Spelling Lessons

Tiaro Shire: Discover the magic, says a billboard. The brownish fields at Gunalda, 200 km north of Brisbane, don't look especially magical. But then you walk into a shop called Wind Fairies, and you start to wonder. Inside a room hung with blue velvet and decked with gold stars and Christmas-tree lights, Rhonda Gadenne puts a small glass ball in your hand, sprinkles you with glitter and says: "Close your eyes and make your fairy wish. May your magic come true."

Gadenne has been in the fairy business for "quite a lot of years," ever...