Fed up with the daily news cycle of doom related to Covid, climate change, international and domestic politics, sex scandals, Russian or Chinese aggression?
Noosa author John Mikkelsen has just the answer for you. His new book, Don’t Call Me Nev provides an often amusing and exciting insight into an Australia we once knew and loved, but is in danger of being forgotten in an ever-changing modern world.
Don’t Call me Nev begins with the adventures of a boy growing up in the North Queensland bush with a dog, an air rifle and a pet cockatoo.
Early chapters recall shooting pigeons from the walls of one of the state’s major gaols, almost drowning in a flooded creek, being stung by a bullrout or freshwater stonefish, exploring a sinister hidden cave, surviving a cyclone, and attending a primary school where pupils learnt to cope with a sudden influx of migrant children who couldn’t speak English. He also learns how to catch mudcrabs without setting a pot, after a chance encounter with an indigenous man willing to pass on his skills in a remote location.
Moving back to his old hometown of Bundaberg brings its own problems in having to deal with a bullying teacher, teen romance and misadventures. He quits to begin a successful pharmacy apprenticeship (one of the last in Queensland), eventually meets his soulmate on a blind date, but tosses all that in to head off on a spearfishing road trip adventure around Australia with a vagabond young Victorian.
Not all goes smoothly. One chapter recalls an angry encounter with a two metre shark while diving alone in a big swell off the NSW Sapphire Coast.
Fate awaits as the road trip leads back to new horizons, new adventures and an unexpected new career in journalism on life’s long and winding road.
Some chapters recount actual history, unsolved mysteries, hurdles and hair-raising escapades encountered as a young editor: Tangling with the far right League of Rights in Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s home town of Kingaroy, then coping with activist unions in the harbour city of Gladstone where he is regarded as a “Joh plant” in their midst.
Life after journalism has finally led back to the beautiful Sunshine Coast where he now lives. Quirky humour and some laugh out loud moments mixed with drama and adventure make it an M-rated tale for all, with a uniquely Aussie theme.
One chapter recounts mistaking the former Sunshine Coast Regional Council’s larger than life Mayor Bob Abbot as a cabbie one dark and rainy winter’s night outside Parliament House in Canberra. Bob sets him straight with, “Nah, mate, the cabbie’s back in the cab!” (Probably muttering “wanker” under his bearded breath).
The book is now available in both paperback and E-book formats from Amazon book store, with online orders arriving within days.
