Well guys, I’m back in the land of mediocre food. After my sojurn in Oz, I’ve come to realize that I live in a food desert- you have to drive about 25-30 minutes to get anything to eat or to do grocery shopping. If you do eat in town, your choices are mostly limited to chains. Whether fast food or sit-down places, your food comes from massive industrial farms a thousand miles away, and it’s usually frozen and then plopped onto your plate by a line cook with three weeks experience working from a script.

The food scene in Australia isn’t anything like that, and the coffee is world-class. Right now I’m feeling a tad cheated as I drink my drip coffee—a quick cup of tea bag coffee in Oz was better, I’m afraid.

It is what it is. Now, a post-mortem on my working vacation in Australia.

Much happened. Did I see kangaroos and other cool stuff? Yes, including the last existing WW1 German tank, captured by Queensland troops in 1918. Observe.

Strange to think that an ungainly beast like this heralded a new age in warfare, but it did. The Kaiser only fielded twenty of these in the Great War, and this is the sole remaining example, preserved at the Queensland Museum. If you look closely, it is scarred by shot and shell, and apparently sat in no-man’s-land until recovered by some really brave Aussie troops. Somehow they hauled it to a ship and sent it on the long voyage south, where it sat outside for decades.

Pretty cool. This was but one of dozens of interesting things I saw there. The wildlife was super interesting, as was Brisbane, probably the nicest city I’ve ever visited. My hosts were gracious, and they were fantastic guides and friends. Every time I looked into their garden it was like a trip to the zoo! One day, while writing, a scrub turkey climbed onto the tree branch outside my window.

Observe.

The neighbors had raucous kookaburras. Their cries must be heard to be believed. They sound like maniacs.

There’s a lot I could write here- it was a fantastic trip. But now it’s done.

Regarding writing, much happened. I polished off my end of the Javan War, an upcoming co-authored deal with JB. It’s the origin story of Lucinda Hardy, the chief protagonist of the Cruel Stars universe. Also, I finished the preps for Light’s End, my upcoming alien invasion novel. I’m looking at a fifteen June launch. In addition, helped a little with moving around blocks on an upcoming JB thing, and dreamed up a new series and wrote the premise while brainstorming with John and Elana.

It was a totally cool trip, even if the trip is beyond hellish. It’s worth it. I even became a fan of vegemite, something that I had not foreseen. It is pretty awesome combined with eggs!

It was only fitting that I smeared it on my toast while enjoying my last breakfast, brekkie, in Oz. Delicious eggs benedict and good coffee, sigh. When I grabbed a coffee in Vancouver on the trip back it tasted like ditch water.

Nice country you’ve got down there, Aussie readers. I’d imagine I’ll visit again.