It’s lucky that fashion isn’t a key requirement for stepping out on the trail. Anyone else remember when it wasn’t uncommon to find a good brand in the op shop and then stitch the label onto a home-sewn outfit? On the first hike we took together with the Flamingo Flock, I wore a cotton T-shirt, yoga pants, cotton socks, and runners. We went for a hike. I got a bit sweaty. Nothing bad happened!I can confidently say that had we never started learning about merino wool and technical fabrics we would probably still be happily hiking. We’d just smell a bit worse than we’d like but we could still do it. Yep, do not let concerns about hiking fashions deter you from stepping out on the trail!

We’re a flock of women past the half-century, we don’t have time for distractions like designer brands. That said, we have become rather knowledgeable about outdoor gear and clothing. For example, without Vibram soles entering my life there definitely would have been a few more slips on steep trails. Now I’m astonished to realise that more than half the shoes I own bear the same outdoor brand name. What can I say? I found what seem to be the perfect shoe for my foot and then they multiplied in the wardrobe while I wasn’t looking. The same thing happened with the pants I wear in every season and the long-sleeved shirts for sun protection. But the first time the concept of toe-socks was suggested to me, I nearly gagged.

Feet are not a favourite body part of mine. A decade sharing an office with the Chief Podiatrist meant that if I (unwisely) turned to see images on his computer, I saw a lot more feet, the unhappy kind of feet, than I ever wanted to see. Even with that intensive exposure therapy, I’m not a fan but I’m also not overly sensitive about my feet. Still, I’m a creature of habits that have served me well over this lifetime. Habits like cleaning my teeth twice a day, washing my hands after using the bathroom, and wearing socks that are a single tube and keep all tootsies snuggled together.

The idea of individual pockets, like woollen mittens, separating each toe was, frankly, disgusting. It was also because my toes liked to stay close to one another that I first came to grief. Without getting too detailed, the more I hiked, the more bandaids I needed. I suffered a couple of blisters early in the piece then realised a bandaid (or three) wrapped around my toes to keep them from touching one another was the answer. Prevention, as we all know, is far better than the cure. Add this proven solution to my ongoing effort to reduce waste and I had to go back and take another look at the (disgusting) toe-socks.

It was certainly weird threading each toe into the unfamiliar solo travel outfits. My little toes were most unprepared to play fair. But, within ten minutes of stepping out on the trail, I was converted.

Yes, the first pair were a huge success. Toe-socks every Saturday, no more blisters!

When Himself stepped out on the Camino Primitivo, a track in northern Spain that is unsullied by shoe stores, the worst thing that could happen to someone wearing an *enormous* size boot, happened. One day in a disastrous pair of boots and his feet were agonisingly blistered. The only solution? Trusty hiking sandals and toe-socks all the way to Santiago de Compostela. Not that I’m a fashion queen but that seemed a step too far for me. But I have to be honest. I’m not innocent of such crime for at the end of each day on the Camino, Bones, Sammy, and I would gratefully peel off our toe-socks and boots, shower, and pull on socks and sandals and wear them in public. To bars. To restaurants. On tours of ancient cathedrals and cobblestoned laneways. People definitely noticed. I know they did because I saw their socks and sandal combinations too. More than a merino shirt or zip-off hiking pants, socks and sandals symbolise a pilgrim at rest.

Ah. Those were the days.

All well and good, I hear you say, but why do we need to hear you wax lyrical about your feet? Fair question! It’s long been a hot topic both within the Flamingo Flock and in conversations with other women who are curious about whether they, too, could possibly go on a hike.

As Bones explains, you don’t need to be fast, fashionable or fit. But those things are not, like, absent. They really are part of it. Because you’ve got to have the right gear to do it comfortably.

The only thing that matters to wear are socks you’re comfortable with and a decent pair of shoes that fit YOUR feet. Yes, it may be sandals! The ones that work for me may not be right for you. Test them. Nothing leads to injury, pain, and a miserable hike faster than shoes that don’t fit or rub or don’t have the support YOU need in them. You already know I’m not an expert in the field of feet but trust me on this one!

