About

At first, we present with little more than a blank canvas, a dream and an intimate connection with food, travel, nature, a passion and desire for change. A connected community of sorts.  What’s materialised is an extraordinary collection of culinary, travel and lifestyle journals designed to energize and inspire our readership. With great pleasure, we invite you to explore the inspiration that lies within these pages.

I have very fond memories of congregating about a large dining table, conversing about a day gone by. Being from a family of 7, as you can imagine, this was quite the affair. Preparations could include anything from throwing spaghetti at a wall to see if it sticks, to peeling potatoes and trying to stuff the skins into the yoghurt tub Mum used as a compost bin, setting the table, boiling water… the list goes on. We’d huddle around the old wooden dining table with its wonky legs and battered top, I vividly remember the deep red corduroy upholstery that made this table so unique. Overtime the chairs fell apart, there were only 6 in the first place and as the number decreased we’d gather every available chair in the house, study chairs, bath stools and reading chairs. Etiquette was incredibly important in our household. “Close your mouth while you’re chewing!” Mum would say… “Remove your elbows from the table, take your hat off at the dining table, hold your fork the way you’ve been taught, stop wiping your mouth on your clean shirt”. What seemed like constant nagging… in hindsight is like music to my ears. Although I’m fairly casual these days, table manners never fail to bring a smile to my face, it brings back memories.  

I was born on Anzac Day, yes I’m incredibly lucky…. my day falls on a public holiday each year. Weather permitting, we’d visit the You Yang’s most years to celebrate. We would scramble into the Toyota people mover. Tennis balls, soccer balls and footballs would fly around the back like missiles, until the eyes of fury made contact from front to back through the revision mirror. Bursting at the seams with excitement, we’d exit the van at a hundred miles an hour on location and split. You’d hear a voice in the background calling “wait, come back here, okay then be careful! A swift look back at Mum holding the sunscreen and hats and……. quickly weighing up the options; go back and help, possibly miss out on the fun? or make a run for it…. I was fast on my feet and being the youngest”, more often than not, I’d avoid reprimand. And so, I’d continue off into the bushes to find a mountain to conquer, a river to cross or an animal to stalk. 

Mum would spend hours the night before preparing homemade sandwiches, cheese and biscuits, sliced carrot and celery sticks, sausages, breads, salads, prima cartons. Bottling water, iced tea, slicing and cutting a selection of fruits, cured meats and so on. It was nothing less than a valiant effort. 

Dad would inspect the people mover, air the tyres, change the oil, adjust the mirrors, clean, wax and polish ready for some sort of cross country adventure, note the You Yang’s were but a half hour drive from our house at the time. I suspect the excitement was somewhat mutual?

Like clockwork we’d all return ravished for a feed. Lunch and then pulling a ball of some description from the van, collect and secure the largest sticks we could find, serving as goalposts, boundaries, wickets or nets. We’d sprint and dodge barking orders at one another, trying to impress upon the folks our Olympic worthy skill and talents… all in good fun of course. I remember clearly two things, the uncontrollable laughter and the kind of euphoric inhibition I felt being with family, my brother, sisters, mum and dad.

Current times, see us leading very different lives, scattered across the countryside these once daily family affairs occur just once or twice a year. And such is life. In recent years I’ve spent a fair amount of time reflecting, traveling, learning, growing and working on being the best me.

I’ve taken on a variety of roles in a variety of industries from hospitality, to trade, to sales and marketing, consulting and customer service. I’ve long wondered how I’m able to incorporate the things I love… to cook, travel, learn and grow and to share with others these experiences, stories and teaming these undying passions with a balance of charitable contribution, community and ultimately creating a place to create, share and collaborate.

In that, I’ve created something here that talks to this desire to inspire like minded individuals and supporters of the ‘’Something More Movement.’’ Practicing life in its purest form.