Aussie Road Trip | Beck Nicholas

Today we have a wonderful post by Aussie author, Beck Nicholas, to share with you! In this piece, she discusses why she loved #LoveOzYA set in Australia and how Australia has such diversity in its landscapes and settings. And road trips! We can’t wait to read her next novel, The Last Days of Us.

Thank you, Beck!

So happy to be posting here for The YA Room’s #LoveOzYA month! Something I particularly adore about OzYA is when the books are set right here. It could be next door, in my city or down the road (of course in Aussie terms that could be a very long way away indeed). But whether it’s a suburban street or the great outback, Australia has amazing settings that can add to a story in so many ways. It can be terribly/wonderfully mundane, incredibly desolate, achingly impressive or simply familiar to Aussie readers like me and there’s something so great about that.

I also love a road trip book.

There’s something about the character leaving everything behind to go on an adventure. The changing scenery, the tight confines of a car or van, the suspension of the everyday. It makes for a great story.

And I think Australia makes for a brilliant setting. We have such vast distances between cities and amazing scenery in between. From the red desert, to the rugged coast and the lush rainforest. I chose to set my latest book on the Great Ocean Road as my character travels from Adelaide to Melbourne for a concert.

Of course, I had to do the trip myself for research (and holiday) purposes. In one trip there’s the plains outside Adelaide, then the amazing coast including the Twelve Apostles.

At the other end is the majesty of the Otways with waterfalls and rainforests (and narrow winding roads).

Since I’ve finished my story I have added a few more Aussie Road-trip stories to my towering TBR pile. The Reluctant Hallelujah by Gabrielle Williams – Dodie’s driving unlicensed to Sydney to find out her parents’ secret and being chased for good measure. And Guitar Highway Rose by Brigid Lowry about fifteen-year-old Rosie who decides to escape it all with a mysterious new boy.

And I can’t wait.

Beck

I always wanted to write. I’ve worked as a lab assistant, a pizza delivery driver and a high school teacher but I always pursued my first dream of creating stories. Now, I live with my family near Adelaide, halfway between the city and the sea, and am lucky to spend my days (and nights) writing young adult fiction.