Suffice it to say, you’ve really got to look after your feet to hike like a flamingo. Will toe-socks and sandals become a popular trend outside of hiking circles? I’ll leave the idea with you. It only takes one confident light to spark a trend after all.

PS. I can only talk about my own experience with shoes, socks and sandals. I’m still not an expert and have no intention of becoming one! There are some incredible solutions out there and one will work for YOUR feet. For example, see this post by Helen, aka The Walking Traveller, about barefoot shoes. See? There’s a lot of fun to be had in the quest for the right shoe for your foot!

I had great plans for March this year. To me, it feels like the real beginning of the year. January is about embedding and confirming and testing my plans for the year. February is when I flex the muscles required and see if they’re going to stand up to the demands on them. Then March comes and it’s time to be well and truly on a roll.

It’s certainly been true of this March. My desk and I have been in constant contact, Tallulah (my laptop) has been whirring, and my mantra for the year (Find The Words) has been repeating in my thoughts. You see, it’s nearly here. My book, I mean.

Hike Like A Flamingo - a memoir of friendship, midlife, and hiking.

Available 24 April (that’s this week!!!)!

Isn’t it beautiful??? The talented Emma Whitelaw designed the cover art and I am obsessed with how she has captured the entire story in this gorgeous design. Yes, feel free to judge my book by its cover!!!

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Strengths at work

The last few months I have been as happy as a pig in mud. Learning how to become not just an author but also a publisher has been a gloriously steep learning curve.

It’s quite possible that becoming a writer and an independent publisher (indie author for short) are playing right into the strengths of mine that needed a bit of stimulation.

My top 3 CliftonStrengths are Learner, Intellection, and Input. Some of you will wonder why this is relevant to publishing. Let’s just say that I may have found a process that feeds these three natural talents of mine until they’re groaning with satisfied fullness.

Learning has many facets to it and I’ve had the blessing of being in a constant state of discovery for months now. The simple pleasure of sorting, filing, and categorising the information and resources, the input I’ve collated, has been a constant through my work days. I’ve been challenged to consider concepts that have been new to me and integrate them into the otherwise straightforward task of writing.

I’ve discovered how to navigate the online sites and databases to ensure my book meets all the standards necessary for publication, set up an online shop so I can sell said book, and found people who have the skills I won’t be developing (like cover art) to ensure the book is as good as it can be. Yep. This has been fun!

Voracious learners have one small blind spot with this strength and that is knowing when to stop gathering knowledge and start applying it to action. I’m susceptible to this, I could happily keep researching different fonts and format options for some time yet. Luckily for my book, I’ve nearly had my fill of climbing the learning curve. There’s an equal drive to put some of this learning into action. I’ll be glad to nab a bit of breathing space while proofing and approving the print copies of Hike Like A Flamingo. I’ll need a new batch of energy to drive me into the marketing phase - one that I’m not naturally attracted to but, if I challenge myself to face it as a learning opportunity and reframe it as connecting with others, other strengths in my Top 10 (like relator and arranger) might just be stimulated enough to take over generating the energy needed for momentum. I’ll find the drive to get out there and tell you all about the book!

If you’re curious to know more about CliftonStrengths, head on over to the Storycatcher page. If you’re interested in working with me (got a story you’d like to catch?) send me an email and let’s chat!

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This quote about publishing that describes a writer as a pilgrim is absolutely perfect. It speaks to hiking and, in this moment, that’s my language!

But it also speaks to the journey we take when we work towards a goal. There are trials and tribulations, obstacles to be overcome. There are guides and teachers and fellow pilgrims who light the way. But always, always, there is that shining star / goal / outcome / purpose / point of the whole thing 😊 that keeps us walking in the right direction.

What north star do you see up ahead when you lift your gaze? What is it calling you towards???

