Winners & How Aussie Are You? & Links

Congrats to

 #27 Grace 

and #17 Jan von Harz 

who were selected from Random.org

Your choice of one book from this selection OR

 you can also choose from the Jaclyn Moriarty Ashbury/Brookfield series.

I hope there's a book somewhere in there that you're hanging out for :) 

And thanks so much everyone for entering! You guys rock :)

Two important links

One: CHECK THIS OUT - Over @ The Book Smugglers, Jaclyn Moriarty's The Ghosts of Ashbury High (Dreaming of Amelia) gets 10/10! One of the best books they have ever read! It's also the best review I've read of the book. Here's some quotes from the review - (which instantly made me nostalgic and feel like reading the book all over again):

• All is flawlessly linked and you only realise that in the EXTRAORDINARY ending when every.Single.Plot.Line comes together and my head exploded (gothically speaking) with the sheer brilliance of this book.
• I can’t think of a single thing that does not work in this book and I loved it with every bit of my being (brain and heart!) and I re-read it before writing this review and still it managed to evoke this feeling of greatness and warmth and it is awesome and I URGE you to go and read it. Your life may depend on it!!!!! You know, gothically speaking.

Two: Angie @ Addicted to Books has completed her ??? round of revisions on NIkki's Wish and is holding a contest to celebrate. Up for grabs: a 50 page LBL critique (and she's very good - if you have a WIP, you want this). Plus two winners choose a book from The Book Depository. Check it out

Now for this dooby I stumbled across @ Goodgollymissholly
How Australian Are You?

So, the one's in blue are a YES from me. I'm pretty sure some of them are kinda international but things that apparently characterise Australians. Like Lemon, Lime and Bitters? Surely that's not just an Australian thing? My score's @ the end. Any that you've done that are Australian? 

I also wrote a few comments, b/c, you know, I just couldn't help myself... :)

• Heard a kookaburra in person
• Slept under the stars
• Seen a koala
• Visited Melbourne
• Watched a summer thunderstorm
• Worn a pair of thongs
• Been to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock)
• Visited Cape York
• Held a snake
• Sang along with Khe San
• Drank VB
• Visited Sydney
• Have seen a shark
• Have used Aussie slang naturally in a conversation
• Had a conversation with an indigenous Australian (Aboriginal) (really? who hasn't?)
• Eaten hot chips from the bag at the beach
• Walked/climbed over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
• Used an outside dunny (we had one for three years...)
• Seen Chloe in Young & Jackson’s
• Slept on an overnight train or bus
• Been to Sydney’s Mardi Gras
• Have gone bush-bashing (fave childhood pastime - grew up in the Blue Mountains)
• Taken a sickie (surely this is a world-wide phenomenon?)
• Been to see a game of Aussie Rules football
• Have seen wild camels
• Gone skinny dipping
• Done a Tim Tam Slam
• Ridden in a tram in Melbourne
• Been at an ANZAC day Dawn Service
• Watched a sunrise or sunset
• Held a wombat
• You have a favourite Wiggle (Anthony - Blue :)
• Been on a roadtrip of 800km or more
• Seen the Great Australian Bight in person
• Had a really bad sunburn (it's a tradition for me - I'm the palest of white...)
• Visited an Aboriginal community
• Seen a redback spider (kept some as pets when i was a teen. they didnt thrive... :)
• Have watched Paul Hogan
• Seen Blue Poles in person (?)
• Eaten Vegemite (not even interested. eww)
• Thrown a boomerang
• Seen the Kimberleys
• Given a hitch-hiker a lift
• Been to Perth
• Have tried Lemon, Lime and Bitters (who hasn't?)
• Tried playing a didgeridoo (yes and FAIL. It was hard)
• Seen dinosaur footprints
• Eaten Tim Tams
• Been to Darwin
• Touched a kangaroo 
• Visted the Great Barrier Reef
• Listened to Kevin Bloody Wilson
• Killed a Cane Toad
• Gone to a drive-in theatre (loads. Is this particularly Aussie?)
• Have read and own books by Australian authors 
• Visited Adelaide
• Know the story behind “Eternity”
• Been camping
• Visited Brisbane
• Been in an outback pub
• Know what the term “Waltzing Matilda” actually means
• Gone whale watching
• Listened to Slim Dusty (unfortunately ;)
• Own five or more Australian movies or TV series (I dont buy them, but I love Aussie films)
• Sang along to Down Under
• Have stopped specifically to look at an historic marker by the side of the road
• Eaten a Four N Twenty pie
• Surfed at Bondi (swam there, but can't surf...)
• Watched the cricket on Boxing Day (not my idea of fun, but every summer cricket was pretty much on all day long at my place)
• Visited Hobart
• Eaten kangaroo (for the first time a few weeks ago @ a friend's BBQ)
• Seen a quokka
• Visited Canberra
• Visited rainforests
• Used a Victa lawnmower
• Travelled on a tram in Adelaide
• Used a Hills hoist
• Visited Kata Tjuta
• Used native Australian plants in cooking
• Visited the snow
• Chosen a side in Holden VS Ford (HOLDEN. choosing sides was big out in the country where I spent my teen years as was watching the Bathurst 1000)
• Visited the desert (nah, but I've read Stolen which was sensory enough to make me feel like I was in the desert :)
• Been water skiing (another FAIL. I'm unco)
• Read The Phantom
• Visited Parliament House
• Gone spotlighting or pig-shooting (i didnt shoot anything though - along for the ride)
• Crossed the Nullarbor
• Avoided swimming in areas because of crocodiles
• Listened to AC/DC
• Called someone a dag
• Voted in a Federal Election
• Have been swimming and stayed between the flags
• Had a possum in your roof
• Visited the outback
• Travelled over corrugated roads
• Hit a kangaroo while driving
• Been well outside any mobile phone coverage (not hard to do...)
• Seen an emu
• Have woken to the smell of bushfires
• Subscribed to RRR
• Patted a pure-bred dingo
• Seen the Oils live

73/102 :) Not bad...

If you give it a go - let me know and I'll come and compare our Aussieness :)