January first began with a whimper. The camp was waking up and the king parrots were already being generously fed. Cameron Green would soon be leaving for Monto as he had been contracted to help prep the Queenslander for a much needed paint job. He would therefore be my ride home. But we wouldn’t be…

Hello humans. I wanted to give everyone a quick update as to what is going on over here at the moment.  First things first: I’m fine. Never better. Last week I went to the café downtown to have some coffee. I wasn’t really sure if the place would even be open due to the scare…

We once had a crystal chandelier at my house in Hudson, Ohio. Now don’t be fooled, we weren’t millionaires or even remotely wealthy. I’m fairly sure that my dad had bought it as a slightly damaged item at a salvage store for much cheaper than it would have cost new. But as a boy, it…

It was getting toward dusk when we finally returned from the lake. I had my humble meal of dried noodles before being generously invited to share some of the food that the other friends had brought. These included wraps, sandwiches, and various kinds of drinks. In return for this, I was asked to grill the…

I hadn’t realized how much planning had gone into the Cania trip and how crazy it would get until I saw the posts. One video showed a group of people in Hawaiian shirts, grass skirts, and leis doing a quickly choreographed dance to the accompaniment of the Spice Girls. It was nutty, but it was…

When I began this blog, I spent some time looking for pictures to feature on the home page. An obvious and iconic choice was Ayers Rock as it would most quickly inform visitors where I was. But I thought perhaps I should also feature a picture from Monto. When I had tried to find the…

Ian and Carol Craig were among the first to arrive in Monto to set up a Kingdom Hall at the request of the Australasia branch. That was many years ago in 1974, but they are still here and still supporting the congregation 45 years later. (Ian, you may remember, is Tim’s dad whom I met…

The town of Monto is small. The population is about 1,189. For perspective, this is basically the capacity of the Assembly Hall in Willoughby, Ohio. (Correct me if I’m wrong about that in the comments!) The point is that it is a very small place. It is the kind of town where everyone knows everyone…

I’m posting this a day late, but in the US it’s still January 26th (or it was when I started writing this), so it’s all good. Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, it marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British ships…

If there were two creatures I could’ve thought of as roommates during my time here, they were a magpie named Check and a gecko named Kermit. In many ways Australia had turned out to be the antithesis of what I had expected. I saw no boomerangs, no didgeridoos, no koalas, and no snakes (except one)….