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Take A Moment…

Get your cuppa and find a comfy place to sit and catch up on For What It’s Worth. I was writing a blog recently about being the gatekeeper of my own words. While walking it occurred to me that, in this world of ours, that’s not necessarily a wise thing. What are your thoughts? Your feedback and ideas will help me clarify my own with this one. It will only take a few minutes to read. Share with a friend, leave me a comment, and enjoy taking a moment for yourself. You deserve it!

Autumn is quietly making herself known at last as the last gasp of summer exhales. The thought of wearing socks again is exciting. I wonder where my slippers have spent the last few months?

I’m so excited for you to read Hike Like A Flamingo. Be among the first by heading over to the site and ordering yours from 24 April 2026. Australia only for a couple of weeks, will let you know the moment the eBook is live and other regions can get theirs! Oh, and get one for your mum for Mother’s Day. It’ll last longer than flowers.

See you there, Melinda

There’s a saying in the health industry (and a few others, I’m sure). If it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen.

Be very, very sure that you document everything. But don’t write too much. And don’t write anything libellous. Observe critically, document objectively. Be sure you can prove anything you wrote down. And, oh, don’t write yourself into the narrative. If it’s not observable, it’s probably best not to write it down.

Stepping out of Health and into the freelance world was glorious and it was intense. Having the freedom to express myself, after such a long time between those necessarily strict boundaries, is wonderfully overwhelming. I can write whatever I want, in my own voice! If you’ve been following along for a while now, you’ll know that’s exactly what I have done. I’ve explored all sorts of topics. Like most writers, the act of writing is the way I understand my thoughts. Putting things on paper is how I examine my experiences and opinions and emotions. It’s cathartic, sure, but it’s the clarity that comes from the solidity of words that I most adore.

Writers have to include references to their portfolio of work in every submission we make. It makes sense, I can’t think of any reputable job where the employer doesn’t ask for proof of experience. How else are they going to believe you know how to do what you say you do? Setting out with my first submissions I discovered that, despite the countless words I’d written, none of it could be shared. So, in a desperate attempt to explain why I had nothing to show for myself, I wrote the following in my early author bio.

My ‘professional writing portfolio exists in countless reports and coaching summaries that will never see the light of day outside of the privacy code of the health industry; they contain acute observations and descriptions of how people interact with one another, how we all yearn to be heard and wish talking was easier, and how every single one of us strives and fails over and over again to communicate with one another.’

Every word of it is true.

My point today is not to share my resume, it’s to illustrate that the toolkit I carried for years desperately needed a glow up for this writing life. There were some important skills that stayed safely tucked into my case.

• Plain English practices stay. Write clearly and don’t use complex words when a simple one will do the trick.

• Observational practices and note-taking stay. The people-watcher in me is indulged on a regular basis.

• Health literacy practices are always applicable – be sure my words can be understood by the reader. Don’t use jargon (words that have a specific meaning in a specific context) if possible.

The exciting part for me. The new tools, still shiny, added to my kit.

• The ‘first person perspective’ has been invited into the chat. I’m allowed to say what I think! That wall has been the hardest one to break down; that was not just a habit, it was a deeply ingrained practice.

• Humour is allowed, nay, invited, to weave itself into the flow of words. That, and my tendency to sarcasm, have hung in the back of the wardrobe and were brought out only for casual acquaintances and social events. Now they’re everyday wear!

• I’m allowed to make up the story and write things that aren’t real and true! No references. No evidence base. Pure fiction. Ah, the joy of it may never fade.

And the most valuable thing to me? I’m my own gate-keeper. I get to decide if I share the words I collate, the story I make up, or the opinion I want to share. I’m where the buck stops – the good and the bad. No-one else gets to decide my style. My voice is audible. After a lifetime of making the words of others a priority, this hard-earned gift is one I treasure more than any. It’s the reason I decided to independently publish Hike Like A Flamingo. As a rule, I can take rejection but this one is different. A memoir about the last three years of hiking, it’s a personal story. This one is in my voice. This one I choose to share with the world. No-one else gets to reject that before it’s out there.

After jotting down all these thoughts I took myself off for a walk. The news of the world had crept into my brain and shattered any semblance of calm I’d enjoyed. Walking is the best way I know to deal with upsets like that. As I strode along the rail trail, grumbling to myself about people who think they can just make up what they like and call it the truth in capital letters, it struck me that this kind of freedom isn’t necessarily a good thing. Damn it, why does logic always get in the way of a good argument???

It’s all well and good to have a platform, and it’s intoxicating to be able to choose to send words out into the world. But, for the good of writer and readers alike, there does need to be a few checks and balances to keep perspective rational and society… safe.

As I turned the corner and headed back in the direction of home I mused over what that responsibility looks like for me as a freelance writer. It would be foolish of me to publish any words from an unmoderated vacuum. Sigh. Here’s what it comes down to for me.

• I engage others to check through my books – editors, proofreaders, beta readers. All give me feedback and opinion that It’s up to me to listen and respond to that, sure. I’m independently publishing, not recklessly publishing!

• Readers share feedback to my blogs and other social content through comments and messages. For me, that contact is invaluable as a way to gauge my messages – am I off-track, have I misunderstood something, have I been insensitive?

It’s not foolproof but it works. Despite my thrill at having control over sharing my words it seems that it’s not actually true. I’m the gatekeeper and I have set as many rules and hurdles to leap over as I did back when I was writing in patient files!

Hike Like A Flamingo is launching to the public on April 30 and will be available soon. In fact, here’s a sneak peak of the front cover. It’s luscious Keep an eye on my socials and sign up to my newsletter for news about pre-orders for paperback and hardcopies

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for bearing with me as I ramble my way through a concept that matters. What about you, is there anything you’d like to say? I’d love to hear / read it! Leave a comment below. Komunikas is a two-way conversation and I adore having a chat.

Composing a letter is a personal interaction. Just you and what you want to tell someone and, hopefully, vice versa. They think about what you’ve written; the questions you asked and the gossip you relayed, and they write back to you. It’s a long, slow, endlessly satisfying volley across time and distance. In the past I kept up a lively correspondence with many people. My grandmother in Queensland and I sent two-page chats back and forth. Letters to and from Germany were written on see-through aerogrammes, then light airmail envelopes, and eventually, when I could afford to pay more for the stamps, missives stuffed with photographs and memorabilia alongside the note itself.

Then, email came into my life and I stopped writing letters. I email constantly. Letters stopped arriving in the mail. As a result, our postal services have been winding down delivery of personal letters. Australia Post confirms that their business focuses on parcel delivery. In a shock move, Denmark’s public postal service ceased delivering personal mail at the start of this year.

It’s easy to criticise and complain but that’s not what the beautiful souls in the land of human contact and handmade do when the heart of our slow way of life is in peril. No! We ask “What is the one thing I can do that will contribute to making this situation better?” An email does not meet our standards when it comes to intentional, personal, correspondence.

The term ‘snail mail’ cuts straight to the heart of what matters. Letters take time - to write, to post, to collect them. Relaxing with a cup of tea to read a handwritten letter is one of the most calming activities still available in this fast paced world of ours. Sitting at the desk with a beautiful piece of paper, a pen, and the letter you’re about to answer, is a close second. During the pandemic when nostalgia was a gateway drug to the simpler things in life, I started sending postcards to people in my address book. A few sent me texts to tell me a card had arrived. I started to send notes. A couple of friends and my mother-in-law sent me one back. That once lost, familiar rhythm resonated, and I wanted more. I craved quality and depth.

