Today is Australia Day, the birthday of my country. Well to be more exact, the birthday of white settlement in this country. To celebrate, I'm going to the Big Day Out - a rock festival full of kids but this year Neil Young is headlining!

Every time I go to the Big Day Out, I swear it's the last time ever. I'm getting too old for these kind of things. Then they have some act I just can't resist and I do love getting in amongst a big, sweaty crowd. This really might be the last one ever though since, if things go to plan (and who knows in these uncertain times) I will be moving to Japan this year.

I wanted to share the above picture of my favourite Australian treat - the neenish tart. Oh, it's a delight. I only found out last year that this toothsome treat was created in Australia. It's a pastry case filled with fake cream - it's most important that the cream is fake and not fresh. You can judge a neenish tart by the quality of the fake cream. It might be fake but it's got to be the right kind of fake. Included in the centre is a dollop of jammy stuff.

The thing that makes the neenish tart is the icing. It's not a neenish tart unless you have the two toned icing. It can be white and chocolate but my favourite is pink and chocolate, equally divided over the top.

I took this photo at my local bakery. Their neenish tarts meet all the criteria for awesome - firm and slightly waxy fake cream, the consistency of a stiff mousse, oozy jam, sickly sweet icing and a crumbly pastry.

But, damn them, they are closed today because it's a public holiday. That's Australia for you.

I've not been working this week. Monday started with a major "I have no source of income" freak out. On Tuesday I decided to get over myself and make the most of my free time. I don't have a job so whether I spend the days productively or whether I sit around crying about it like a lil bitch, it's all the same.

So I start my days by walking down to the local bakery and grabbing a coffee. I chat to the girls that work there while I flick through the paper, trying to avoid the gloom and doom about how we're all going to hell in a handbasket. I check the exchange rate. Ever since I decided to go to Japan last year, I check the $AUD to Yen exchange rate every morning. I try to work out if it's going up or down but there is no logic or pattern. It's just numbers.

I come home with my coffee. I write. I think about writing. On Tuesday I painted a wall. Yesterday I had a leisurely lunch. I have more coffee. I'm letting life sort itself out while I enjoy what I have right now.

I didn't go out to celebrate the new year. Being in a strange city where I don't know a lot of people and that had scant public transport made it just so much easier to stay at home. Going out on New Year's Eve tends to be bollocks anyway - the worst night of the year to party.

So I listened to music and chatted to my sister online. Then I started writing. At 11.45, I realised I was 14,000 words into my new novel. I wanted to make it 15,000 before the end of the year. Except I can't really write 1,000 words in 15 minutes - I can't type that fast, I can't think that fast.

I managed to hit that 15,000 word target by 12.15 though! Yah for me!

If it's true that what you do on New Year's Eve influences your whole year (and I'm not really sure where that comes from) then that means lots of writing this year.

Happy New Year!

After not working since I got back from Japan, I've got a job but it's in Canberra (our nation's capital). I've only ever been there once, on a school trip when I was about 16, so it's going to be unexplored territory. I've got a feeling it's not going to be fun unexplored territory though, since Canberra is filled with pollies and public servants.

Canberra is renowned for being the only place in Australia where you can legally buy fireworks and porn. Now I've discovered they only sell fireworks in June! Funnily enough, I want the fireworks more than porn.

Hopefully all this working (and staying with friends) won't stop the writing.

After my angst ridden last post about not being able to write, I've actually started working on something. I got the idea about a week ago while walking. It's a story. I'm not sure if it's going anyway but it's amusing me at the moment and I'm actually working... writing slowly but surely, a crappy first draft.