove they had farmed it,” Trudi says.
“In that case they could buy it for a nominal price.”
Victorian farmers were enjoying a “boom period” at the time, Trudi explains.
“A lot of mansions were built in the western district back then but none as grand as the Barwon Park Mansion.”
Austin, who was notorious for breeding rabbits, built the mansion for a visit from Queen Victoria’s son Prince Albert.
“The Duke of Edinburgh was a keen hunter and he’d heard about Thomas Austin, Barwon Park and the rabbits,” Trudi says.
While Austin bore much of the blame for introducing the furry pests, he was also known for his contribution to early Winchelsea.
He was the first mayor of the town and helped build schoolrooms and bridges. He also helped found the Victorian Racing Club.
“The things he was involved with are still impacting on us now,” Trudi says.
Austin died just six months after finishing the mansion. Wife Elizabeth took over, channeling her significant wealth into helping those less fortunate.
Trudi believes that the mansion’s matron was inspired by the plight of her servants, such as her cook, who had developed tuberculosis.
“She helped to set up what’s now known as the Austin Hospital,” Trudi says.
Now the National Trust holds summer exhibitions at the mansion, including a display for the locally-shot film The Dressmaker which attracted 22,000 people.
“That was a fantastic chance for people to come and see the mansion,“ Trudi says.
This summer the trust will host a Nighlight exhibit, displaying the evening fashions of the ’20s and ’30s.
All proceeds will go to the trust, which Trudie says is essential for preserving Australia’s historical icons.
“If we lose these places we can’t get them back.”

By Elissa Friday

The goal for eating and exercise is “healthy and fit” rather than “obsessively miserable”, says one of Geelong’s leading personal trainers.
Body Conquest’s Ingrid Barclay has created a flagship mindset course called Mental Makeover to achieve both objectives.
The course helps women ready to address the factors holding back their progress in achieving improved health and fitness, Ingrid explains.
“It touches on perfectionism, feelings of unworthiness and the ‘stuck’ feeling in following fitness and nutrition plans. The course has become a benchmark in the fitness industry for women who want to address their mindset.”
The course was born from Ingrid’s own past struggles balancing diet and exercise, which prompted her to ask “why I was sabotaging my own effort”, she says.
But developing a “mindset makeover” helped Ingrid regain control over her former food obsession.
With a new mindset about food that “it doesn’t control me anymore”, Ingrid was able to maintain her low body fat with “ease”.
Mental Makeover is based on her philosophy of “four cogs in the wheel”, she says.
“It begins with number two, being nutrition. Three is weight training and four is cardio.
“Number one is clearly mental strategies because, without one, two, three and four, won’t happen.
“It’s about getting your mind right and your physique will follow.”
Ingrid’s experience of training thousands of clients has taught her that results are often short-term if “the mind isn’t addressed along with nutrition and training”.
“The main problem is dietary rules because the nature of rules is that we feel bad or wrong when we break them. You can get great results by creating your own rules based on your own preferences, mindfulness practice, listening to your body’s cues and finding a way to like how you eat.
“Body Conquest will help you do that.”
Ingrid also offers an associated course called End Emotional Eating, which over three sessions works on five steps to improve mindfulness.
“The Body Conquest mission is to help women break through the crash dieting cycle through easy tools and useable insights,” Ingrid says.
“Our keys are passion, purpose and positivity, building confidence, learning to trust yourself, and choosing a perspective that serves you so that it can be implemented effectively.
“The tools are your inner-game. It’s in your control and is your responsibility.
“Your perception becomes reality, so choose wisely how you see the world.
“The goals are to get smarter, get more effective and get results.”

