Hi everyone. This is a big day (well not really). It's the first time I've written a Team Australia update from Australia. Woo!

I have to admit, it's nice being back in Queensland. There are a lot of things I like about living in Panama and I have no desire to take up residency in Australia again anytime soon, but it is good to be here. I especially like the quiet. Panama City is just so noisy all the time. It doesn't matter if it's day or night, there are always people and traffic being loud. So the quiet is one of the things I'm really noticing. I also really like how people know how to drive properly here. I miss that—road rules, general driving courtesy and the like. It's a good thing.

Brisbane meet-up

It's happening on 30th December. I made this post about it the other day so check that out if you want to come. Apart from me, these people have said they're coming: 

• @gohba.handcrafts
• @juicy-shark
• @magicmonk
• @stephen-somers
• @plushzilla

These people are maybes:

• @itchyfeetdonica
• @keiron
• @revo

I'm also trying to peer pressure @ausbitbank or @krystle into coming, but they are both ignoring my pestering at the moment. I also want @drwom to come, so I'm pestering him as well.

Melbourne meet-up

Oi, you lot down south. Someone needs to take the initiative on this and organise something cos there are a bunch of you that want a meet-up. 

Back in November @mazzle and @bigdizzle91 were keen. Currently, @datascience, @dr-bronte, @aussieninja, @just2random are all talking about it.

Someone pick a date and a venue, make a post, and send it to me. I'll promote it in these Team Australia updates and re-steem from the @teamaustralia account.

Adelaide Christmas SP giveaway

Superstar mallsballer @mattclarke is continuing to make Radelaide the steemit capital of Australia. This time he's giving away 500SP delegations for 12 months to the first 20 (I think) people who take a selfie of themselves under the Christmas tree in the city centre and tag their post underabigtree. 

This is such a cool initiative and a great way to give new steemians a head start on the platform. I will be spamming them all to join Team Australia over the next few days. 

The usual community notices

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

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.

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

You should consider voting for the the MSP witnesses, particularly @ausbitbankand @aggroed, who've a done a great job in getting this 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

@vegoutt-travel was born and raised in Singapore for 15 years before moving to Brisbane. (Hello, come to the meet-up! Plus that would make three vegans; four if I can convince @spectrumecons to come too). She has three passports, friends from everywhere, and a strong desire to travel. 

@vegoutt-travel started her career as a hair and makeup artist and won Hairdresser of the Year in 2007 at the age of 17. Since then she has worked as a performer at Movieworld, Aussieworld, and for Carnival Cruise Lines.

@vegoutt-travel is an activist and animal rights advocate. After rescuing her chihuahua from a dog fighting ring in Brisbane, she started a Vegan Animal Rescue Organisation, Vegoutt.

Fun fact 

"All my fingers are double jointed and I once learned how to play the piano palms up."

What???? This is so weird. I can't even imagine what that looks like. I think you need to make a video of this.

Candidate 2

Name and bio

@datascience is from Melbourne. He's a statistician and lecturer with a background in statistics/data science and finance. He's also interested in analytics, cryptocurrency, and education. From his blog he appears to have a cat that doesn't like being touched (see, this is why I like dogs) and he could very well be vegan. (I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty excited about all these vegans that joining steemit. I might even need to start a Team Australia vegan sub-group.)

In his spare time @datascience plays guitar, produces videos, and competes in powerlifting. He's hoping to use steemit to share educational videos and content on analytics, and maybe some music and videos.

Fun fact

"I once had a bad dance music track I made played on the radio in New Zealand."

Ah, it's New Zealand. I'm sure no one remembers. Also, I'm guessing you're not this Lyndon Walker?

Candidate 3

Name and bio

@aussieninja recently moved from Northcote—which he says is the hippsteriest place in Melbourne—to Portland in the US, which is also a very hipstery place. He moved there so he could train and compete in American Ninja Warrior, which is reality TV show where competitors tackle an extremely hard obstacle course. He has also appeared on Australian Ninja Warrior and enjoyed it a lot. 

When he's not ninja-ing or being a hipster, @aussieninja works as an IT consultant and is a self-taught photographer. He recently bought a five-acre farm that he shares with deer and fat squirrels. He plans to build a music studio and ninja gym there, and is excited to share his ninja training and adventures with the steemit community.

Fun fact

"My wife is a muso and my fun fact is the only musical thing I can do is play Radiohead's Creep on a button bass set to easy. I am a great roadie though."

Hey, every muso needs a roadie to look legit, right? It's good you can support your wife's career.

Candidate 4

Name and bio

@stahlberg is an Adelaide-born, Swedish-Australian artist living in Kuala Lumpur. He creates all kinds of art and works for a game company doing outsourcing work for games including StreetFighter V, Agents of Mayhem, Final Fantasy, and others he can't talk about. 

@stahlberg is married with two adult children who currently live in Sweden. He's previously lived in Hong Kong and the USA. He also lived in Adelaide in his 20s, where he went to art school, and has fond memories of smoking weed, drinking beer and eating chicken and chips. 

In his spare time, @stahlberg makes web comics, Android Blues, and paints pinups in Photoshop, while recording the process and making tutorial videos.

Fun fact

"I was born at 10 minutes past 10 on the 10th day of the 10th month."

I like this fun fact, it is very cool. I don't think many people can say this.

Candidate 5

Name and bio

@peterkkim96 was born in Korea but moved to Sydney at age four. While he has retained most of his Korean heritage, growing up in Australia has meant he has a strong Western personality as well. 

@peterkkim96 is studying a double degree in Law and International Studies at the University of New South Wales, and is currently on exchange in Germany at Ludwig Maximillians University. He started in September, for one year, and is travelling when he's not studying. @peterkkim96 has already made a bunch of gorgeous travel posts and is regularly featured in my other steemit project, traveldigest, as a result. 

Candidate 6

Name and bio

@pingapete is lives on the central Queensland coast. Cats are his favourite animals because they are autistic and funny to watch, so he has two of them. He's interested in reading, gaming, and fishing. He also enjoys creating digital art and sharing it with others.

@pingapete finds mind-altering substances like LSD, MDMA and cannabis to be quite fun, and they let him view things in a different perspective. He currently has a number of posts on his blog providing updates on how his plants are going. 

Fun fact

"I am pro-marijuana and I have an interest in psychoactive substances."

Fair enough. I don't really have anything to add to this except I'm glad the Australian Government recently legalised hemp seeds for human consumption. That law was quite ridiculous and out of sync with the rest of the world.

Congratulations everyone. You've been accepted into @teamaustralia

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 Streemian. Instructions are here.
6. Comment below or DM me on steemit chat or 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 unless there is a lot of interest, in which case I will try and post sooner. 

This post was created in mspsteem, which provides a 5% beneficiary to @minnowsupport.

Are you an Aussie? Introduce yourself in the teamaustralia chat room!  

Top image credit: Iván Lojko

Gif by @justcallmemyth

Team Australia banner by @bearone

Page dividers by @kristyglas