In my cosy corner of the internet, there is a quiet revolution building. Sites selling stationery, blogs about letterwriting, and posts about the joys of snail mail have been popping up over the last twelve months. It’s growing on paper sliding artfully into envelopes. It’s unfolding on Pinterest boards featuring exquisite notepaper placed on velvet-lined writing desks. It’s burgeoning in online stores selling coordinated letter sets of such beauty that handwriting is the only possible adornment imaginable. And it’s happening in projects where you can apply to be matched with a penpal.

This is where the digital world made analogue easier. For example, there’s such a thing as a letter subscription. You can sign up and receive a monthly letter based on an historical event or from your hero. Once a month, there it is in your mailbox. Yes, you do have one. Stand up for a minute, walk to your front door. If you live in a house, there’s a good chance you’ll glimpse the mailbox somewhere out the front of your place, likely at the end of the driveway. Apartment dwellers, you may have noticed a wall of slots as you walked towards the lift. That’s them! One will have your unit number on it, that’s your mailbox!

I had a two penpals through High School. Fleur lived in England and went to a private school, I imagined she was living the dreamy life I read about in my novels. I think my life Down Under intrigued her just as much. Matthias lived in Germany and only wrote because it was expected of him in his class. I wonder what happened to them.

Now, forty years after the thrill of receiving those names and addresses and sending letters introducing myself to strangers, I’m doing it again with a like-minded soul who shares my obsession with paper and stamps and a commitment to writing letters. She lives in Western Australia, which is nearly as foreign to me as England. We had to use email to share our mailing addresses, but we are now off the digital platform. The first letter has found its way over to her and I believe there is one flying back to introduce her to me.

I’ll be checking the mail every day this week, there’ll be something for me soon. Did you have a penpal ‘back in the day’? While my teenage correspondence fell to the wayside, I wonder how many people managed to stay in touch. Did you?

For those of you interested in reviving some of the old-faithful methods of staying in touch, here are my current favourite sites that help make that happen.

1. The Analog Life Project (this is where I connected with my penpal).

2. The Sunday Letter Project. Sign the pledge. Write the letters. They also offer a penpal matching service.

3. ConnectedAu - The Letterbox Project.

Just want to receive a letter without having to write? Type letter subscription into your search engine. There are so many different types out there, you’ll be sure to find one you’d be excited to find in your mailbox.

This is the first time that I have been able to choose the name that I want to be known by and I was a little bit thrilled at the thought! So, I went looking for a word that spoke to me. In my search I came to komunikas. I played with the pronunciation of it. Repeated it many times, aloud and in my head. Wrote it in cursive script and typed it on my keyboard. I loved it immediately. I had found my word.

I shared it with my family and friends. They kept straight faces, those lovely people were reluctant to dissuade me from my excited reveal, but they clearly didn’t connect with my obtuse, unfamiliar and strange word. My teenagers were eager to tell me about all the current slang it made them think of (none of it complimentary) and my colleagues wrinkled their noses and gently urged me to go back to the drawing board for something more suitable. My husband, who cannot say a bad thing about anything I do (bless him!) was the only one who responded with enthusiasm. Then he said, ‘I don’t get it though’.

Sigh.

Komunikas, pronounced kom-ju-NI-kus, means communication in Esperanto. I think. I hope!

Esperanto is a language I cannot speak, understand or read so I’m taking a bit of leap of faith that it means what Google tells me it means.

It is an auxiliary language created to foster harmony and break down barriers built by misunderstanding and the lack of a shared foundation. He intended for it to place people on an even and fair playing field where no-one had the upper hand.

I’ve been a speech pathologist, a writer, a coach, and a manager. I’ve taught presentation skills and voice and fluency. I coach health professionals to be the best they can be and I ghostwrite for those who have a story to tell. In my personal life I’m a member of a close, loving family, some of whom dance on the autism spectrum, who hold many and varied opinions on the hot topics of politics, religion and race.

Communication, and miscommunication, are part of my every single day!

As a word-nerd I’ve long been drawn to the symbolism of the Tower of Babel. The myth can be told in many ways but my take on the story is this.

