From Australian author Elaine Ouston:  The best way to describe this story is to use an old adage, ‘Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction’.  That this story is true I have no doubt, but it reads like the best fictional adventure I have ever read. Do yourself a favour and buy the book. You won’t be sorry.

Emerald Library Friday 12th September 5:30pm

Capella Pioneer Village Saturday 13th September – am – TBA

Emu Park Probus Thursday 9th October 11am Bowls Club

Yeppoon Probus Thursday 6th November 10:30am Bowls Club

Presentation of slides depicting Jenny’s adventures in the Yukon and Papua New Guinea, her journey as a writer of life stories, the Mt Morgan Moving House project and the process of writing John Lever’s autobiography Kissed by a Croc. Books signed by John and Jenny available with a complementary croc skin bookmark with each copy.

It’s probably fair to say I have adventurous genes in me.  My mother attended school in the Himalayas, the daughter of a Scottish mother and a Welsh father who’d joined the Welsh Regiment in India.  My father had defected from Czechoslovakia in the 1950s to escape the communist regime, my parents meeting on the ski slopes of Vancouver.  It’s hardly surprising traveling has always been on my agenda – and volunteering in Papua New Guinea based on a square-rigged sailing ship was as far from the world I’d grown up in as I could imagine.

A dozen keen scribes from the Capricorn Writers’ and Friends gathered July 12th at Yeppoon to hear some of the adventures of my life commencing with two years attending high-school in the Yukon Territory of Canada.  With 40oC below zero winter temperatures, I shared recollections of being part of a work team which drove trucks ladened with firewood on the frozen lakes, the ice 15cm thick, and experiencing darkness from 3pm to 11am in the depths of winter.  Returning to my hometown of Vancouver, after a two year diploma in Fisheries, Wildlife and Recreational Land Mgmt, I joined a British Scientific Expedition to Papua New Guinea based on a square-rigged brigantine sailing ship, Eye of the Wind, where I assisted scientists with research projects and SCUBA diving on a Japanese Zero fighter plane………stay tuned for more excerpts.

John Lever and I have attended four book signing events in Capricornia during June and July, displaying tanned crocodile skins and an impressive croc’s head along with a poster of the Sepik River, pukpuk clan young men of Papua New Guinea.  The image shows the painful initiation into manhood during the crocodile scarification ceremony where their skin is scraped and packed with mud to form scars which look like raised crocodile scales.  During the events, we took along a baby crocodile to Yeppoon and Emu Park for the children to hold.  We’ve had a warm reception from the locals, especially those who live near and have visited Koorana Crocodile Farm, with many buying the book, some purchasing two copies, and having us sign it.

BOOK SIGNINGS WITH JOHN AND JENNY:

Saturday 5th July    Angus and Robertson Stocklands 10 – noon

Saturday 12th July    Nextra Newsagency Yeppoon Central 10 – noon

PUBLIC SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS WITH JENNY:

Saturday 12th July    Capricorn Writers and Friends   Yeppoon Community Centre 2:30pm

Friday 18th July    U3A   Yeppoon Community Centre 11am

Seventy invited guests including John Lever’s family, childhood friends, local politicians, publisher HarperCollins’ sales and marketing manager, friends and colleagues rolled up at the Koorana Crocodile Farm on the 23rd of June to hear an animated and insightful speech by the Governor of Queensland, the Honourable Ms Penelope Wensley.  Hosted in the Lever’s living room the Governor outlined John’s adventurous life, his commitment to conservation through commerce and the many challenges he’s risen to over the course of his lifetime.  After supping on canapés including smoked crocodile, croc vol au vent and croc chowder, the Governor was guided by John on a spot-lighting tour of the farm to pick up eye-shines and then, back in the Koorana restaurant, took the opportunity to hold a 800mm long juvenile croc, with a modest piece of tape around its snout to ensure its good behaviour.  Guests then lined up to have their copy of Kissed by a Croc signed by John Lever and writer/co-author, Jenny Lanyon.

On the eve of the launch of KISSED BY A CROC we’ve had a flood of publicity with two feature stories on Jock the Croc’ departure to the Dubai Aquarium and John’s autobiography in particular his seven years spent in Papua New Guinea in Rockhampton’s The Morning Bulleting, the a story written by journalist Mike Knowling about my journey as a writer for Yeppoon’s The Mirror and a record nine minute radio interview with ABC Capricornia’s Breakfast Presenter Jacquie Mackay.   Finally, the first of our national interviews, today with Radio 2UE Live.

John Lever and I are ecstatic about Her Excellency, the Honourable Ms Penelope Wensley, Governor of Queensland’s visit to Koorana Crocodile Farm to launch KISSED BY A CROC on the 23rd of June.  Eighty invited guests including politicians have been invited to share in the crocodile canapés, a spot-light tour of the crocs and the chance to handle a juvenile crocodile.  John and I will then sign books.

The countdown is now on with the culmination of two years work as writer of the life story of John Lever, Australian crocodile farmer.  Published as an ABC book by HarperCollins Sydney, Australia, with a June 2014 launch in Central Queensland, I greatly look forward to sharing John’s story with the world.