Australia Adventure

Opal, snakes, and supernatural beings. In Outback Australia, there’s more than one thing that’ll kill you…and it’s not entirely human. ? Deep in the harsh and unforgiving Australian Outback lies the sleepy opal mining town of Solace. Frequently bypassed by all but the desperate, there’s nothing spectacular about it…on the surface. Solace is a haven for supernatural outcasts. A witch runs the general store, a vampire cuts and polishes opal, the mechanic is a werewolf, a fae is the local layabout, and an elemental works the mine. Everyone has a past, and the Exiles of Solace are ...

Texas and Axel are thrown together at a border crossing in India. They don't like each other. They meet by accident in London. They plan a wild weekend in Paris. Paris is a disaster. Jack returns to Australia. Waiting for him is a card: 'If you are ever in Vermont drop by.' ‘So readable and so funny.’ ‘All other authors are on hold as I am just starting my 6th book by Thorogood.’ ‘A whirlwind trip around Europe.’ ‘In this book you'll find bad tempered Greeks, picnics in minefields and the odd terrorist attacks.’ ‘A fun romp from Australia to England.’ ‘Fast cars, loose...

From Curio Bay to Golden Bay, in Down South writer Bruce Ansley sets off on a vast expedition across the South Island, Te Waipounamu, visiting the places and people who hold clues to the south's famous character. Not so very long ago, the South Island had most of New Zealand's people and just about all of the money. Gold miners found fortunes in the hills and rivers, sheep barons straddled mountains, valleys and plains. Wealthy southerners ruled the government. Where now lies the South Island's golden fleece? And what is its future?

Do have fun in the treehouse, but don't get into danger.

Nature is excessive, lovely, and ominous in the Solomons and the Melanesians who live there, often blond or redheaded, are the blackest of all people. Before World War II such names as Guadalcanal, Savo, Munda were rarely heard. Guadalcanal, over 100 miles long by 30 miles wide, is the largest island. Then in descending order there's Malaita, San Cristobal, Choiseul, New Georgia, and Santa Ysabel. All of them are mountainous, covered with rain forest, and laced with rivers.

Eileen Kramer has lived the most extraordinary life. Born just after Australia entered World War I, she embraced creativity and adventure from an early age. She danced and painted murals in Karachi; worked as an artist's model in Paris and London; met Ella Fitzgerald and Groucho Marx; and learned the twist from Louis Armstrong. In September 2013, aged ninety-nine, Eileen returned to Australia. Now, at 108, she is still dancing.

This charming account of the voyage of two men in a small boat half way round the world from Plymouth to New Zealand in 1953 is a rare insight into a time, not long ago, when sailors had no GPS, electronics, radio or any of the mod cons that we take for granted today. Without lifejacket or a life raft, they 'just took what came along', hand steering all the way, navigating by sextant, hand-cranking their engine and using oil lamps for light at night and for navigation. Sailors will be staggered how primitive conditions were only a few decades ago, even though it was the norm at the time.

At an exclusive private school in Switzerland, mystery surrounds the identity of the beautiful girl who arrives each morning and leaves each afternoon in a heavily protected motorcade fit for a head of state. She is said to be the daughter of a wealthy international businessman. She is not. And when she is brutally kidnapped across the border in the Haute-Savoie region of France, Gabriel Allon, the legendary chief of Israeli intelligence, is thrust into a deadly secret war with an old enemy that will determine the future of the Middle East—and perhaps the world....

Little Sammy Went vanishes from her home in Manson, Kentucky - an event that devastates her family and tears apart the town’s deeply religious community. Kim Leamy, an Australian photographer, is approached by a stranger who turns her world upside down - he claims she is the kidnapped Sammy and that everything she knows about herself is based on a lie. In search of answers, Kim returns to the remote town of Sammy’s childhood to face up to the ghosts of her early life. But the deeper she digs into her family background the more secrets she uncovers....

Back at Alexandria, with their friend Curtis Pepper visiting, Kensy and Max are enjoying the school break. Especially when Granny Cordelia surprises them with a trip to New York! It's meant to be a family vacation, but the twins soon realise there's more to this holiday than meets the eye. The chase to capture Dash Chalmers is on, and when there's another dangerous criminal on the loose, the twins find themselves embroiled in a most unusual case. They'll need all their spy sensibilities, along with Curtis and his trusty spy backpack, to bring down the culprit.

Kensy and Max's next spy mission sees them head to the City of Lights.

Hey, you - yes, you! Remember when we found that really deep hole and you jumped in and I had to jump in to rescue you and at the bottom of the hole we found the cave of the legendary Peanut Butter Beast? That was one of our deepest - and most dangerous - adventures ever! What? You don't remember? Well, have I got a story for you! Let me remind you how it all went down ... and down ... and down ... and down.

Evie, a widow and stationmaster's daughter, helplessly looks out for the weekly visit of the handsome man she and her sister call The Southerner on their train platform in the wilds of Northern England. When polite salutations shift to friendly conversations, they become captivated by each other's reticent manner. After so much sorrow, the childless Evie can't believe love and the chance for her own family has come into her life again.

It is 1914, and the storm clouds of war are building on the horizon. In Sydney, Josiah Steele is the new head of the family and grappling with his two very different sons - David, upstanding, decent and heir to the family enterprises; and Benjamin, wayward, restless and a magnet for trouble. To give Ben some responsibility, Josiah sends him on a trade mission straight into the territory of their soon-to-be enemy. As war erupts across Europe, its repercussions are felt in the Pacific.

Stevie Vegas is just your average 12 year old school kid living in suburban Valley Dale, with a passion for skateboarding. He thinks his life is pretty normal...that's until he discovers he's an Illuminator with extra-ordinary mind powers. Then the Shadowcasters arrive and he's forced into a battle as ancient as time itself, one that pits Illuminators against Shadowcasters: lightbringers against demons. Stevie Vegas must find a way to steal the source of the Shadowcasters' power, the cursed stones. Only then will he have the advantage in the fight for his life…

Bindi, Robert and Terri Irwin are on their way to Sumatra to collect three gorgeous tiger cubs to take back with them to Australia Zoo. But Bindi is horrified to see the huge logging operations that are going on so close to the endangered tigers’ natural habitat. Soon after they are introduced to the mischievous trio, Bindi and her new friend Madi get involved in tracking down a nefarious gang of tiger poachers.

Hector Cross, ex-SAS officer, private security expert, widower. His wife was taken much too soon, by a cruel man with evil intentions. Johnny Congo, psychopath, extortionist, terrorist, the man who murdered Hector's wife. Cross wants him dead. So does the US government. Congo is locked up on Death Row in the most secure prison in the free world, counting down the days until his execution. He's got two weeks. He wants out. He's escaped before and knows he can again. Cross, still licking his wounds from his last bruising encounter with Congo, is back and ready for work.

When Quil Medway gets on the train, she thinks she knows where and howher journey will end. At camp. With another school holiday spent surrounded by people, but feeling alone. Quil doesn't know how wrong she is. She doesn't know anything about the shop at Hoopers Bend. Or a bitter, prickly woman called Bailey Or a little black and white dog who at this very moment is chewing through a rope so he'll be free to answer a call that only he can hear. She doesn't know about the magic. But it won't be long now....

When Tim Bowden went back to Tasmania to explore his state of origin for the first time in many years, he was reminded of his adolescent assertion that "Tasmania is the testicle of Australia, suffusing the mainland with strength and vigour. What a pity there is only one of them".

Join Andy, Terry and Jill for a flying dot adventure! Up, up and away!