G'day Aussies et al. I hope everyone enjoyed their day off for ANZAC Day. Both @ravenruis and I are really happy that so many of you participated in her ANZAC Day Unsung Heroes writing challenge. There were a lot of great posts from both sides of the Tasman; not only shedding light on those who've passed, but also different perspectives on what ANZAC Day means to different steemians. I personally got a lot out of researching and writing my post and reading those of others. I encourage you to check out the ANZAC tag if you haven't already. 

Feature photo

Today's photo was taken by @trudeehunter and is of the Brisbane cityscape. This view is from Kangaroo Point, which is one of Brisbane's favourite workout spots. I used to loving running along here before I left. Please upvote her photo here if you like it.

Meet-ups

Adelaide

Listen up Mallsballers; your next meet-up is tonight. Usual time, usual place. From 6pm at the Jade. But I'm guessing you all already know that since you're mega organised. 

In case you're new, here's a post. Or just look for @holoz0r's beard.

Credit: @holoz0r

Melbourne Sydney

Oops, force of habit! I'm not used to writing cities that don't start with A or M. 

Well, it seems that @rustle has rustled up some interest in a gathering of steemians in our largest city! (Do you like like what I did there? 😁) A couple of Sydneysiders are planning a second meet-up in the western suburbs.

• Where: Bavarian Bier Cafe, Parramatta
• When: 2:30 PM, Saturday 5th May

Check out @bearone's post and/or Ratticus' post for details.

Let's hope it doesn't rain this time.

Credit: @bearone

Hiking for conservation

One of my favourite steemians—who's not an official Team Austalia despite my relatively constant pestering—@exploreadelaide, is raising funds for nature conservation in South Australia. In October, he will be hiking approximately 200km across Kangaroo Island over 4–5 days. 

I like Tim, I like national parks, I like Kangaroo Island, and I like South Australia; so I hope you will join me in supporting him. 

You can read more about his journey here.

Credit: @exploreadelaide

The usual community notices

You should follow @mrsquiggle, who is doing a great job recognising Aussie creativity by curating quality content.

Check out the awesome Minnow Support Project (MSP). Details on how to join are here. Come say hi in the #teamaustralia chat room in PAL-Discord. It's fun and you will make new friends. 

You should consider voting for the MSP witnesses, particularly @ausbitbank and @aggroed, who've a done a great job in getting the MSP project off the ground. 

Lastly, if you're feeling generous, you can delegate SP to the Team Australia upvote bots @centerlink and/or @mrsquiggle (or any other bot you like) using Vessel. You can delegate to any of the MSP bots using this link.     

Candidate 1

Name and bio

@kaelci currently lives in the South Burnett region of Queensland but is hoping to move to Cairns at some point (woo! 👍) to create a frangipani plantation. She is an aspiring author who is hoping to submit her first book to a publishing house by the end of this year.

Intro post here. 

Fun fact

"I can go cross-eyed, and then move one eye back to where it should be! Therefore, if I ever enter full-fledged bogan territory, I can fit in for a few minutes while I make my escape."

Ha, I just tried it and it works. Although it's giving me a massive headache so I'm going to stop. 

Candidate 2

Name and bio

@benzene is from Brisbane. He has a science degree and is undertaking further studies while working in the field. His areas of strength include people, science, health, sport, policy, exercise, and education. (This sounds like your LinkedIn profile.)

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"My personal best (have never tried to beat this) is 38 standard drinks in one night."

Jeebus, that's a good effort. It kinda reminds me of Boony's 52 cans of beer between Sydney and Heathrow back in '89. 

Candidate 3

Name and bio

@wildflowerjessi is from Adelaide. She's a henna artist, photographer, painter and creative spirit who dabbles in poetry, sewing, pottery, crochet, baking, and other crafts. 

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"I play the cornet. I grew up competing in national brass band competitions but now I just play for fun. Sometimes I jam with my husband who plays acoustic guitar and sings. Brass will always live in my soul."

