Author: Morasco1974

We arrived in Emerald at around 4:00. ‘Emerald City’, as I loving thought of it, was about a four and a half hour trip North on the Capricorn Highway. Freeways as we think of them in the ‘States don’t really exist out here. If you want to travel anywhere it’s a simple two lane road…

Fast food is a special treat here because you need to drive at least an hour to get any. From Monto it’s an hour trip up to Bilo to find a KFC. In Monto itself, the closest thing to fast food I’ve found is the “One Stop Shop” and their fish and chips. It’s run…

Christmas was three days away. It was still early summer. I’ll let that sink in. In Northeast Ohio, it’s late December when this holiday occurs and winter is in full effect. There is snow falling and you’re usually bundled into a thick winter coat. You may be looking out of the window at winds whipping…

Nearly every time I go in to the Food Works to buy something I catch myself singing along to some soft rock tune. Today it was Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You”. Last time it was Kenny Rogers’ “Lucille” and “Islands in the Stream”. Before that it was the BeeGees’ “Mr….

This day had the distinction of being the six month mark of my year long visit to Australia. It’s gone fast and the next six months promise to go even faster. This morning as I was making coffee, I glanced out the window and froze. There, about ten feet from me was a kookaburra sitting…

Some places in the world have foods that are almost synonymous with the countries they come from: Mexico and enchiladas, Japan and sushi, Germany and wiener schnitzel. But so far as Australia goes, I had no idea what their signature food was. Most Americans will jokingly say ‘throw another shrimp on the barbie’, but seeing…

My first formal lesson had come while visiting The Outback Steakhouse in Atlanta, Georgia several years ago. They served cheese fries as a signature appetizer, and the drink coasters all had the words “CHAZE FROYS PLAZE” printed on them. This was to teach guests how to order in Australian because you would get them at…

Names are interesting things here. Among the most interesting names for people that I’ve heard so far are girls’ names. Among these are “Khiara, Krisenya, Kalena, and Tuula”. (Sorry Maisey!) I’m not sure where these were derived from, but certain names such as Kylie and Bindi come from word names. A Kylie is essentially a…

Back where I come from there are many words for the substance that comprises roads: asphalt, concrete, blacktop, pavement. But here the term of choice is ‘bitumen’. Asphalt and bitumen are essentially different terms for the same thing, but the process of laying an asphalt road in the US, so far as I understand, is…

The idea of coming to Australia began with something I read back in 2000 (our old future). My mother suggested a book she had read about the Appalachian Trail, which had been written by an author she’d discovered by the name of Bill Bryson. Now this suggestion was coming from someone who voraciously read Patricia…