("Hey! it worked!" you say. "I clicked a link or typed in an address and here I am. Um, where is here?")
Well, here is riverland.net.au.
My homepage is saved on a web-server (gi-normous hard disk with software and modem connections allowing people to access webpages) in the Riverland Internet office, which is between Riverland Computers on one side and the Murray Pioneer regional newspaper on the other, in Renmark, South Australia.
It's a very short walk to the River from there, across the old and very beautiful gardens behind the library.
The Murray River is the third largest river in the world, and all the towns that make up the Riverland draw life from, and base life around, this slow-moving and timeless-feeling system of waterways.
This is a horticultural region, again using the river to irrigate an amazing variety and extent of vines, stonefruit, citrus and vegetables.
You can grow just about anything here, if you don't forget to water it, and allow for the frosty nights in winter.
Our summers are long, with warmth that gets through to your bones, and our winter nights may be frosty, but winter days are sunny and around 20 deg C or higher.
Apparently we get more hours of sunlight than the much-hyped Gold Coast ;-)
We have world-famous wineries, and tourists tend to get here and not want to go home (no, not just because of the booze!).
You might like to check out Big River's page.
There is a lot of Ngarindjerri (the Aboriginal people belonging to this land) and immigrant (all types!) history here.
Away from the River, it is all desert, millions of hectares of red dust, saltbush and the fragile and fascinating ecology of the dry places.
The desert is very old, very patient and very alive in ways that would surprise you.
Not being easily exploitable, it is also largely untouched.
Australia is geologically ancient compared to other continents, so out there is some of the oldest surviving terrain in the world.
Have you ever seen a desert sunset?
We have the most vibrant sunsets, splashing colour across the sky.
If you saw the colours in a photo or postcard, you wouldn't think they could be real.
If you see the sunset, or a sunrise, near the massive quiet life of either the river or the desert, there is a feeling of peace and wonder there.
A white ibis moves delicately in the shallows, and you have waited just long enough for other birds and animals to come out around you.
Leaves stir in the breeze, singing a little. The kookaburras have settled down. A hopping mouse picks its way unsuspiciously past your feet, leaving little squiggles in the dust. A two-metre goanna stalks majestically around the tent, flickering his tongue out to sense for movement.
Waterskiers thrashed past earlier, but all their noise and movement only left a ripple on the great, slowly-moving water, and then, not even that.
This is South Australia's Riverland.
I was born in Geelong (brrrr!), in the state of Victora to our South-East, but have lived in Adelaide (capital of South Australia) mostly, Armidale (rural university city in New South Wales) for a while, and in the Riverland for the past 10 years or so.
It is important at this point to remind any Victorians that the Adelaide Crows (Australian Rules) football team (including players from the Riverland) creamed a large number of Victorian teams to win the national Premiership last year.
We won! We won!! Nyyyaaaaaahhhh!!!
Ahem. Back to the topic ;-)
I am, of course, a middle-aged (I'm in the middle of turning 40 right now), quiet and respectable lady who wouldn't dream of stirring anybody up.
It's a good thing you don't have to sign webpages, isn't it? ;-)
Why am I finding it so hard to talk about myself?
I'm actually very shy (really), and can talk about or do other things much more comfortably than I can really share with people, be personal, although I have learnt to do this more as I have kept growing up.
I want my money back from the people who said you would be grown up at 21!
Life has been fitted (without consultation with us) with all these changes and challenges, and we have to learn to deal with them.
I personally think this sucks, but protest hasn't got me anywhere, so I'm dealing with the same sorts of ups and downs and issues that everyone else probably is.
It does help to know that we're all in the same boat with this: people, learning to use our own software. ;-)
Anyway, in this boat with me are the following much-loved people:
I've worked in teaching mostly, and was lecturing at TAFE for some years in English (including adult literacy, advanced English and ESL), Maths and Computing.
I worked with refugees for nearly 20 years, and am bilingual and bicultural in Vietnamese.
At one stage I was working with non-English-speaking-background growers and the use of agricultural chemicals. This region is estimated to have 50% NESB population.
It was all fascinating stuff and I loved my work.
I love to teach. I love most of all, the light that comes on in a person's eyes when s/he realizes that s/he can do something s/he didn't believe s/he could.
Just to make life a little more challenging, in 1993 I developed the illness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Myalgic Encephalmyelitis and other things I can't remember (or spell!).
I've spent a lot of time in hospital, and a lot of time not being able to do things, which frustrates the hell out of me.
I'm mostly bedridden now, but experimental treatment from the University of Newcastle research team has helped with the cognitive (still had to type that one six times) difficulties, so I am sometimes able to communicate by email, keep working on ways to deal with my situation, and I write webpages and articles to help people with computing, when I can.
You're welcome to read some of my personal/cfs writing, and there are a couple of photos there, too.
Please feel free to link to my Plain English computer/Internet info site, and to save or print any of the information and/or articles there.
My aim with this site is to provide the information people really need, either when first taking on computers or the 'Net, or in dealing with a particular problem.
Anyone is welcome to access this site.