Letter #272 from Australia

Letter #272 comes from Helen in Australia.Helen lives in a rural area in Southern Tasmania.Tasmania is the island off the south coast of the mainland of Australia.Tasmania is a very popular tourist destination as most of the island is a National Park,with one-fourth of the state being inhabitable wilderness.

Tasmania is also the native home of the Tassie Devil and Helen says that he is just as bad as his cartoon namesake. ;) She says they make a screeching noise when they get angry....probably like in the picture below. :)

Helen has enclosed some photos of Tasmania for us,including the beautiful beach of Wineglass Bay on the east coast,one of the typical rainforest terrain in the west coast area,a picture of the town she lives in (looks like the view of a postcard...so beautiful!) and also a picture of the lovely Tasmanian Devil that looks like someone has just made him angry! :)

Thanks Helen for your lovely letter and photos,which can be seen below:

Letter #263 from Australia

Letter #263 comes from Jaime in Australia.Jamie is located in Bendigo,which is in the region of Victoria,just over two hours northwest of Melbourne. (Just want to say that we love Australia's Masterchef...it rocks!!) Back to the letter... They are currently having their winter season so it is quite cold there now and she says she will be so happy when spring arrives.

Jaime was born and raised in Wisconsin....cheesehead! ;) She moved to Australia in 2006,where she lives happily with her husband,cat and beloved puppy.

She also shared some Australian slang with us that we found amusing...(I will list the US English version first,then Australian):

trunk of a car - boot (??) of a car
hood of a car - bonnet (is this a pioneer one?) of a car
have a look  -  have a captain cook ....wow,these just make us giggle :)
have some tea or coffee - have a cuppa.... ok,this one is more what we would expect
have a good afternoon- have a good arvo.... huh? :)

I think we would love listening to the Australians speak....I have heard that they call cotton candy "fairy floss" and popsicles "icy poles" ,which we think is really cool.Thanks Jaime for your lovely letter,which can be seen below:

Letter #257 from Australia

Letter #257 comes from Jemma in Australia.Jemma wrote to us from Queensland on a warm and sunny day,even though it is the middle of winter there.When she wrote the letter,the temperature was 22° C.The part of the country she lives in has a sub-tropical climate,so it never gets really cold there.But, in Victoria,they are probably having their ski season in full swing.She also said that none of the cooler weather ever seems to last as long as in her home country of England.And she also said that she finds the summers in Australia to be really hot since she is used to cooler weather,of course. :) Like she said,it's possible for us as human beings to adapt to most things,we just may never really enjoy it.

Jemma says that before November of 2009,she had spent all her life in Oxford,which is well known for Oxford University,one of the UK's most prestigious and oldest universities.She says that it's not a campus based university like here in the states,but it is formed out of 44 separate colleges.Many of the beautiful old buildings that make up Oxford's skyline belong to the university.But there is a also a lot of history there that doesn't belong to the university,such as the Castle Mound site (the remains are from 1070 AD).Also,there is the Saxon Tower of St. Michael at the North Gate,which is 1,000 years old that is still standing!That must be amazing to see!

She really misses the history from her home city since Australia is a newer country,in terms of being populated widely,so there isn't as much history to the area.She also misses her family and friends,but is thankful for the technology that allows her to keep in touch with them,so she wonders how people years ago coped with only letters from their loved ones and the fact that they may never have seen one another again.

She moved to Australia she could be with her partner who is Australian and in the army there.They do hope to live in Europe some day soon though.She never imagined she would live there as she had always lived close by her family and says that everybody in the family thought she would be the one who would never move so far away....looks like they were all wrong.You just never know where life's adventures will take you.

Jemma studied Geography and Sociology at Oxford Brooks.You need to be an exceptional student to get into the Univeristy of Oxford,so she went to the city's second univeristy.

