Well first full-time job and it’s go go go. Seem to be at work for a fair chunk of the day but I’m really enjoying it, can’t complain one bit. It’s quite a young newsroom, and everyone is great to get along with. Our COS is exceptionally fantastic, editor is good and general manager alright, except for his love for the Richmond Football Club.

Bundaberg as a town is pretty boring, but most of the people are great to get along with, and with the friends I’ve made up here in the newsroom, you make a lot of your own fun. Plus Bargara (10 mins down the road) is close and fun for a swim/lunch/whatever.

I was doing news mon to thurs with sport on friday, but the last fortnight has seen me do sport full-time. Which is good in a way, I’ve made a heap of contacts, but looking forward to getting back into the news next week!

Ok so here’s me enjoying a beer at our Christmas party, with our production editor Sean Atkins, and his wife whose name I’ve forgotten half chopped out for some reason (stupid computers). Sean’s tops, he’s English, speaks funnny and supports losing football teams.

Bye all!

However, its sad (albeit exciting to) that Jschool will be finishing soon and some of our classmates will be continents away. Anyway, Merrins landing of the BBC job is a testament to the fantastic person and journalist she is.

A wise man said earlier this year in the student bios:

“Though based in Brisbane now, it is easy to picture her jet setting around the world as a
journalist in the not so distant future.”

Move over Nostradamus.

Oh and come to think of it, maybe Merrin could befriend the great Andy Bichel? He also plys his trade in Essex.

Not really, I really just wanted to put a cricket photo in (he does play for Essex but).

Well actually Wednesday night was pretty full on, couldn’t sleep all night due to kids playing up outside on bikes, made even worse by their parents shouting out gems like “You f*#$ing better get back here right f*$%ing now or I’ll…” Mind you this is at around midnight onwards. Classy people I know. (Here is when I learnt no matter how cheap avoid motels situated next to carvan parks).

That made for a rough Thursday morning but a few coffees had me kickstarted ready to face the day ahead. An interesting day it turned out to be; notorious paedophile Bradley Pendragon (not real surname) was spotted walking around town. Spotted by a former screw no less, who had the job of locking him back in his cell every night after meals/exercises/whatever. That pretty reliable sighting, plus the fact he had family in the area, and the Sydney shelter he was staying told us he had left, made for a pretty strong story.

So after doing a nice warm story on a kids art show at the local primary school, I went to the other end of the spectrum and found myself driving around town with a photographer looking for Pendragon. We knew we had the slightest chance in hell of finding him, but it doesn’t hurt to give it a crack.

Another sleep interrupted night due to rowdy kids followed. Despite this, I woke up pretty pumped on Friday morning. Having lived in the Gold Coast my whole life, I was worried a town like Grafton might bore me (not that I am a nightclub animal or the most exciting person ever). However I had a great time, and was looking forward to showing the staff at the DEX that I was going to finish on a high note.

The day flew by, like the whole week really, and in the blink of an eye I was shaking hands with Peter Ellem (editor) and saying my goodbye to the staff. I meet a heap of really nice people there, and definitely would like to keep in contact with the reporters.

Friday night I was PUMPED to watch the Dockers vs Swans prelim final… what a travesty of a game! Sydney’s ‘flooding’ game style was about as exciting as a kick to the groin, but sadly this low scoring, boring, constricting game plan held the Dockers off. I hope West Coast win the GF; as a football fan that is, I usually can’t stand Sandgropers.

So thats about it. A lovely drive home to the Gold Coast on Saturday morning, followed by a nice relaxing weekend. Sorry for boring you all to death. Until next time – Zane.

ps some exciting developments re: Bundaberg in the pipeline…

-> have a look here

Politically, I don’t agree with the vast majority of what Bolt says (Liberal Party spokesman, Howard and G.W Bush champion, blaming the harmless Judas Priest on playing a part in perpetuating crime in aboriginal gangs etc.) but this time he is 100% correct.

Good on you John, you deserve a wrap.

