November 8th, 2025Kyle’s Rant

Donna and I attended the 2025 Victorian Country Press Awards late last month. It was held at Yarrawonga. We stayed at Mulwala. That was a first. Got an executive room. Donna posted it on Facebook and someone said they had seen better prison cells.
We were shortlisted for two awards. Me for a photo of the Barefoot Barber aka Jobbo out at Wheatsheaf, Donna for her opinion/editorial pieces. I thought she would win for sure because she wrote about women getting their breast checks done – based on her personal experience.
So, I hear you ask, how did we go? Well, you either win or you are ripped off. And we were ripped off. But it’s like any awards you attend. You just smile and politely clap while you look at the work they think is better than yours and you know it’s not. I think that’s what they call a poor loser.
But we had a good night, talked to some great people, had nice food (fish or steak), and drank too much. Which meant despite being in a room with two single beds we slept quite well.
I also met a young photographer who gave me hope for the next generation of news gatherers. She was just 30 and had moved to work on a paper at Broken Hill – the awards were also for NSW.
Anyway, once there, she was also thrown in the deep end as a journalist and was loving the challenge of both writing and taking photos. One of her photos won – which she said surprised her. She was what in the old days you might call spunky, as in has a great deal of spunk, but I don’t know if you can call someone that now so maybe zippy is a better word.
She drank, smoked, happily shared her opinions, and was dressed in a pinstripe suit – a nice stuff-you to the dress code of cocktail wear. We are now Insta buddies and I reckon she will go a long way in the game.
Back to us, and sadly, we were meant to go to The Block auction on the Saturday but at 11am we were still in Mulwala with pretty vicious hangovers. Donna texted the PR bloke and, while she was tempted to come up with some illness or family disaster, just told the truth and he wrote back ‘no worries’.
And how disappointing was The Block? I mean, we got a lot of bang for our buck during the building of it which was great for the economy and it also shone a big light on our region for people nationally and internationally, but the auction results were cringeworthy.
All that work, and missing your families and lives, for such a small amount of money. I think, at the time of writing this, there are still two houses unsold but I am sure someone will buy it.
But the reserves for Daylesford were so high, almost $3M, for properties near a main road and a busy roundabout. Just as well the roundabout is there now or whoever bought House 1 would need to up their first aid skills.
Next up for The Block is Mt Eliza. On a housing development site on Old Mornington Road. I wonder if they will discover a “Mt Eliza vibe”?
And the other news is that Adrian Portelli, or Lambo Man, is once again raffling off the five houses still sitting empty on Phillip Island after he bought the lot last year. I think I will just stick to Tattslotto. We lost but had fun rant over.