Rear View Microphone podcast 002

Here’s the second episode of Rear View Microphone – the weekly podcast covering Travel, and Tourism, and Cruising, and Communications, and Arts and Entertainment, and Politics and more … Enjoy!

Friday Travel: Writing in cattle class

I am writing this blog post on a plane, in Economy class, on a low-cost carrier. I’ve recently spent quite a few hours on flights between my home in Brisbane, and the home of my ailing mother in Cairns, 140 flying minutes away. And every time, I vow to make use of that two-hour-plus window…

Wed Workshop: Writing media releases for community groups

It was about 40 years ago, as a 15 year old teenager, that I first got involved in politics. I was in the youth group of a now-defunct political party, at around the same time as the then-brand-new southeast freeway was being opened. As part of a protest, a colleague and I snuck onto the…

Monday Media – light, and shade

I had the pleasure of producing and presenting news bulletins at one of my fave little radio stations over the weekend – River 949 at Ipswich – and I was amused by the difference between it,and my final ‘full-time’ station, Radio 4BC. Now, before I go on, it is NOT my intention to ‘slag off’…

Rear View Microphone podcast 001

Here’s the first episode of Rear View Microphone – the weekly podcast covering Travel, and Tourism, and Cruising, and Communications, and Arts and Entertainment, and Politics and more … Enjoy!

Welcome to 2016!

First up, welcome to the new Cairnscommunications blog. It’s got a new look, as you can tell – but it’s also got a new commitment from me. When I gave up full-time work about six months ago, it was to give me time to write about the things I love, and to travel, and to…

Could Google Earth lead to world peace? Well, no, but …

Shay Har-Noy is one of those truly enthusiastic speakers – a man who is so wrapped up in his sphere that it becomes almost impossible not to get swept up in his enthusiasm. He was in Brisbane prior to the G20 summit to talk ‘spatial data’ … and what it could do to help end…

Is this thing on?

I gave my first ‘Contest’ speech in more than 20 years on Saturday .. I was a contestant in the Toastmasters District 69, Eastern Division, Area 27 Humorous Speech contest. Which sounds a bit more spectacular than it actually is. Essentially it means that I was one of two people representing my Toastmasters club against contestants…

What-I-Wonder-Wednesday – Why are reporters fair game?

There’s a story out of Sydney today, where a Channel Nine reporter had eggs thrown at her while she was doing a live cross in a street where terrorism raids had taken place. And there are some, especially on social media, who are arguing that as a reporter, she was ‘fair game’ – that the reptiles…

What-I-Wonder-Wednesday – Am I doing the right thing??

Its now been just under 10 weeks since I gave up the security of a regular paycheck and full-time work, to hang out my shingle as a freelance travel writer / voiceover artist / whatever. And I’m still having a blast – but I have to say, things are slowwwww … Oh, I’m keeping the…