Home Marketing About Contact
Photo by Miguel Pedroso on Pexels

Michelle Haines Thomas

Journalist and Content Writer

The Guardian Australia •

The small town with a big potato that inspired a global poetry win

That particular patch of untouched cool climate rainforest is known as the Yarrawa Brush, which in a few steps takes walkers from a regular country road into a dark, mysterious, gloriously tangled otherworld.
It is the setting for one of Ramm’s best poems, The Rainforest in Winter, which along with two others (Pantheon in Three Parts, and Two Sijo and Tanka in Autumn; or the Steel City Gardens) last month secured him the prestigious Manchester poetry prize, the UK’s biggest prize for unpublished poetry.
the Guardian •

Nature prescriptions: how reconnecting with the landscape healed a bushfire-ravaged community

The Black Summer bushfires reached the south-west slopes of New South Wales in the final week of 2019. Within two weeks, three fires had merged to form a devastating 600,000 hectare megafire that claimed several lives and destroyed hundreds of homes.

The emotional toll on the Snowy Valleys community, which fell at the junction of the fires, was immense. When mental health clinicians Jacinta Elphick and Jenni Wines were appointed by the Murrumbidgee Local Health District in bushfire recovery rol
The Canberra Times •

Inside hotel quarantine, the cracks are showing for one NSW family

On the eve of their departure from Taipei, the couple was frantic. They were attempting to bond with their newly-adopted daughter, while managing their son's worsening mental health, ahead of a long international flight and another two weeks of quarantine, and a response from the NSW Health Department's Quarantine Exemption Unit had still not materialised.
"The only real reason they gave for turning down the appeal was that we had transited through airports, but we only came into contact with p
The Fold Southern Highlands •

Magical Villages of the Southern Highlands

in Getting Out and About

Don’t let the towns steal all the limelight - our villages are magical too!

It’s a fact - the Southern Highlands boasts some of the most ‘village-y’ villages in Australia.

They’re quaint, they’re pretty, and they’re full of interesting shops, places to eat, lovely walks and wonderful little surprises. And each of them has a particular flair all of their own.

But what actually makes a village? What’s the actual definition? We’re running with this commonly accepted des
Illawarra Mercury •

Ngununggula, a new Southern Highlands gallery 'for everyone'

Ben Quilty - Southern Highlands artist and the driving force behind what has become the area's first regional gallery - had a very specific vision when it came to establishing Ngununggula, which opens to the public this week.


"I wanted it to be a place where a kid could ride their bike on the path through East Bowral, leave it out the front, and come into the gallery and look around for free," he said.

The dream came from a childhood growing up in Sydney's north-west, where it was "really, r
Southern Highland News •

"Very intense fire" leaves blackened ruins on Bong Bong Street | VIDEO

After a long night battling a blaze that has severely damaged a number of shops on Bong Bong Street in Bowral, firefighters will today be checking the structural integrity of the premises before police begin an investigation into the cause.

"Attempts were made to extinguish the fire, which took a large amount of time overnight, and as of this morning still spot fires were occurring," Chief Inspector Brendan Bernie of the Hume Police District said.

"It's very distressing, and we'll be doing our
Southern Highland News •

Pop In opens the door to new beginnings for women living with domestic violence

It sounds like a dream and in most parts of the country, it would be. With most providers stretched to the limit, and constant funding shortfalls, family and domestic violence services struggle to meet even a fraction of the needs.

"It also gave us the ability to advocate for the women, because you can't be taking with one hand and then be critical of the government with the other."

Two years ago, Vicki put her head together with three other residents to start thinking about how to tackle the
The Canberra Times •

The silver lining to that grey cloud of hair

This might not seem very exciting to you crazy people, with your six-weekly visits to the hairdressers and your frequent changes in style, but for me it's quite the event.

I did get a chop every time I had a baby (there's nothing like a newborn grip on your tender tendrils to send you for the scissors), but grew it out the rest of the time, so I usually only bother getting a trim a couple of times a year (birthday and Christmas, to make it special).

Sick of throwing the money at it, sick of gi
Newcastle Herald •

COVID-19 is the enemy that both unites and divides

Will Smith's character, a kind of handsome everyman who happens to be a fighter pilot, wanders out in his pyjamas, morning coffee in hand, to his letter box to get his newspaper (how quaint). As he glances up, he sees his neighbours scurrying around packing their cars with suitcases. He looks more closely at the front page of the paper, then out at the view.

When was the last time the whole world (well, most of it - there are still some outliers in complete denial), agreed upon the biggest and
The Canberra Times •

You can find shelter from the (fire)storm

"This is a watershed moment," said Paul, pointing to the thousands of houses lost over the summer. "Now is the time to act. We need to do something different, because clearly, we're not doing it right. All the building codes and legislation plainly don't work as they should."

Enthusiasts for earth-covered homes have in the past been treated by the media as cranks, he said, but in the current climate, the public is becoming more receptive to the idea.

"Ninety per cent of traditional houses are

Contact Me

My inbox is always open, you can contact me with the contact form here