Margaret Gregory

Margaret began writing at high school, and wrote on and off while working to attain a Master of Science degree. After working as an analytical chemist for ten years, participating in activities with the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard and raising a family, she moved on to study writing and editing, and achieve a Diploma in Library and Information services. She entered her first novel The Wild One in the Fellowship of Australian Writers Jim Hamilton Award (2011) and received a highly commended, this award being for an unpublished novel of sustained quality. Now with her boys grown up, she has begun to rewrite her early novels. Editor in Chief and Science Editor for The Australia Times, she lives with her three men in Melbourne, Australia, in a house with a metal roof that is used as a runway by possums.

Science Volume 5 Issue 1 References

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Science Volume 5 Issue 1 Ghosts of the Reef Bibliography: “2016 Global Coral Bleach Event – Wavelength”. Wavelength. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 June 2016. Bauer, Adriana. “Climate Change – Biodiscovery And The Great Barrier Reef – Queensland Museum”.Qm.qld.gov.au. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 June 2016. “Bleaching Events – AIMS”. Aims.gov.au. N.p., 2016. Web. 22 June 2016. “Coral Bleaching … Read more

Stepfamily survival guide for the Xmas holidays

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Tens-of-thousands of Australians are currently filled with dread, contemplating the social minefield known as the Xmas Holidays.  They are among the 1-in-5 Australians who are part of a stepfamily.   For many of them, the interaction that comes with this season is an emotional battle with their past, their identity and their future.

Peak organisation STEPFAMILIES AUSTRALIA www.stepfamily.org.au has released a ‘Stepfamily Survival Guide for the Holidays’, as well as offering useful new apps to help people communicate on their own terms.

“More than a million of us are in stepfamilies, and they can be a truly wonderful experience,” notes Stepfamilies Australia CEO Karen Field.

“But blended doesn’t always mean mended, and emotions can be particularly raw at this time of year – especially when dealing with new and old parents and partners and siblings, not to mention different cultures, religions and traditions.”

 

Guide to Stepping Up to a Less Stressful Christmas Season

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Preparing your home and family for bushfire season

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Summer is definitely here. For most of us it means beach trips and BBQ’s with friends. It also brings much hotter weather and the chance of bushfires.

Preparation for bushfire season should be a year-round task, but if you haven’t started yet, here are some tips to help as a guide and remember it’s never too late to make preparations to protect your home and family.

1.     Trees and plants provide fuel for fires. Remove the build up of dead branches, bark or shrubs

2.    If you’re planting a garden, plant trees away from the house so limbs and branches don’t hang over your roof and drop leaves in gutters. These can ignite quickly if burning embers fall on them.

3.    Clean leaves from your roof, gutters and downpipes

4.    Remove all flammable material that is within 20 metres of your property. This includes flammable liquids and newspapers or cardboard that you have stockpiled for recycling.

 

“No-one wants to be impacted by a bushfire. Often there is nothing that can be done to stop damage, but if you follow the above small tips you will have at least given your place every chance of surviving if a bushfire is in your area.

“All Australians should be removing any dead and dry material around their property. People should also trim low lying branches two metres from the ground”, said Lachlan Adams, Co-Founder, MyGenerator.com.au.

 

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Italian flavours of Fratelli Fresh in Crows Nest Sydney Food Lovers Alert

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Fratelli Fresh has settled into the Crows Nest dining scene this summer, bringing affordable, authentic Italian casual flavours to Sydney’s lower North Shore.

Fratelli Fresh Crows Nest is located on the popular Willoughby Road dining strip, making it a convenient hotspot for business lunches, family-friendly dinners, group get-togethers and relaxed long lunches over summery weekends and the festive season.

Customers can also enjoy their Fratelli favourites at home, with online ordering and delivery available.

It is the eighth Fratelli Fresh for Rockpool Dining Group, including six others in Sydney and one in Melbourne’s CBD. The Fratelli family will continue its geographic expansion in 2017, with a further four to six planned to open in across the country by the end of 2017.

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SYDNEYSIDERS: BYPASS THE CITY RUSH AND DISCOVER THE CHARM OF CHRISTMAS IN THE ROCKS

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This year, escape the frenetic pace of the city and enjoy a charm-filled Christmas in The Rocks while strolling through the cobbled laneways, admiring the festive decorations and browsing the boutique markets.

The Rocks is the perfect place to shop, catch up with friends over cocktails, soak in harbour views, and dine out in style this December.

To get you in the Christmas spirit, George Street in The Rocks will be home to a giant Santa towering over seven metres high and made from over 1,200 milk crates. So come along, snap a selfie and make a Christmas wish.

 

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Recycled Christmas  Tells Melbourne’s Christmas Story at Galleria

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**Information on Christmas Markets & ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions below

This festive season, Galleria, a bustling city corner of shops and eateries in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, is celebrating Christmas in a uniquely thoughtful and sustainable way.

Recycled Christmas decorations have been installed throughout the centre utilising reusable materials from retailers and cafés, as well as a giant Melbourne’s Christmas Story book featuring rotating stories of goodwill from Foodbank Victoria, the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Melbourne Animal Rescue and Waverley Industries.

