While the rest of the country has dealt with storms, bushfires and baking hot weather, I think the whole Northern Rivers has breathed a collective sigh of relief that the festive season has brought benign weather. While some in the Lismore team took leave, others were hard at work finding quirky, interesting stories to tell.
Our Saturday Breakky team — Angela Catterns and Renata Gombac — took on Australia All Over so Macca and Lee could take a well-earned break, and judging by the enormous response on the text and call lines from people across the nation, Australia embraced them! The AAO faithful might even love Ange as much as Macca, and that's saying something!
Nature delivered some of Hannah Ross's yarns; from the incredible vision of bait balls drawing sharks in droves just off our beaches, to the survival of one of the world's oldest songbirds. Our Rural reporter Kim Honan took some stunning images during flowering in her visit to a coffee orchard, while Elloise Farrow-Smith met a Nimbin farmer warning would-be "magic mushroom" foragers he'd sprayed the patch with pesticides.
The team is fired up to bring more Northern Rivers stories to our region and beyond again this year. From our small team to you, we wish you a safe, prosperous and happy 2026. I've shared a photo taken at our Christmas party last year.
Have a good week,
Jo Shoebridge
ABC North Coast editor | 
