G’day! G’day! I hope you’re waking up to a fabulous Wednesday Aussies (or having a good Tuesday if you’re somewhere else). Winter down under is officially DONE and summer is coming. I know @scooter77 is counting his sleeps until this Friday when he’s on school holidays (as vice principal—not as a kid) and can go surfing all the time. Although, if you’re a parent you’re probably less enthusiastic about the September school holidays than he is.

Even though I’m not there, I love September in Brisbane. It starts getting back to proper warm and the gorgeous Jacarandas will be in bloom soon (if they’re not already). 

Plus, the best thing about September is, all the footy will be done for another six or so months! Woo hoo! Be gone annoying sport! 

Bring on the cricket!

Source

So, speaking of @scooter77, I want to tell you guys that there are some exciting upgrades coming to everyone’s favourite puppet @mrsquiggle. I’m officially involved and it’s going to be cool. However, @mrsquiggle is @scooter77’s baby so I won’t steal his thunder and you’ll have to wait for his official announcement to find out what’s going on. 

While we wait, I will take this opportunity to blow my own trumpet for something else that’s been happening. As you know, I spend a lot of time interacting with you guys, especially in the Team Australia chat room on Discord. I am a big fan of the Minnow Support Project (MSP) and I encourage you to be part of it if you’re not already (see instructions below). 

As part of this initiative, @sircork developed the MSP waves radio station. There are a bunch of weekly shows and some spots available if you fancy yourself as a radio show host. DM @sircork or @r0nd0n in Discord if you've got some skillz and this interests you.

One of the regular shows hosted by @gmuxx and @swelker101 is the Shane & Muxxy show on Saturdays at 22:00 UTC (08:00 Sunday Aussie east coast time). Last week they started the weekly S&M sliderfest, which gives minnows with less than 400SP a chance to win 500SP for four weeks courtesy of @minnowbooster. Last week I entered on behalf of @bmj and won.

Because of MSP, I also knew about @scaredycatguide’s insta-dolphin competition and threw some worthy minnow names into the ring. Everyone’s favourite Canadian comic @goldenarms won and he was delegated 5000SP for a week.

Then last Sunday night (11:00-13:00 Monday Aussie east coast time), I used my awesome powers of recruitment to get a bunch of you in Discord to listen to @aggroed’s show on MSP Waves. @aggroed interviewed the one and only @stellabelle—which was worth tuning in for in itself. 

He also likes to give away SP and SBD during his show, and I won another 500SP. My partner in crime for this competition happened to be @bmj again. As promised, I gave half to him (so right now he’s now got an extra 750SP sitting in his account thanks to me), and I gave my half to @kubbyelizabeth, since I owe my Girl Power sister a solid for some other stuff. She then regifted that to someone else. 

But the regifting story doesn't end there. Dice Bitches! winner @bearone gifted half of her 25SBD prize money to me since I introduced her to the show. This was a nice surprise when I woke up on Monday. Thanks babe! 💙

You can read @aggroed's take on how the night went down here. 

So in the past three weeks, I have won (or helped win) 6000 worth of SP for others, plus @bearone's 25SBD.  I think there’re two lessons here.

1. Get involved in the MSP project because there’re some serious legends in it from the whales and witnesses down to the minnows, who are doing a lot of cool very things. 
2. Suck up to me if you have a small account and want me to win you stuff! 😁

The official business

You should follow @mrsquiggle, who is doing a great job recognising and rewarding creativity within Team Australia. He will also submit the most worthy posts to @curie, which would result in a massive upvote if you can tap that gravy train.

You can support Team Australia members by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions on how to do that are here.

Don't forget that @centerlink is busy putting Aussie-battler tax dollars to work in the form of dole payments for posts, as well as showcasing Australia's most worthy dole recipients.

The Minister for Welfare @ausbitbank has created the @discordia bot, which you can use to increase your upvote moolah. Some of the proceeds will support @centerlink so give it a try.

Of course, also check out the awesome Minnow Support Project. Details on how to join are are here and here. Come say hi in the Team Australia chat room in Discord. It's fun and you will make new friends!   

And 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 

@minismallholding is originally from England and is living in Adelaide with her husband and two daughters. Her blog focuses on urban farming. She would love to have an acreage for a smallholding but until that happens she is making the most of her 185sq.m (2000sq.ft) of growing space. 

