Coleen Kwan

22 May is the International Day for Biodiversity (with a special focus on marine environments) and 23 May is World Turtle Day.

The only time I've seen a turtle in the wild was many years ago in the Whitsundays when my partner and I went bare-boating for a week. The scenery and weather were spectacular, and we had a great time even though we managed to run the yacht aground on our first night! (Hint: the tidal range in the Whitsundays can be huge. Luckily, we got stuck in the mangroves and not on coral reefs.) We saw the turtle as we were sailing towards Turtle Bay on Whitsunday Island, appropriately enough.

Let's hope both turtles and the Great Barrier Reef are protected for many generations to come.


Photo credit: "Total internal reflection of Chelonia mydas" by Brocken Inaglory - Own work. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons

Just after Easter I managed to get away to the country for a few days with the family. The weather was perfect, and the bush was green and peaceful.




I somehow had two sets of edits for different books land in my inbox at the same time, so I've been buried in editing for most of the month. I'm really pleased how these two books are shaping up. One is due for release in July and the other in October.

The Sydney weather has been crazy lately. First, we had three days of torrential rain, then we were hit by a massive hailstorm that pulverized our garden. Some of the ice still hadn't melted by the next morning. All this rain is playing havoc with my son's soccer games, which I don't mind at all because it leaves me more time for reading!

And finally, I've lost a few kilos since starting the CSIRO diet. Not a huge amount, but I feel a lot better and I have fewer cravings. I didn't follow the diet slavishly but I am eating a lot more vegetables now, and I feel it's a nutrition plan I can follow long-term, which is far better than yo-yo dieting.

Well, that's all the news for this month. :)