I am a mother of three who grew up with four brothers in Country Victoria, Australia. The local landscape consisted of dairy farms, abandoned gold mines, rivers and old logging tracks in the mountains where there was an abundance of snakes, rabbits, birds & bats.My husband and I moved from Victoria to Cairns, Queensland, in 1980. At the end of the nineties we bought a property on the Atherton Tablelands where we would escape to on the weekends to get away from the city hustle and bustle. As our property was untouched forest, there was an abundance of wildlife.As I noticed birds coming into the garden, I started putting out sunflower seeds. Before we knew it, during the day rainbow lorikeets came, king parrots, cockatoos, goannas and occasionally snakes. It was so exciting. At night we saw padymelons, eastern grey kangaroos, owls, several varieties of possums, night spiders (garden orbs), pythons and night tigers. Watching the way the wildlife interacted with one another inspired the writing of the lorikeet's series.I hope the stories create a window for children to experience and enjoy the antics of the wildlife that were frequent visitors to our garden as much as I did.
