From Paddocks to Paddington!

Not only does my latest novel, “The Cattleman’s Daughter” have a new beautiful cover, but also, my book has been shortlisted for the 2010 Australian Book Industry Awards! Yay! Go to the Readings web site to see the other finalists. Congratulations to us all!  Australian Book Industry Awards 2010 Shortlists · Readings.com.au This gala event will see me digging a frock out of the cupboard and flying to Sydney, with (hopefully) clean enough shoes! I’m sure I can scrub the Deloraine mud from my nose by the evening … next week I’ll have begun my winter job as a truffle harvester. Again in the bizarre but wonderful life of Rach, I’ll be getting down and dirty with the dogs in the paddock the day before getting frocked-up and wined and dined by Penguin and the Get Reading campaign organisers in Paddington! What a grateful girl I am!

Dog Post

What a weekend! The kids and I are just back from Casterton Kelpie Muster where we caught up with old mates and made new ones… including the gorgeous Celeste of Sunny Cowgirls fame who also doubles as a brilliant Kelpie handler and her manager Mark of eighties band, The Frames fame. We, along with Muster founders, Deb Howcroft and Ian O’Connell are pushing for a movie or documentary to be made about the incredible story of Jack Gleeson, who ought to be a household name in Australia. He is equally, if not more amazing, than The Man from Snowy River… having started the Kelpie breed of dog. Read all about him, and the Kelpie muster in my novel, The Stockman. If you want the story in a nutshell, read Peter Dowsley’s poem, “Kelpie”, or listen to the Sunny Cowgirls’ song “Kelpie” (track 6) on their Dust Will Settle CD. In the meantime, enjoy the snaps Annie took of her lovely Mark Fenby with their Kelpies at the Festival and Auction. Ending this blog now as I have hungry Kelpies to feed!

Mark at the Casterton Festival with his Kelpie friends, Boot and Clancy

Good Look’n Books

Brace yourselves for a new look in Rachael Treasure novels – coming soon! My wonderful friends, Heath and Krissy Harris who are expert movie horsemasters (Think Zorro, Racing Stripes and Phar Lap)  helped Penguin and me out recently with a photo shoot to revamp the covers of my old books into a look that is authentic, grass roots and fair dinkum. Here’s some of the behind the scenes action featuring photographer Peter Stoop, trick riders, Christie and Cody and hot ute boy, Jake. There’s also some snaps of horse trainer legend Heath Harris and your own very hands-on author. Thank you to Krissy Harris for capturing what was a wonderful and fun photo shoot.

Check out more photo’s here.

Back Soon!

Apologies to those readers wishing to buy e-books from my website. We are currently undergoing some exciting developments in that area so for the time being, my e-books are temporarily off-line. Stay tuned for more developments while I wrangle kids, dogs, horses farms and e-books into order.

Beaut Utes and Rural Youth

What a thrill to judge my first Beaut Ute competition at Campbell Town Show on the weekend. Rural Youth hosted the comp and I was lucky enough to join expert mechanic Tony Briscoe of Caltex Campbell Town and expert Aussie, Sam Keckovitch of Aussie Lamb Campaign fame as my co-judges. It was really tough picking the winners of the categories which included best V8, best 6, best street ute, best 4×4 and best feral/rural ute. Sam’s special prize was given to a revving yellow ute with every bit of gear on it imaginable. Sam’s reasoning for the award was, ‘he got his first root in a yellow ute!’ 

Well done to all competitors and to show organisers. My highlights were the mechanical bull riding, the Smithfield Dog competition and the ‘Man Cake’ competition in the home industries section, won by my cousin Douglas Loane for his outstanding Apple and Walnut cake. He pipped Bobcat at the post who had made a tiered chocolate cake and Camby’s cake that looked like a chop. Well done culinary boys. If you haven’t been to Campbell Town Show in Tassie then it’s a show not to be missed. Country culture at its best. So good it found its way into my novel, The Rouseabout. 

Agfest Patron

I am proud to be Patron of Agfest, an event run by Rural Youth, Tasmania. I’ll be opening Agfest next week and attending the three day farmer’s expo. If you’d like me to sign your old faithful books or buy a signed copy I’ll be at the Foddertech site – look for it in your guide. I can also tell you about our new farm produce, T&T Fastgrass and the beauty of our sprouted barley as feed for your horses and the difference it’s made to our sheep and cattle.

Hold your Horses!

A lot of money is spent in the horse industry helping people to become more confident riders. Last Easter Monday we found the best way of relaxing with your equine friend. Simply combine Strawberry Schnapps with a Wonder Woman outfit and you can ride like the wind. Our behaviour couldn’t get too out of hand as we had sexy mounted Police Woman Sally in the saddle to keep us in line. Steph made a great Number 26 for Woodsdale in her hubby’s footy gear and Brad and Deb looked ultra coupley-cute as Micky and Mini Mouse. At one point Wonder Woman One, Jess, got us lost on the Brown Mountain Ridgeline because the Bundy mucked up her inner compass, but we all made it back to the farm house for a Meaburn special fry up. It’s little wonder I never run out of ideas for novels with these cranks around.

Click here to view more photos from the day.

Witchy-women in cowgirl boots

I’ve just read a wonderful book called ‘Brida’ by Paulo Coehlo and it was all about the lost craft of witches (good ones – not the cackley ones on brooms that we’ve all seen.)  I’ve always enjoyed Cohelo’s writing as his books inspire learning and wisdom about this funny old planet of ours. I didn’t know much about witches prior to his novel, but now I do! We women all need to explore the power of our inner Goddess no matter who we are. Here’s me and my mates, Lu and Jess, out on a Levendale Primary School fundraiser. Our lovely local, Allen Jennison ran a Ghost Tour of Richmond and we dressed up (yet again) for the fun of it. The good news is we’ve raised some money and our Levendale school association has bought a mini-bus so we can now take half the school out and about to other programs and events, giving our country kids a bigger slice of life to experience. If you want to go on one of the BEST ghost tours ever, contact Allen

Out and About

Perfect weather, a happy community vibe and beers after at the fireshed meant our day at the Back to Woodsdale Picnic was a perfect one! We took along the working dogs and did a few demos. It was a perfect chance to show off our FastGrass fodder too. And I signed a few books and the kids had a ball on the little train that carted folk from the Woodsdale Hall to the museum. The Woodsdale/Levendale Museum members did a top job organising the day and let’s hope the event generated funds for our wonderful little community. A big thanks from me to Gus from the Bridgewater PCYC for his jumping castle! Combine a few rums, my friend Kathy Mace and me with a jumping castle and you are asking for acts of hilarity!