A few weeks ago, I moved house. It was a Big Move, all the way from Perth, Western Australia, to Mount Gambier, South Australia - about 2,000 miles or nearly 3,000km. I've lived in Mount Gambier before and I have siblings here so it's not as much of a shock as it might have been, but it will take me a while to get used to living in a country town again.

With all the angst of leaving Perth, the trials of settling in and the constant socialising I haven't been writing much. Normally, I'm one of those writers that needs days of seclusion to get anything on paper, but I've managed to pen a short story that had been gestating for weeks and there are a couple more on the simmer. However, I haven't touched the new book I'd hoped to have drafted before I go overseas in February. I have Good Intentions - you know, those things that pave the road to Hades - of getting started within the next couple of weeks. Now I've blogged it I shall have to do it, right?

Like the rest of the country, the south-east of South Australia is in the grip of drought. Yet in the last week we have had not just rain, but hail stones! The temperature has swung from a minimum of almost zero on one of the coldest November days on record to a maximum of 29 degrees Celsius, which is a bit more reasonable, given the time of year. Today should be lovely - 27 degrees and balmy. That's good, because today Mount Gambier residents and a horde of visitors will turn out in force to view the annual Christmas Parade, complete with brass bands and The Man Himself. He's going to feel pretty warm in that red suit.

That reminds me of a silly thing I did when flying over from Perth. My friend Ellen had given me a beautiful pair of red leather ugg boots and I couldn't wait to wear them. When I arrived in Adelaide en route to the Mount it was 35 degrees! Oh boy, did I get some strange looks!

But I'm settling in OK and have already had some visitors. My son Bruce and his family are over from Perth at the moment and on Thursday night I had my friend Tracey Spark and her new fiancé Gary to stay over. They are just starting the last leg of what has been a wonderful trip around the country; all the way up to Broome, Darwin, Katherine Gorge, Cairns, Sydney, Canberra, Victoria and Tasmania, camping in many wonderful wild places. Tracey, a colleague from the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Perth, is a film-maker and performance artist. She will have so much new material to process when she gets home that she will no doubt have inspiration for months, if not years, to come.

Travel is one of the best sources of inspiration, I think. And one of the best ways to learn about ourselves and other people. I congratulated Tracey and Gary on still being engaged - and very happily so:-) - after nearly four months on the road. I've heard of some relationships crashing after less than a fortnight when subjected to the stress of travel!

Last night I went with Bruce and his family to visit the Umpherston Sink Hole, a local beauty spot. (My sister Anne, a keen local historian, has recently published a book about its history.) It has become home to myriads of brush-tailed possums, who have learnt to beg their food from tourists and locals. There must have been upwards of thirty people there at dusk, all armed with food for the furry little scavengers. While I question the desirability of feeding possums, and especially feeding them white bread, where else are our children going to get close to wildlife? At one time, any country drive would bring a sighting of kangaroos or wallabies together with plenty of birds and reptiles, but alas, no longer! The ones we haven't killed seem to have become shy and nocturnal, and who can blame them? My grandchildren were delighted at their close encounters.