Way back in biblical times all the people began to work together to build a tower up into the heavens. God saw that they would succeed and could not have that happen, so he took away from them the one thing that made their incredible teamwork possible. He took away their common language.

No longer able to understand one another, the work began to fail and then stopped completely. People found those they shared a language with and retreated to their own parts of the globe.

The united effort (the common brotherhood sought be Zamenhof when he created Esperanto) was thwarted in on fell godly swoop.

The Tower of Babel and Esperanto have become inextricably entwined in my mind for a long time now. Together they remind me that:

• Communication is the key to everything.

• If we can speak the language of another, together we can do anything

• The sky is literally the limit.

So, I had to ask myself, what is it you really want?

For many years I have had an email signature featuring the following three words. Educate. Empower. Enable. What can I say, I like a bit of alliteration! And I like what those three wishes encapsulate for me. Growth and learning and helping others. When I sat down to think about what I do these three concepts kept staring me in the face.

After many years of facilitating others - to speak, to swallow, to manage, to lead, to communicate - I found myself not well skilled in the art of understanding my own voice. I needed to start climbing back up the Tower.

The name ‘Esperanto’ translates into English as ‘one who hopes’.

I hope to communicate in a way that seeks to understand and learn and build and grow. That’s the tower I want to climb. That’s komunikas.

The answer to everything may be 42… but you can’t know that without communicating. Just sayin…

This was originally published in early 2022, my very first blog under my new name, on my website. It probably needs a home here, too 🌞

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December is a natural time of reflection for me. As I journal my way through prompts that make me think about what has happened across 2025, I was astonished at how much can happen in a single year. It was a year of tumultuous change, momentous achievement, and countless steps walking many different trails around the world. Most of all, 2025 was all about friendship.

Many of us have ridden the rollercoaster of friendships across the decades; from the unrestrained wildness of teenage cliques to the deep, intellectual and social connections sculpted alongside careers, and the lifelong bonds forged in early parenthood. They’re all precious. It’s these mature connections that appear serendipitously and, oh so quietly, they’re the real gift of reaching this beautiful phase in midlife.

And now we are already into the second month of 2026. It has started with some pretty confronting events, both worldwide and in our own corner of the globe. To those of you here in central Victoria and other areas affected by bushfires and heat, I’m thinking of you. Stay cool as best you can, stay hydrated, and most of all, stay connected with those you love. We’ve got this.

May your 2026 be full of these friends. May your family, be they near or far, share in your wins and in your challenges.

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Adapted Consulting is now here at Komunikas!

Welcome to those of you who are joining us here at Komunikas for the first time.

Some of you will know that when not writing books and blogs, I work as a content writer and CliftonStrengths coach. For the past two years I’ve conducted my practice in partnership with a dear friend and colleague. As life took some unexpected turns we chose to adapt in the only way that made sense and put that business to rest.

If you’re curious to know more about that work, head on over to the Storycatcher page. If you’re interested in working with me (got a story you’d like to catch?) send me an email and let’s chat!

If this is no longer the right place for you, and you’ll know if that’s true, it’s ok to unsubscribe. We’ve all got enough going on in our emails, only allow in what’s important to you.

And, lastly, for those of you wondering why on earth my business is called Komunikas, the answer to your curious question is here!

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With the Camino so fresh in my mind, a quote publishing that describes a writer as a pilgrim is absolutely perfect.

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For those of you who are new here, you should know that I love to write. There are blogs that should land in your inbox and, soon, there will be the next book.

Get your cuppa and find a comfy place to sit and catch up on For What It’s Worth. Each blog is only a few minutes to read. Share with a friend, leave me a comment, and enjoy taking a moment for yourself. You deserve it!

Well, summer may have been slow to take hold but, after a January of heat that left us all gasping, I’m dreaming of colder seasons. Too soon?

I’m so glad to see you here in 2026. May it be a year of surprises and renewal.

See you there, Melinda