GREETINGS from New South Wales where I started my Australian tour last Friday at the Kiama Festival. It’s five years since I last played down here, and I’m pleased to say that the scene seems to be thriving, with lots of new bands and enthusiastic audiences coming through. Among those with whom I’ve caught up so far have been songwriter Enda Kenny, balladeer Margaret Walters, Japanese guitarist Kenta Hatashi, exciting duo Lily and King, Tasmanian folk-rockers The Dead Maggies, and fellow-Brit Martyn Wyndham Read, who was one of the first to popularise Australian folksongs in the UK back in the late 1960s.

It’s early spring in this part of the world, but the sun is shining and I’m heading even further south tomorrow, towards Adelaide and on to Melbourne before ending my trip at Kangaroo Valley Festival in mid-October.

Meanwhile, things look pretty busy back home, starting tonight when traditional singer Jimmy Hutchinson is at The Duke of Wellington in Wolviston, and Billy Mitchell and Ray Laidlaw take The Lindisfarne Story to Hexham’s Queen’s Hall. There’s a rare chance to hear the great Brighton-based songwriter Robb Johnson at Gateshead’s Sage tomorrow, while our own great man, Vin Garbutt is at Shadforth Village Hall.

On Saturday, Washington’s Davy Lamp have a monthly concert at the Arts Centre with the always-entertaining Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley making a welcome return, and on that same night, the legendary songwriter and guitarist Michael Chapman is at The People’s Bookshop in Durham. Top American singer Debra Cowan continues her current UK tour at The Customs House in South Shields on Sunday at 7.30pm, and on Tuesday, at Cramlington’s Clef and Cask, there’s a chance to hear Beverley Smith and John Grimm.

Now, I’m off to Bondi for some tucker, whatever that means. Wish me luck.