Sophie Lisely : August 2012

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Before I started working in Rockingham I knew very little about the area. One of the best things about doing a cadetship down here is getting to know the area as well as the people. One of the area's I've come to enjoy spending a lot of time in is the Town of Kwinana, which I'm happy to report is soon to become the City of Kwinana.

My front page about Kwinana becoming a city

Made up of suburbs like Bertram, Medina, Calista, Parmelia, Leda and Wellard, as well as the well known industrial strip, Kwinana is growing like you wouldn't believe and before this job I basically hadn't even been to Kwinana before.

I'd driven though on the way to Mandurah but never actually made the turn off down Thomas Road and into the suburbs.

But what I've found while I've been visiting Kwinana is really surprising and really enlightening.

A beautiful tree in Parmelia

The bushland around Kwinana is absolutely beautiful. I love driving the long winding roads through the once-rural areas like Wellard and Bertram. If you get high enough up in the hills in Parmelia you can see right out to the Darling scarp and when weather rolls in it's spectacular.

Storm clouds over Bertram

I've had a fair bit to do with Kwinana council now having covered their meetings since I began here and although I'm the first to admit I don't have much to compare them to I've so far been impressed.

Mayor Carol Adams is deeply passionate about the area and her enthusiasm is palpable. The councillors are all equally as enthusiastic and are all keen to see Kwinana succeed and move forward.

What I'm longwindedly trying to say is that it's not often you go to an area that you've never lived in or don't currently live in and feel such a connection with it.

Filled with people who generally want to see the area succeed, I'm excited to see what Kwinana achieves in the coming years and look forward to covering it.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Terça-feira

My first job today was with the Rockingham/Kwinana Men of the Trees.

Their base is down a tight bush track through the Rockingham Golf Course and if I hadn't been running late I would have enjoyed the drive much more.

They're having a sale in a few weeks to try and get rid of excess stock. All native plants which are conducive to the area, like this little beauty.

It absolutely bucketed down again today, with beautiful breaks of coastal sunshine. I got drenched in a downpour when I was leaving the Rockingham Council Chambers this afternoon after a job, but since I only had the drive back up the Kwinana Fwy ahead of me I didn't mind.

Calm before.....

....the downpour

Rainbow over Rockingham

This is a snap I took last week of the principal of the new Baldivis Secondary College.

I really like it because the colours are great, the lines are interesting thanks to the building and he was a really nice fellow with a lovely smile.

Today was a typical cruisey Tuesday. A few jobs, but no deadline meaning things are a little less insane. Tomorrow brings a Kwinana Council Meeting so it's a late start but I've started to looking forward to my fortnightly visits to Kwinana.

Catcha.

Monday, August 6, 2012

FARRAGO

I bet you're probably sick of the changes of 'theme' through this blog? Well I was going to write an apology post as I sat at my desk today thinking about what to write for an almighty comeback. But then I thought..........Nah I can't apologise for the mangled themes, the all-over-the-shop nature of this ongoing piece of word-vomit I heave up onto the internet. I can't apologise because it's me.
Flaky, lackadaisical, jumbled and inconsistent, but only in the sense you can't catch me every week. My friends will tell you I'm a terror to catch-up with. Only the things which I consider daily or weekly necessities become as such, and everything else....well you're lucky if you catch me. But it doesn't mean I don't care. It doesn't mean I'm not thinking about the other things/people/tasks I should be thinking about/seeing/doing. I can't apologise for the way I am because the things that are important come back around to me and the people who are important stick by me. The preamble is now finished and with that I welcome you to Pretty Set All Set Mach II, blog 2.0, the next phase.

In the last period of creative and productive outpourings here I was lamenting my state of affairs. Having graduated I was without gainful employment (in the field I desired at least) and I was going to use this platform to track my journey.

Well that was a giant failure because here I am four months into a cadetship at a newspaper and I haven't written one single post. Not one post telling anyone how life on the other side of uni/getting a read job is.

Excuse #1 I'm really busy: Seriously though, I am.
Excuse #2 I have a boyfriend who I give pretty much all of my spare time to.
Excuse #3 Writing all day at work makes it very difficult to come home inspired.

OK EXCUSES DONE!! Here's the plan now. I'm going to take you with me in my new life as a baby journalist.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
I work for a newspaper in Rockingham.
The two publications we produce cover Rockingham, Kwinana, Mandurah and the surrounding suburbs.
I have days where I love my job and I'm grateful I took that chance and swapped unis.
I also have days where I question every decision I ever made and think I should throw in the towel, to back to uni to study teaching, law, ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES THIS. But luckily those days aren't every day.
This will not just be about work and I'm sorry to never be able to pick a theme but I can't.
The theme is Sophie. Sophie and what she does. Starting today.

August 6 2012.
Today was deadline day. It was fairly calm considering our editor is on holidays (although the news half way through the day that he'd broken his foot and might not be back for a while was more than a little concerning. It rained basically all day, but not before I got to head out to take a snap of the Mayor of Kwinana, the GM of the Global Good Foundation and The Liberal Candidate for Brand.