Surprise visit to the Wakakirri winners

Today I paid a surprise visit to the Wakakirri Storytelling award-winning performers whose sensational reimagining of Jetty Jumping Hannah Sommerville and I spied on YouTube.

We thought they deserved some extra special recognition so I dropped in online to the talented students of Cooma North Public School from my home in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula to their school library in NSW’s Monaro Country.

We chatted about creative processes, how practice makes perfect, collaborations, and working with others and I shared the first picture book I ever wrote and the Children’s Book Council of Australia medal.

It was a terrific chance for me to ask them about their process of creating the storyline and performances – which they spent two years during COVID interruptions rehearsing and preparing costumes and props for. That’s commitment!

I told them Hannah and I have both watched their performance 10 times! Their teacher told me they asked to read Jetty Jumping straight after my chat and they watched their performance again.

Here’s to Cooma’s very own jetty jumpers!