I fell for Australia on a business trip in 2005, “Australia! They have giant rats that carry their babies around in tummy pouches. Aussies! Very similar to Americans, except more in touch with their mortality due to the myriad poisonous things surrounding them.”
I remember that trip vividly, lazy breakfasts at Bills, feeding kangaroos, fruit tasting with a guy named Digby (Digby? I mean, come on. Central casting was in on that one). Also, they have trees that sting there! They call them Stinging Trees! Apt, Australia. Apt.
Anyway, one of the poignant things about travel is how you come to love a place, knowing you’ll likely never get to see it again. Because you should probably save up for health insurance and maybe pay your taxes or whatever.
So I’m feeling giddy right now, because…
A Bunch of Us Are Going to Australia
Go Mighty has been working for months with Tourism Australia and Air New Zealand to find ways to encourage folks to visit Australia. In the coming weeks ten people, including me, will travel there to cross off Life List goals and meet some of our favorite Aussie bloggers. (Hi, Pip!)
But! What about you? What if you want to ride a kangaroo while a didgeridoo sounds in the distance?
You Should Come Too
If you’d like a chance to win your own trip, because you’re canny like that, make a list of all the things you’d like to do and see in Australia — swimming with the fishes in the Great Barrier Reef, learning to butcher at Victor Churchill, touring Melbourne in a hot air balloon at sunrise, investigating whether Australian toilets really do flush backward.
Then tag your aspirational-Aussie goals #goaustralia on your Go Mighty profile. On November 1, Go Mighty will select one community member to travel with a friend to Australia. This is merit based, so do it up right by uploading fun photos with your goals, writing stories around why you want to do particular things, and setting goals that say something about who you are. Shine bright like a diamond, and so forth.
Let’s Fill a Plane on the Cheap
If Australia is on your list, but you’d like to visit with your whole family, or an entire small town, here’s how to get $200 off of each ticket:
If 332 of us promise to visit Australia in 2014, enough to fill an Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300 aircraft, it will trigger a $200-off discount code. Like a Groupon, but for koala hugging. Head to Go Mighty and click on Fill-A-Plane for all the info.
Come! We shall cuddle wallabies, barbecue in the middle of December, lasso crocodiles and have them pull our rowboats, then be reported missing on the evening news. Just like real Aussies.
Aussie slang prints by Droops Store.
Mighty Girl 
It is true. We have some of the scariest things EVER in Australia… Our Prime Minister for instance is really scary. Also Chiko Rolls and Dagwood Dogs… SUPER scary. And let’s not even talk about Russell Crowe… But APART from all that, we’re good to go. We’re actually really awesome. Everyone should TOTALLY COME! Unless you HATE delicious food, gorgeous scenery and ace people… then don’t come. Stay home and celebrate your lucky escape!
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Cannot say how excited I am to hear you’re coming here! I’ve been reading now for 7 years 🙂 I’m in Melbourne and would love to go ballooning with you too – I’ve still never done it.
And like what Pip said above – we’ll take really good care of you all!
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I was just at the Exotic Fruit Farm! Digby and his wife are selling the farm, in case you are interested in a big life change.
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And you should totally go see the confusion that is Australian Rules Football. I guarantee, it’s at once everything you thought you knew about ball games, and nothing like any of those 🙂
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That’s so interesting – I couldn’t imagine Aussies and Americans as being more different! We’re actually contemplating an Ashes tour when the boys are bigger – my husband can enjoy the cricket while I (and whoever else wants to go with me!) get to explore 🙂
Also, I have a theory that Australians are incapable of making bad movies or tv shows.
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Welcome! I love how everything in this country is pretty much trying to kill you.
You guys should totally take surfing lessons in Coolum because it’s awesome and I hear we have one of the best surf schools around. Maybe they’re just good at marketing?
Prepare to barbecue EVERYWHERE.
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Everything I know about Australian culture I learned from H20, Dance Academy, and McLeod’s Daughters. (Thanks, Netflix!) 😉
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Go to the new Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane – amazing art & architecture! And eat all of the brunch in nearby West End and New Farm. So much good eating.
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I want to go to Australia, but I live in New Zealand. No discounted tickets for me. (What’s that you say? It only costs a few hundred dollars to fly there anyways? Oh right.)
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I wanna push my self to australia because I like to get marry an Aussi gurl one day.
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Will there be an event in Melbourne? Would love to attend.
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Go to the Blue Mountains and visit Eden Riley of Edenland – please.
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