Nice. I admit I had to google this to check I was thinking of the right instrument. I wasn't. So now I don't know what the one in my head is.  

Candidate 4

Name and bio

@sue-stevenson is from Melbourne. Her intro post is a bit cryptic, but she is definitely a writer. Other things I got from it are, she's scared of huntsmen (obviously, who isn't?), has forgotten at least chiropractic appointment, and may have lived in England at some point. 

Intro post here.

Fun fact

" I once dogsat for Molly Meldrum while he appeared on Blankety Blanks. I was at the show's taping to see Brian Mannix, the lead singer of Uncanny X-Men. Earlier in the year I had blindly raced across Kings Way in order to hug Brian and breathe in his leather jacket and give him the opportunity to realise I was The One accost him on a median strip. Teenage girls are fricken scary." 

Lol. This all seems perfectly logical.

Candidate 5

Name and bio

@izzynoel is from Melbourne but now lives on North Stradbroke Island with her dog. She has also lived in Germany and London and is a published travel photographer/writer, who solo travels, selling photos and articles of her experiences. 

Intro post here. 

Fun fact

"When I worked as a strapper (no not stripper) in a major Sydney racing stable I looked after Bob Hawke's racehorse. Its name was Notorious Deed. One day it won at Rosehill and as the jockey was dismounting Bob came up and patted the horse on the head—way too hard cause he was drunk of course... and said "he's a little beauty isn't he?" to me. I ignored him."

Ah Bob, everyone's favourite drunken ex-politician despite him being an arrogant git. I remember him being at the cricket and some guy handing him a beer. He stopped, chugged it, and then he carried on walking. Although one would expect this from the former world record holder for the fastest drinking of a yard glass!

Candidate 6

Name and bio

@krystalfinnigan is @harrynewman's girlfriend and lives in Newcastle. She is a quality assurance officer and a site inspector for a company that specialises in tax depreciation for investment properties. She also likes photography and travelling.  

Intro post here. 

Fun fact

"This time last year I was leaving sunny Las Vegas making my way to the Grand Canyon in a pair of shorts and a shirt only to be caught in the middle of a snowstorm. Luckily a local came to my rescue."

Oh, that would suck a lot. The shorts + snow that is. The Grand Canyon is pretty awesome.

Congratulations everyone, you're now part of Team Australia. 

The rules for joining Team Australia

If you’re not yet a member and want to be, this is what you need to do:

1. Vote here for our resident steemit witness and our Minister for Welfare @ausbitbank.
2. Send me your introduction post so I can find out a bit about you. If you’re new to steemit you'll have to write one so use the introduceyourself and teamaustralia tags to help boost your following. Use this handy guide by @teamsteem if you don't know what to write.
3. If it’s not mentioned in your introductory post, tell me which city and country you’re in, cos let's face it, a lot of us live in Australia's fourth largest city—London. You need to have a connection to Australia to join.
4. Tell me a fun fact about yourself. This can be anything. For example, maybe you have eight kids and three dogs, or you rode your bike across America, or you won the blue ribbon for javelin throwing at sports day back in high school, or Toadie came into the pub you work at one day and you served him a beer, or, maybe you can fit 55 maltesers in your mouth like Ed Sheeran can. It doesn’t matter what it is, I want a fun fact about you! The more fun, the better.
5. Regularly check the Team Australia and Australia tags and upvote/follow the content you like. You can show your support by following the centerlink curation trail in steemauto. Instructions are here.
6. Comment below or DM me in PAL-Discord that you want to join.

Once I receive this information I will try my best to write a good introductory paragraph about you for the official Team Australia membership updates. So the better your information is, the better I can make you sound. Where relevant, please use the teamaustralia and australia tags to promote your work. I will try and post weekly updates. 

Gif by @justcallmemyth

Team Australia footer by @bearone

Page divider by @kristyglas