Specialist diamond jewellery manufacturer Charles Rose has a team of dedicated designers and artisans producing some of the finest quality jewellery in Australia.
The large, sophisticated store in central Geelong supplies quality jewellery to customers from around the region and beyond.
Director Marcus Rose is the third generation of his family to take up the challenge of fulfilling the high ethos of the business.
“To treat jewellery as fine art, as a form of sculpture, requires the highest levels of creativity and quality,” Marcus says.
The first step in producing a beautiful diamond ring is procuding a number of simple concept sketches.
The design deemed best is discussed with the company’s bench jewellers, who recently followed this process to produce a rose gold, yellow gold and platinum ring.
After the discussions the bench jewellers draw a specifications diagram detailing the various parts of the ring, which are made separately and assembled later.
“The precious metals are not pure, they are alloys, and the alloys must be made to exacting standards,” Marcus explains.
“A small crucible is heated to melt the constituent metals and they’re added together in a stepped process.
The steps and composition of Charles Rose alloys are a proprietary secret.
“Their quality contributes significantly to the finish, longevity and beauty of the final item,” Marcus says.
Before the diamonds can be set into the ring, in this case featuring small and large brilliant-cut white diamonds plus small pink brilliants, they must be carefully hand selected to ensure each is exactly the same size and colour. A calibration-measuring process is used.
The diamonds are laid out and checked against a set of master gems, and also inspected for uniformity within a collection of gems.
“Then the diamonds have to be set into the unfinished ring. This is the job for a specialist setter, who works on the positioning and tensioning of the claws and other elements,” Marcus explains.
“This is a demanding and highly skilled procedure, not for the faint-hearted. It’s quite possible to fracture a diamond when it’s being set.
“Making rings with fine diamonds is traditionally a bespoke process because fine diamonds don’t come in standard sizes or grades. Making jewellery that fits and enhances them can only be done properly when done slowly and by hand.”
As a specialist in fine jewellery, Charles Rose invites customers to visit the company’s stores in Geelong and Melbourne to see the beauty of their craftsmanship first-hand.
Charles Rose is at 98 Moorabool Street, Geelong, phone 5229 9088.

By Elissa Friday

How the boy with the scratched face became the man of one girl’s dreams

HOW THEY MET
Before their wedding, Evan Robinson Lived at Torquay and Emily Lannello in Bell Post Hill.
Neither could recall their first conversation, having known each other for as long as they can remember.
“Our parents are family friends so we grew up with each other but it wasn’t until we were about 14 and 15 that we had our first proper conversation,“ Emily says.
“My parents had invited Evan’s parents over for a barbecue in the summer and we just started talking and hit it off from there.
“Funnily, when I was a little girl my mum asked me what I thought of Evan and I replied, ‘Oh no, mum, he has too many scratches on his face from climbing trees’,” Emily laughs.

THE PROPOSAL
Evan took Emily to one of their favorite places in Lorne on a “picture-perfect day”, she says.
“Evan suggested a nice spot, so we drove to a lookout and went for a walk along the beach.
“I noticed posts in the sand with written messages on them.
“Walking closer, I noticed my name on the first one.
With candles and flowers on the beach, Emily describes the setting as “honestly, one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen”.

THE PLANNING
Emily planned most of their wedding herself with some help from mum.
“Chloe from Pretty in Paper created our wedding invitations”.
Emily chose a formal style with black cursive writing on white card.
Her Nanna pressed lavender from her garden that they tied around the invitations with a cream twine.

HENS AND BUCKS
Emily’s bridesmaids’ organised her hen’s day celebration.
“It was a surprise” she says.
“I was really excited about what they were going to do for me”.
Arriving at Melbourne, friend Eloise surprised Emily with fresh flower crowns she had made for all the girls to wear throughout the day.
The hens had a picnic lunch at Fitzroy Gardens before heading to Cocktails and Canvas.
“We painted while drinking cocktails – it was really funny because I’m not much of a painter,” Emily laughs.
Afterward they went out to dinner.
Evan went go-karting in Melbourne for his bucks celebration, followed by drinks with his groomsmen.

THE DRESS
Emily searched high and low to find the dress of her dreams.
“I ended up buying one of the first ones I tried on,” she says.
Wanting to try on a few more dresses, Emily looked all over Melbourne and Geelong. In the end, she returned to a shop in Brunswick where she made her initial choice.
“As soon as I put it on again for a second time I knew that was the one.”
Emily’s dress was lace and fitted with a long train.
She also wore a veil in the back of her hair to the ceremony.

