When I’m not writing at Orange City Life, methodically trying every caramel slice in Orange, or being yelled at by Miss 11 for folding her school jumper incorrectly, I moonlight as a reporter for a national newspaper. I obviously bluffed my way into this position as I am completely unqualified, but I’ve been doing well and have recently started covering the entire central west for them. This has been amazing, because not only do I get to travel a bit, but I get paid for my travel and expenses. I used to joke that I desperately wanted to travel for work, to have time away from the kids and get to be a grown-up, as opposed to “just a mum”. But something remarkable happens as your kids grow older. With each thing they manage to do on their own, every small piece of independence for them, you reclaim a tiny slice of your former self. And so, when it came to my first day trip out of town, I asked the girls if they’d like to have a day off school and come to work with me.

The first trip was to Canowindra, for a short story I’m writing about the b