@minismallholding’s property has really only become productive over the last three years, since it did not have fertile soil to begin with. Every available space is slowly being turned over to food or medicinal plants. The other challenge she has had is learning how to grow produce in the near desert-like conditions of a South Australian summer, compared to what she was used to in England. 

Fun fact 

“I love my rooster so much I trained him not to crow.” 

Hmm, interesting. I really have no idea how one would go about this. Is it like strapping one of those collars to a dog to get them to stop barking? 

Candidate 2 

Name and bio 

@cryptoandzen is the husband of the legendary travel blogger and regular Ladies Hour Discord participant @shellyduncan. Even though he introduced @shellyduncan to steemit three months ago, he only joined a week ago (ooh, slack mate!). Together, they live on a rural property north of Sydney and are gradually undertaking improvements to their property to grow more fruit and vegetables—creating a sustainable, self-provisioned life.  

@cryptoandzen enjoys fitness, running, bushwalking, paddle boarding, and crypto. He has also spent a fair bit of time exploring Asia, the Middle East and parts of Europe. He also likes meditation and other mind exploration practices to explore consciousness to attain altered states of awareness. 

Fun fact

“I love paddleboarding and getting out in the surf—sharks don't worry me. Did you know vending machines kill four times as many people as sharks per year? I'm more scared of vending machines”. 

No I did not know that. Colour me intrigued.

Also, this.   

Source

Candidate 3 

Name and bio 

@mostly.nature is from Scotland originally. He came to Australia when he was two, lived here for a while, and then spent nine years back in Scotland. Eventually he returned to Tassie for the warmer weather (lol!). He currently lives in Burnie, which for the non-Taswegians among us is 150km NW of Launceston.  

@mostly.nature’s blog is about nature, photography and video, and the occasional off topic post. His usual posts focus on birds, reptiles, mammals, insects, and fungi. 

Fun fact 

“In my pursuit of nature and the outdoors, myself and two others once broke down in a remote area of the Blue Mountains. It took us two days to walk out with only two bread rolls and half a billy can of water between us. I'm not so sure that that was fun though.” 

Hmm, that does seem like a dangerous situation to be in and not so fun. But your fact is interesting so you pass.

 

Candidate 4

Name and bio

@benfenson is a fine art photographer currently living on the South Coast of NSW. He is an ocean lover, body-boarder, nature explorer, cryptocurrency noob, gamer, pirate (like the kind off Somalia? Or the kind that downloads tv shows and movies?) and a psychonaut. He also has some pretty awesome looking dreads.

@benfenson's blog contains a lot of really nice landscape photographs, so if that’s your thing, go check him out. 

Fun fact 

“I come from a family of 10 kids—I’m the eldest brother and I have five brothers and four sisters!” 

Holy Batman! That is a lot of kids. I can’t even get to ten if I include my siblings, niece, nephew, cousin, and cousins once removed.

 

Candidate 5

Name and bio

@o07 is another one of @mattclarke’s mates and part of the ever-growing Adelaide crew. (Seriously @mattclarke, you are doing a bang up job in getting the Radelaidans onto steemit). @o07 is a stacker and sports enthusiast, and has a passion and drive for journalism and reporting across all major sports.  

@o07 is into travelling and seeking adventure. He has lived and worked in numerous towns and cities across Australia. He enjoys being outdoors, camping and fishing. He also likes teaching others the skills that he has learned over the years.  

Fun fact 

“For about the last three years there has been a running joke amongst my friends at work that my hair and beard somewhat liken resemblance to the street fighter character ‘Zangief’ so this has become a nickname for me in the office. I was a big street fighter fan as a kid so it sort of just stuck around.” 

Even though I have no idea who you are talking about, this is pretty cool. I like it.    

@sirknight, please add these new members to 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 @ausbitbank.
2. Regularly check the  Team Australia and Australia tags and upvote the content you like. 
3. Follow and upvote existing members of @teamaustralia who you share a common interest with. Alternatively, you can show your support by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions are listed here.
4. Comment below or DM me on steemit chat or Discord that you want to join.
5. Link 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 tag to help boost your following. You can also follow this handy guide written by @teamsteem.
6. 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.  
7. If you’re not Aussie tell me why you should be a Team Australia ambassador. 
8. Tell me a fun fact about yourself. This can be anything. For example, maybe you run a successful business, or 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!

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 unless there is a lot of interest, in which case I will try and post sooner.  

Team Australia banner by @bearone 

Page dividers by @kristyglas