BRIDESMAIDS AND GROOMSMEN
Emily’s maid of honor was sister Olivia and the bridesmaids were two of her best friends, Eloise and Helen.
Emily’s little cousin Isabella was flower girl.
“She came from Sydney to be a part of our day and it was so special to have her there,” Emily says.
Evan’s best man was long-time friend Nathan. His groomsmen were his younger brother Alex and friend Ashley.

THE FLOWERS
“As soon I got engaged people were asking me what type of flowers I would pick,” Emily laughs.
She chose cream peonies for her bouquet. The other girls had cream and soft pink tones in their bouquets.
“For the tables, I was set on having greenery running through the middle with white flowers intertwined – Catherine from Stems of Geelong put the table runners together, she did a perfect job!”

THE CEREMONY
The two wed at a ceremony held at Torquay and had photos taken at Point Addis.
“Evan is from Torquay we both love the area,” Emily says.
“We said traditional vows – I think there’s something really beautiful and special about them.”

THE PHOTOGRAPHY
“John Yau and Tom Beanlands from Artifex Photographic Media did the photography.
“They were so amazing on the day and we’re really happy with the work that they’ve done – it was so great having the two of them there to capture different parts of our day.”

THE RECEPTION
Three months before the wedding, the original reception venue called Emily to inform her it was double-booked.
“I was devastated, especially considering I had already booked all of my suppliers for a certain date. I was also getting ready to sit exams so it was a really stressful time.”
But it was a blessing in disguise. Barwon Edge Boathouse was available on 14 November.
“It was the only available reception venue on our date, so we feel like it was really meant to be!
“The team at Barwon Edge were so organised and set the venue even better than I imagined. I couldn’t recommend Barwon Edge highly enough.”

THE CAKE
Emily knew she wanted her wedding cake to be adorned with white flowers and greenery.
“Jan from Noni’s Sweet Treats created a stunning three-tier cake and Catherine decorated it with white roses – it was just stunning and exactly what I wanted.”

THE FIRST DANCE
Evan and Emily danced to a cover version of Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’.
“After putting my wedding dress on, I was a little bit concerned about doing the dance we had prepared.
“So when we started dancing I said to Evan, ‘We can’t do the jump – I can’t jump in this dress’.
“But when it came time, Evan whispered to me, ‘We’re doing it’ and before I knew it I was up in the air. Thankfully I didn’t end up on the ground,” Emily laughs.

THE FAVOURS
Emily’s sister Olivia makes homemade natural soy candles.
“My sister is such a perfectionist with her candles, so I knew she’d do an amazing job. She made over 100 candles to go on the tables and each guest took one home to keep.
“We chose sweet vanilla and wild honeysuckle scents to alternate on the tables.
“Evan’s grandma had sadly passed away before our wedding, so we also made a donation to the Cancer Council on behalf of each guest.”

THE HONEYMOON
Emily and Evan enjoyed a tropical honeymoon to Fiji.
They stayed at Denarau Island for the first five nights and then they took a boat out to Tokoriki Island.
The two also did a snorkeling trip throughout the Mamanuca Islands.
“I’d definitely go back to Fiji,” Emily says.

The couple now lives at Armstrong Creek.

Emily’s dream team
Dress; Raffaele Ciuca, Melbourne.
Groomsmen shirts: Eddy Elias Menswear, Geelong.
Suits: Raffaele Ciuca, Melbourne.
Bridesmaid dresses: Asos.
Hair and makeup: Rebeccah Vivian from Blondie Hair and Cosmetica, Geelong.
Flowers: Catherine Toffolon from Stems of Geelong.
Invitations: Pretty In Paper, Geelong.
Cars: Wedding Jaguars of Geelong.
Violinist: Hannah Walters, Melbourne.
Cake: Noni’s Sweet Treats, Mt Duneed.
Wedding favours: OliviaEllen Candles, Geelong.
Band: The People’s Poets, Geelong.
Reception Venue: Barwon Edge Boathouse, Newtown.