I write anecdotes and short stories about real life experiences I have enjoyed during my working life, on my travels, and anything which intrigues me enough to write about it. Prose and poetry. Gardening is a passion. Planting a seed or a stick and seeing it develop into a productive vegetable or beautiful plant, is very rewarding. Changing the outlook by developing a garden is very satisfying. Some of my best gardening experiences have been in the Kimberley especially in Broome. Born in 1950, Christine Thiel was guided through her childhood by her maternal grandmother after her mother died when she was four years old.

Reading Cover to Cover will take you through her story. As her teenage children were leaving home, Christine answered an advertisement for three months employment as a housekeeper, cook and gardener on a Kimberley cattle station. What began as a three month stint on one station, ended up being fifteen months on a second station. Christine purchased a newer caravan and a Landcruiser to tow it around the country. Her health was causing lifestyle problems, so she decided to do some more travel. After consulting a doctor in Cairns, the specialists concluded she needed surgery to repair the problems. While waiting for surgery, Christine began writing, which resulted in the biography Cover to Cover. She wrote several books, yet to be published. The renewed health and energy prompted her to seek some employment which would involve travel and earning a living. Christine did the pilot vehicle driver accreditation in Cairns. She then packed up and made her way home to Adelaide. Her sub-contract work as a pilot vehicle driver, keeps her active, earning additional income, as she travels with oversize loads around Australia. Her plans for this episode of her life was interrupted by stage three breast cancer.

Surgery and radiotherapy confirmed the cancer had been resolved. In spite of several chronic health issues, Christine continues to work as a pilot vehicle driver. Seventy years after her step father announced he wasn’t her biological father, Christine met her two brothers from another mother. Meeting them concluded a cycle of life for her. Although she continues to write books and articles for magazines, Christine never believed anyone would publish any of her work. Cover to Cover, a biographical summary of a portion of Annie’s life, has put her doubts to rest.