Oz

I have a friend in Australia that I've been writing to since we were thirteen. (I won't tell you how many years we've been writing, but it's been a while). The nice thing about having a pen-pal from such a young age, other than building a life-long friendship with an extraordinary person, is that it gets you interested in a new and different place. Because of my friendship with Tina, I became a huge fan of everything Australia. My belief is if it's from Australia, it's gotta be good.

When I was younger, I listened to Men at Work and Olivia Newton John. Tina introduced me to an entirely new repertoire of Australian music as well. I became very interested in learning about Australia's states and culture, particularly the Aboriginal culture itself. I knew about the release of Crocodile Dundee before it hit the United States because Tina had written me about it. And I was a fan of Paul Hogan way before the movie was ever made because I always remembered him as the guy in the Quantas commercials.

After graduating college, I journeyed to Australia to meet her. It was a wonderful trip (even though I screwed up the arrival date and she came the day before to the airport for us. My fault entirely. Doy.) Australia was bidding for the Olympics that year. They won. I visited Cairns, Queensland and Sydney, Australia with a side trip to Wollongong. I saw all the major tourist spots and then went to search for my favorite critters: crocodiles.

A year later an amazing man named Steve Irwin would hit the airwaves in the United States. I felt I had found a soul mate. There was someone else who called reptiles "Beautiful" other than me. I never would have believed that less than a decade later, I'd be mourning the loss of this beautiful soul with the rest of the world.

And then there's the Wiggles. My friend told me about them first because her daughter watched them. Then I saw them at Australia Zoo on television. They were Australian, so I was hooked. Now, the Wiggles are something I share with my two year old Goddaughter. Ironically, her favorite Wiggles video is Wiggles Safari with Steve Irwin and his family.

I also sing her the Kookaburra song. I think I've passed on some good things to her. None of which would have come into my life if it wasn't for a 13 year old girl, now a lovely woman, named Christina.

Thankfully, I kept notes of my trip to Australia. A lot of those memories became the basis of my third screenplay, A Kangaroo in the Hand. Maybe one day it will make it to the screen and reach over to Tina as well.

For now, I will concentrate on my rewrite of it. It was Tina, after all, who after seeing Point Break said (about the actor in the final scene), "That was the worst Australian accent I ever heard." I want to do this one right. I don't want to let her. . .or my other Ozzie mates. . . down.

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree

Merry, merry king of the bush is he

Laugh! Kookaburra! Laugh! Kookaburra!

Gay your life must be. . .
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE