The ungodly hour of 6am approached. Surely no normal human being can operate at such a time…

I managed to haul my body out of bed, grab a coffee and take off for what would be an hour drive to Acacia Ridge situated in the southern suburbs of Brisbane (or as many see it, toothless Joe country).

After getting lost in Suburbia I managed to find the Satellite headquarters near an industrial complex full of Mack trucks and council road workers (I almost caught them working too).

As I got inside the newsroom I couldnt believe how small it was. There were four desks and two women sitting there, glued to their respective screens in absolute silence. All women…not a XY chromosome in sight. All i could hear was – boyfriend this and tampon that. JK.

I introduced myself to Belinda, the acting editor for the day, and Kylie (KYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYLIE!). Both were welcoming and put me to work right away. Kylie and I were off in a flash to do two stories on local events in the area. Since this area of Brisbane is laid out over a wide area most of our time was done driving while trying to find incomplete roads out in the vast expanse of The Sticks. 

While driving I found out that Kylie was a UQ graduate from my year and we did the same subjects at the same time. It is a small world.

After completing the first story on retraining youth to have practical work skills, we went to do a piece on a St Vinnies-led welcome party for Sudanese refugees. Kylie put me on the spot and told me I had to do the story by myself. I didn’t mind at all – in fact, doing these soft stories first was a great way to start the week. You can brush up on some of your skills and get comfortable with everything around you.

After lunch I completed the story and Belinda didn’t find anything wrong with it. She obviously isn’t Desley. I was imagining red pen by the bucket-load but there was none. They both gave me a look of surprise, I replied “It’s good to be the king” and rode off into the sunset. wait…that didn’t happen.

I spent the rest of the day following up on the Alcopop tax being discussed in the senate and the rise in prices even though its not a law yet. YES GRACE, I STOLE YOUR IDEA. The whole issue surrounding this tax is pretty interesting and the fact that more people are now buying whole bottles of liquor should be of concern for the goverment.

I’m not sure whether the paper will run a story like that, but as John said, you have to localise the issue.

I’ll expect more action tommorow, D-day plus 1 is shaping up to be a test of endurance, skill and precision from those unknown forces in…….The Sticks.

*cue Deliverance music*