One of the things Jemma has come to learn moving overseas an starting from scratch is that life doesn't come to you,you have to go and actively find it!With her partner in the army,she has move around a lot.When her partner had to leave her alone for two months,she realized that she could shut herself in her house and miss him terribly or she could push herself out the door and join some local groups to meet people and not feel so lonely.She says that she is not the type of person to just go out and join in,but she took the plunge and found it to be well worth it.She says that how one little thing leads on to lots of other little things,like the snowball effect.She joined the local singing group,which helped her meet wonderful people of all ages and backgrounds.She also got the opportunity to sing at many places.She also helped with the community newsletter,made cards to sell for charity,volunteered at two vineyards,which led her working for three months bottling wine...quite different from her office jobs in England. :) Her advice to anyone moving to a new place is to join some sort of club in your area an if there are none,she says to start  your own.She also says to be willing to try anything (within reason) once and be open to new experiences and have a sense of adventure.

She has recently moved again,this time to a busy suburb,but she says that even though cities have more people,it's always harder to meet new people and that there are less local groups,although she has just found a papercraft group and possibly a choir,so she takes what she learns from her previous home and adapts it to her new home and it has worked for her,so far.I'm glad to see that she is having so much success at finding new friends to keep her busy since it must be so hard to be so far away from loved ones.

Thanks so much Jemma for your lovely letter and beautiful postcard,which can be seen below:

Letter #171 from Australia

Letter #171 comes from Kathleen in Australia.She lives in an area known as South East Queensland with her husband and two sons.She has sent us pages upon pages of information about her country along with many brochures and other goodies,so I will try to put in as much as I can.She has only begun penpalling just a few years ago and found our blog while searching for letters and letter writing blogs.She said she loves to write fat letters,which is great because we love to read fat letters. :) Like myself,Kathleen is the oldest of three children and says that people often come to her when they need a shoulder to lean on or just a boost in their life.

Heather and her family also have a couple of pets- a dog,two cats,two chooks,two ducks,sheep,one pig,ten zebra finches,tropical fish and a partridge in a pear tree...ok,so no partridge,but I just had to get that out. :) She has always been around nature/animals and loves it.Her parents also have a sheep and cattle property.

I didn't realize just how large Australia really is until after reading her letter and actually looking at the grpahics she enclosed showing just how big Australia is in comparison to the U.S.Even though her and her parents live in the same state,it's a nine hour drive to get there,so they try to get there a few times a year.

She also says that Australia is a dry continent and they often struggle with drought and this year they had floods,which probably was just as bad as the droughts for the farmers there.Like many of you may already know,since they are in a different hemisphere from the U.S.,they are in a different season right now,it's the beginning of winter.They also drive on the opposite side of the road.Even though they are a vast country,they have a small population due to large tracts of land that are inhabited.

Australia is also home to some unique creatures,such as kangaroos,possum,koala bears,emu,echidna,crocodiles,wombats,and platypus,just to name a few.Kathleen says that she has seen all of those animals and has held most of them.Her parents even have wild koalas on their property,along with kangaroos,emus and other native animals.All we see in our yard are the occasional deer,rabbits,and plenty of birds.She even had a pet kangaroo as a kid,until it was killed by a fox.Can you imagine having a pet kangaroo?

Kathleen and her siblings were homeschooled for a few years because they lived so far from town.When they were older,they went to school,but it was a one hour trip on the bus each way,so that made for a long day.She also says that even though her and her siblings are all different,they have gotten closer as adults since they are sharing similar situations in life.

Kathleen's favorite part of the day is early in the morning when most people are still asleep and the native animals are heading home after a night of activity or for a pre-dawn graze on the dew dropped grass.That's when the day is so new and fresh and full of possibilities.One of her favorite memories is as a kid,laying on her bed at night and hearing the birds sing their lullaby on a moonlit night.Sometimes she would sit on the porch and enjoy listening to nature and looking at the brightness of the night sky that she doesn't have in her area.I must say that I know what she is talking about because early in the morning,we'll open the windows to the sound of many birds singing the most beautiful song so early in the morning...it is so peaceful.That is when you hear them the most.We have so many different birds taht visit our property and we have one that has even made a nest under our carport on top of some vines.It is too high up for us to see if the babies have been born yet since you always hear so many birds,we don't know if they hatched or not.