Hide away from Christmas-shopping mayhem and discover simple ways to give back this festive season through free ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions on Thursdays, 15 and 22 December, where Melburnians can listen to Melbourne’s Christmas Story, learn about unique ways to give a gift to those less fortunate, and discover sustainable ways to celebrate Christmas.

Supporting small Australian business, the Galleria Christmas Market presented by Australian Wine and Food features bespoke food, spirits and wine from southern Australian producers. The market is on from 10am-3pm Thursdays and Fridays until 16 December.

Interior space designer Steph Gooden of One68 recently completed furnishing the ambience upgrade of the centre’s atrium food court. Taking inspiration from the design aesthetic of the new look, Steph designed the Recycled Christmas decorations and Melbourne’s Christmas Story in consultation with Galleria.

“Australians are producing an increasing amount of waste, and are set to spend a record $48 billion on Christmas this year. So we thought of the idea to recycle reusable materials from our retailers for this year’s Christmas decorations. We also wanted to invoke the Christmas spirit of goodwill, which is how Melbourne’s Christmas Story eventuated,” says Lisa Fleming, Galleria’s Regional Centre Manager.

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Kill your speed and not our wildlife these Christmas holidays

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The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) is asking motorists to take care on the roads over the summer holidays to protect native species as well as human lives. Each year in Australia, thousands of collisions occur between motor vehicles and animals, resulting in considerable vehicle repair costs, injury to people and loss of animal life. “It’s … Read more

AROMBABY, have won the HKABA Victoria Business Award for Excel-lence in Bilateral Trade to China and Hong Kong.

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Pioneers in natural mother and baby personal care, AROMBABY, have won the HKABA Victoria Business Award for Excellence in Bilateral Trade to China and Hong Kong. This prestigious Award is in recognition of export excellence to Hong Kong for fifteen years and to China for the past five.

Distributed across Australia for over twenty years, including through online beauty store Adore Beauty, Thomas Dux Organic, select pharmacies, hotels and baby stores, AROMABABY has positioned itself as a non-mass, professional eco brand priding itself on a long history of safety and efficacy.

Aromababy has been involved in exporting, working with the community and providing education in the mother and baby sector, since launching more than two decades ago. Aromababy has also provided product to select hospitals in Hong Kong throughout that time and Founder, Catherine Cervasio, runs workshops annually to help educate around the benefits of baby massage, natural ingredients and other wellness topics.

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Melbourne Movie Buffs: QV Outdoor Cinema Returns for a 2nd Season

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Following a hugely popular season last summer, QV Melbourne’s Outdoor Cinema has returned this summer with another program full of Melbourne’s favourite things: live entertainment, free cocktails, special food, red carpets, instafamous dogs, charity screenings, a film festival and more.

Melbourne’s only silent cinema is located on the open air Astroturf square in the heart of the precinct. One of the city’s most affordable outdoor cinemas, QV Outdoor Cinema’s $12 ticket includes deckchair seating and high quality headphones for every audience member.

Pre film dining is easy at QV, whether it’s a wrap from Schnitz, a Movenpick ice cream, a dark hot chocolate from Max Brenner, or a modern Asian dinner at Red Spice QV, audiences will be spoilt for choice before settling into the intimate 80-seat deckchair and beanbag cinema. 

Sessions begin at 8:30pm Thursday to Sunday nights right through until 26 February.

Sessions and events read on

 

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Sydney Pizza Lovers Alert: The Famous Christmas Pizza Giving the Gift of Shelter

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**Available Fratelli Fresh Sydney unit 31st December

Level 5 Westfield Sydney CBD & World Square Shopping Centre George St

 

 Fratelli Famous Pizzeria has added a limited-edition, black-crusted Christmas pizza to its menu for the duration of December to raise money for international disaster relief charity, ShelterBox.

$1 from every large Famous Christmas pizza sold will be donated to ShelterBox, which provides temporary shelter and lifesaving supplies to displaced families, including those in Australia.

Created by Famous pizza chefs, the black-crusted Christmas pizza is spread with red sauce, sprinkled with Monterey Jack cheese, scattered with roast turkey breast, and dressed with caramelised whole shallots that have been roasted in the pizza oven, as well as green capsicum rings, and aromatic fresh rosemary.

These fast-fired pizzas cook to blistered perfection in under two minutes in dual wood and gas-fired ovens that are the centrepiece of each Fratelli Famous Pizzeria, and are topped off with a generous drizzle of cranberry BBQ sauce.

The subtle smokiness of the black crust, which is achieved with the incorporation of charcoal, enhances the sweetness of the BBQ sauce, the char of the shallots, and complements the flavoursome turkey and peppery cheese.

Rockpool Dining Group Chief Executive Officer Thomas Pash said: “Helping to provide shelter for displaced families around the world, particularly as we head into bushfire and flood season in Australia, is immensely motivating and satisfying for the Famous team. I hope customers will be equally inspired to support this worthy cause.”

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