Nothing dramatic like a bomb scare (sounds cool Merrin) but I have been kept pretty busy. The editor here is a cool guy and the news conferences in the morning are held openly with the staff, with everyone free to throw in their opinion.

I had a story and a brief in Tuesday’s paper, and today I got my first front page, so I was pretty happy about that. It spilt over into page 4 and took up half that page so it was a pretty big piece. It was about a local man’s experience with prostate cancer, how he set up a support group and is trying to raise the awareness of it etc. And another story in so it’s all going well.

I’ve done a fair amount of stories with no real time constraints as such so I have a good bunch of stories ready to go.

I’m staying in a pretty shoddy motel room though, in a caravan/motel place. Maybe I should have known when they didn’t have pics on the net. No kitchen facilities (‘cept for kettle and toaster) and the ‘ironing facilities’ amounted only to one iron. I was hoping for an ironing board, as it clearly says facilities, meaning plural – being more than one. The mongrels.

Plus it’s the size of a shoe box but alas the bed is comfortable so I can’t complain too much.

It might seem like I’m being a bludger on here but I’m typing really fast, doing lots of stories has got my speed up exceptionally quickly.

Ok no more from me.

Over and out

Zane

Here is a picture of Aaron “Hammer” Hamill and Nick Reiwoldt and laughing at the pitiful Lions display.

After years of copping abuse for the Saints’ loses at the Gabba, it feels good to be on the other side.

It is a sport where men are men, players who go down injured are derided as ‘poofs’…

…Yet Manchester City (English soccer team) have decided to challenge football’s taboo by becoming a champion of equal rights, hiring gays to work at its stadium and training ground and attracting new supporters from the city’s thriving gay and lesbian community. The Premiership side have become the first club to join a distinguished list of employers which are officially recognised as ‘gay-friendly’ by Stonewall, the gay rights campaign group…

…The move could lead to a dramatic change of attitude in the macho world of football, which is regarded as one of the last bastions of homophobia…

…Manchester City already give Manchester’s main gay amateur team free coaching and match tickets, advertise in local gay publications, back the city’s Lesbian and Gay Foundation and support Aids fundraising initiatives…

…Ben Summerskill, Stonewall’s chief executive, said ‘We are delighted that Manchester City are being brave enough to be the first club to put its head above the parapet by saying publicly that they are interested.’

I wonder if any Australian football clubs would do the same?

Full Story here

Tuesday was great fun. I’d spoken to the sports guys before so it was a smooth transition. Honestly, it was like sitting around talking to your mates or the guys in your football team. Everyone was joking around, paying eachother out on a whole range of things (code of choice, teams followed, hair cuts, clothes, stories). But when it came to story advice, they were serious and gave really handy advice. They gave good constructive criticism, praised things done well and took time out of their work to lend a hand.

It was hard saying goodbye to my old friend the police scanner, but I eventually got over it. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all pretty much the same. All the sports guys would hop on the computers in the morning, check the wires, emails, etc. Then there was a bit of an open discussion with the sports editor (after he had his morning meeting with editor etc) about stories. He gives some out and everyone usually makes at least a couple of suggestions each.

Then it’s work time! Usually consists of phone calls, driving to Lions or Broncos training, more phone calls, visit some young sports prodigy, more phone calls, booking photographers and finally more phone calls. I had a few good stories published from my time at the sports desk. I could definitely see myself working in an environment like that for a long time!

All the gaps I will fill with my work experience report, and in conversation tomorrow.

I hope I didn’t bore you all with my posts.

ps I nearly forgot the photos.

Here is me pretending to be on a phone call in the police reporters/scanner room

With my back to the scanner room, this is one half of the news room, big hey.

This is the other half (right hand side)

Are you bored yet? Heres a shot of the sports desk.

From another angle.

Ok thats enough from me, there’s a few more pics at photobucket.com, username stkfczane, password jackson. Enjoy. See you soon – Zane

Ill-health, Bundaberg. Ill-health, Bundaberg. Ill-health, Bundaberg… hmmmm

I wonder if she checked into hospital.