In general,Australia has such a beautiful climate that many people love to eat "alfresco",which means outside.I love eating outside,but we have too many of natures smaller creatures attacking us,such as stink bugs,wasps,bees,mosquitos,etc....all the little creatures we don't like,we have. :) So we no longer enjoy outdoor picnics since we figure the neighbors will start thinking we are really weird when we all start running around and hollering. :) Tourists generally love the weather there since it's much warmer than Europe...many people even go swimming in the winter there.

She says that Queensland is known as the "Sunshine State" and has been recognized by a phrase relating to the weather- "Beautiful one day,perfect the next".I must say that is the best weather to have!

The flag of Australia features the stars of the Southern cross,the Union Jack and Commonwealth or Federation Star ,which has seven points representing the unity of the six states and territories of the Commonwealth of Australia..The Australian National Anthem is one of their most important national symbols.

Here are a few Australian word usage, or "slang" that she told us about:

loo or dunny means toilet
flat out means busy
bloke means a man
fair dinkum means to be honest
shout means to buy someone a drink
arvo is short for afternoon
chook means a chicken,usually a hen
cuppa means a cup of coffee or tea


Along with her fabulous letter,she sent us a variety of info and brochures.She really sent so much to share with us about her fabulous country!She also included stickers,brochures,clippings of her area and animals,stamps,play money,a flag,a recipe for Chocolate Slice and Anzac Biscuits,etc.She also included pictures comparing Australia's size with the U.S. and with all of Europe...I thought that was an excellent way to show their size.She even included a sample of Vegemite,which I know is famous with Australians,but most people dislike the taste...I'll probably have my daughter taste test it for us since I'm not too brave about trying new foods. ;)

Oh,since this post was about Australia,I wanted to recommend a great movie that my girls and I have really enjoyed,it's called "The Rabbit Proof Fence",about the aboriginal people....it's really a sad story & I think you can watch it on youtube.I highly recommend you watch this great movie.My girls and I talked about it for days after watching it.

Thanks so very much Kathleen for all the goodies you enclosed....you have really sent us so much to tell us about your country and we truly appreciate it!Excuse me for any mistakes I may have made in the post,my eyes are about to fall out. :) Check out all the goodies below....we were shocked to get such a huge package for the project!

Letter #122 from Australia

Letter #122 comes from Carolyn in Australia.Carolyn is a retired school teacher.She used to teach 5-7 year olds.Her field of teaching was literacy.She worked in the public school system for almost 30 years and loved every minute of it.

Carolyn has been married to her wonderful husband for almost half a century (I think that alone is one great accomplishment :) ) and together they have three children.She says that in 2000 they travelled overseas to England,Scotland and Ireland for a month.In 2009,they went on another adventure;they took their car and caravan to the Mainland,crossing Bass Strait in a large vehicular ferry.They travelled for three months right through the Outback to Uluru,Darwin,Kakadu and many more places.She said that that there was beautiful orange/red soil,amazing wildlife and a great contrast of scenery.This year their adventures include visiting Northeastern Australia-Queensland,for 3-4 months.It sounds like Carolyn is living her dream life of travelling the country.

She also says that her state,Tasmania,is Australia's smallest state and is at it's southern most tip.Their capital,Hobart,has about 300,000 people,while the entire population of Tasmania has only 500,000 people.They also have a small,heritage listed,wilderness area in their state,which generates a lot of tourism,as do their lakes,beaches,and convict areas.

Carolyn's hobbies include reading,gardening and crafts.Thanks Carolyn for your lovely letter,which can be seen below: