Author fest: Jaclyn Moriarty, Priya Kuriyan, me, Erin Gough and Sara Farizan. Meeting other writers was definitely a highlight of the trip. I loved the diversity of the authors represented too – from so many different cultures, countries, ages, stages of career, genres, backgrounds.

Sally Gardner from the UK told the inspiring story of how she overcame dyslexia to become a writer. She also performed an incredible poem called Disobey Me. You can find it online – do it.

In the breaks there were book signings – both for the attendees (librarians, teachers, readers) and also for each other.

And at night time the socialising continued in the hotel ‘green room’…lots of red wine and lengthy discussions (not all of them literary!).

One night a group of us hit the local Korean BBQ place for a whole lotta meat. It was delicious…

…although definitely not one for the vegetarians.

The public program included a session with Will Kostakis (The First Third) and Matt Testro (from Nowhere Boys) on ‘Pop Culture’ in which none of us knew what an OTP or fictional ‘ship was (actually maybe Will knew about the ‘ship…). It was a lot of fun to talk all things TV, writing and culture though.

Then it was time to hit the road for the regional Victorian tour with Laurie Halse Anderson. We visited and gave talks at schools and libraries in Shepparton, Wedderburn, Bendigo and Ballarat over the course of three days. Beautiful country.

There were ‘teams’ of Reading Matters authors in the NT, SA, QLD and VIC. The other teams wrote YAMatters in red dirt, the dust on a car, on a library floor, the sand of an empty beach…we wrote it in leaves in chilly Ballarat.

Travelling with Laurie was great. What a prolific writer and amazing woman. Such an honour. Here we are with a couple of furry friends – a kangaroo and koala for Laurie to take home, and Inky!

Here we are, sad Team Vic at the end of the road trip. Bec, Laurie, Jordi, me. It was a blast. Thankyou, Reading Matters 2015!