November 29, 2015
by jackieandnoel 4 Comments

Where Is The Best Office In The World?

Here of course….. sailing along the NSW coast in Australia, on our way to our next adventure.

Sailing (and writing) in my slippers along the NSW coast

Sailing in my slippers! And Writing – this was the beginning of Of Foreign Build… Note the bikes (bike wheels upside down outside the stanchions), the outboard is under the blue canvas by my head. We were on our way!

Perhaps in a TSR (Travelling Stock Route) on the BNT (Bicentennial National Trail) with 5 horses and a tent…

Somewhere nearby there are five very happy horses, gallavanting, galloping, and rolling in the creek! Meanwhile, notes on the horse trekking book A Standard Journey started here….

What about on a 1920s Dutch barge in France? Not bad, but we were (and still are) renovating – it’s a noisy, dusty, and messy place to live and work.

Magdalena Bay, Mexico – the cafe was closed but wifi was on!

In beautiful locations the work doesn't stop!

We’d recently purchased Pyewacket in San Francisco and were on our way to La Paz… but plans changed rapidly. We spent two years sailing back to Australia via Pitcairn and Easter Island, etc…. a tough journey – detail of which in my next book This Is It, out January 2016.

On a barrel in the boat yard in Panama?

The dinghy dock payment each day was good fun too!

Well at least I got to stay relatively clean!

Puttering along the Intracoastal Waterway of America. Near South Carolina on our 10 metre sailing boat Mariah II.

Flat water sailing – yippee!

I’m a travel writer – literally. If you want to travel and work you can – you just have to make it happen.

Where’s your favourite office? Where’s the most exotic, fun, extreme place you’ve worked?

October 28, 2015
by jackieandnoel 13 Comments

Whirlwind UK Book Tour A Success! And Cake.

Two radio interviews, two events, and numerous roast dinners!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of family and friends catch-up and events for my recent release A Standard Journey – 5 horses, 2 people, and 1 tent.

The story is about how we adopted five Standardbred horses, trained them (and they us). The seven of us then set out into the Australian bush for several months; all our belongings carried by horse.

I donate 50%+ profits to horse/animal charities and this led to me a guest appearance at the Redwings Sanctuary at Oxhill and their stand at The Horse Of The Year Show.

At Redwings Oxhill, just before the reading/signing. I tried not to reveal the outcome of a dramatic event in the book, but the audience were desperate to know!

Redwings do a wonderful job – their team at Oxhill are extraordinary in their passion and care.

I had a wonderful time at the Horse Of The Year Show connecting with readers and helping Redwings raise money via their merchandise (including A Standard Journey), to help rescue more horses.

Redwings Stand and their wonderful team. My books are near the front.

They did a lovely job with my table and I added the bookmarks and koalas which went down a treat!

Radio!

Between the mayhem of driving around the country I was invited onto two radio shows (one with Noel).

Firstly, with the incredible Carol Graham. Carol is an author, radio talk show host, health coach, motivational speaker, blogger, businesses woman, mum and grandmum!

Carol is a wonderful interviewer and here you can hear her easy-listening interviews with extraordinary people. She deftly shares their laughter and inspirational stories, and encourages everyone to never… ever… give up hope.

My interview will be appearing shortly – I’ll put the link here and give another shout out when it’s ready!

The BBC

Lastly, we met Nick Coffer from BBC 3Counties Radio. We had great fun chatting to Nick (who thinks we need therapy!), and left mini koalas hanging all over his studio to make our presence known and remembered. Here’s the link to listen, jump forward to around 37 minutes – the interview runs for about fifteen.

Having fun before we went in the studio.

With Nick Coffer, having a great time!

I could get used to this (note the koalas taking over!)

Roast Dinners

Several yummy roast dinners, care of my lovely mum, kept me going (and tightened the jeans somewhat).

… and CAKE, you’ve got to have CAKE!

I learned a great deal from all these events. Switching from social media to ‘getting out there’ has really worked for me, and is so much more fun.

I’ll write a blog soon on what I learned and what I’d do differently next time.

Has anyone else had great success and fun ‘getting out there’?

April 17, 2015
by jackieandnoel 6 Comments

Exposed!

I’ve been uncovered and exposed. I’ve been cajoled, poked, pushed and pulled.

It’s been a roller-coaster couple of days.

“Dig deep,” she said, “search your soul….”

For twenty-four hours I was worrying and fretting; how was I going to do this?

Then…. I GOT it!

Opening Up
My heart opened, my words flowed and my goodness it was cathartic. It was a relief, liberating, and on a par with a two-day marathon counselling session.

I laughed, I cried, I did both at once!

Even I understand myself better now.

The Beginning
It started last year (or seventeen years ago, depending how far you delve into my psyche!) In 2013, Noel and I rescued five horses and trekked part of the Bicentennial National Trail.

Jackie’s on Charlie taking the picture, so you can see part of Ned. Noel and his three behind.

The Story
I’ve written the story, and the editors (at Narrative Ink Editing LCC) said, “This was an absolute joy to read! It’s such a unique story. The characters are funny and kind and endearing. This book at times had me laughing out loud, but it is serious too…. Some of your descriptive passages were absolutely breathtaking. At times I felt like I was right there on the trail with them all.”

Noel on Stevie, leading Spirit and Dom (Dom’s trying to roll)

A Whole New Level
Now, together, we’ve taken the story to another level. Fears, accomplishments and my very soul weaves through the book; so not only will you laugh, cry, and be shocked, you will ride the trail with Noel and I, and you will also cling to the emotional roller coaster with me.

Jackie on Charlie, holding Ned, and from r to l Spirit, Dom and Stevie

Jackie on Charlie and leading Ned

(l to r) Stevie, Spirit, Dom, Charlie, Ned

For more about our current escapades, take a look here.

January 20, 2015
by jackieandnoel 7 Comments

5 young horses, 2 old people, and 1 new tent!

A Standard Journey

The day I galloped down a steep incline to find a gun to shoot one of our horses, was the day I realised that I may have bitten off more than I could chew. It was Noel’s idea. Not shooting the horse, but living with horses 24/7 while trekking along part of the Bicentennial National Trail in Australia. When he mentioned the trail for a second time in one week, I knew we’d be doing it. We’re nomadic folk. During our seventeen years together we’ve sailed around the world one-and-a-half-times, become professional skippers and now live on a Dutch barge in France. Amid this mayhem we rescued five scatty, scared horses and slowly transformed the seven of us into a team. There were elements of success and elements of failure. The initial realisation that I hadn’t ridden for twenty years and Noel hadn’t ridden for fifty was quite sobering. The stark comprehension that we were now middle aged was a painful one – literally. The joy of transforming those lost boys into strong, confident ‘war-horses’ was sometimes overwhelming. At the start the boys wouldn’t step into a puddle – imagine the emotions when they tackled steep ravines, faced-off bolshie kangaroos and plowed through deep rivers. I sometimes indulged in the enormity of my responsibility. The desolation of our failure still punctures my heart. The yet unanswered desire to return and make the journey a success is still vivid. The heart-break of saying farewell to our boys, our family – will never leave me. There are plans that are slowly unravelling in my mind – we will tackle this once more. The growth and realisation that – actually – we did succeed; we survived (at times it was an extremely close thing), we turned those boys into useful, brave animals by loving them and giving them a chance. And, did we shoot the horse? Well there’s a story; a story that will help rescue more of these incredible animals. In June this year I will publish our escapade, warts and all – a percentage of proceeds will be donated to saving more horses-lives. Come join me on a thrilling ride! Up to date information our FB page ‘For the love of horses’.In the meantime, read more about our watery adventures here.