I plotted the very direct route to Ipswich, from Kenmore, by tagging(and numbering) the pages in my map book.
And I took a trip to Ipswich a few days before my internship was due to start – to check my travel time.

But I still managed to be two crucial minutes late on DAY 1. Arghhhh!

The news conference was underway.
Can I blame the higgeldy-piggeldy configuration of roads around Brisbane?

This morning- DAY 2 – I was early. Nice!

Unlike Wynnum Herald, I haven’t been given much to do, but any ideas seem to be welcomed – so long as they have the ‘local’ slant. I like that.

The editor – Stuart Sherwin- is away so I have yet to make his acquaintance.
Brigid – the COS looks shockingly young for such responsibility but I guess she must be getting the job done. Friendly – in a busy, working to a tight schedule way.

No-one has been mean to me (and Bernadette is lovely).

Even Jo, sitting next to me, who seemed a bit grumpy to start with, passed me a story and kindly offered to help when Zane (on the phone) was unavailable.

Zane. Ex J School. I’m glad he’s there. He seems to be taking my many questions in his stride.

It is a funny thing being sat at a desk and left to find your own way, though I don’t mind that. It’s like – okay, if I’m left to find my own way, i guess they won’t mind if I meander off-course a bit.
Like I do on the Brisbane roads.

What have I been doing?

2 vox pops (‘question of the day’).

Been out with Zane and photographer David for a follow-up story(Zane’s, not mine) on a car-dealership that was liquidated with virtually no warning (Oh, it’s a jungle out there!).

Today I went out to Warrego Wines to speak to sculptors involved in a ‘sculpture symposium’.

Sounds wanky (those arty things are always made to sound wanky but I think that’s the fault of marketers). But sculpture’s great – big slabs of sandstone being lovingly worked on.

And the sculptors were passionate (and not in a wanky way). And I would liked to have stayed for longer but the photographer, Sarah, had another job to get to.

So, what have I actually written? Well, not a lot. Let’s see…

The vox pop comments. I liked that because it’s fast and easy.

A few lines about a ‘Firefoxes’ lunch. They are women who survived the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria. Going around having lunches and talking to other ‘disaster’ survivors. Not really sure what the point is. Togetherness in suffering, i guess.

The Sculpure Symposium story from today – which could have been a lot longer but I wasn’t sure how much info to include. And I spent so much time picking over facts, name spellings and every potential punctuation error that I thought I’d better just get it filed.

But i have spent a lot of time thinking, considering, making phone calls, looking for information and thinking some more.

And charting the unfamiliar terrain of the Queensland Times.

Compared to Wynnum Herald, QT is big and busy. Lot’s going on.

And I’m just making friends with the Citrix computer application that is used to write and file stories.

But it’s all good.
It’s only Day 2.

By the end of the week I’ll be getting the hang of this place.

Tomorrow I am going to attend court with crime reporter who is standing in for ‘Kate’, the court reporter who is on holiday.

I have asked about attending Ipswich council meeting next week. I think that was okayed.

The image at top is a sculpture by Birgid Grapentin, director of Sculptors in Action inc – who are doing the sculpture symposium at Warrego Wines.