A list of reasons why spending a month in Japan with Astray doing a writing and language workshop is an excellent idea.
You may think I was in love with her. You would be right. But not in the way you think. She was one of my best friends. We met in year 7 at school, but didn’t become close till after school had ended. We were linked in a way I wasn’t with anyone else. We…
When I first arrive in New Caledonia, a small Melanesian-majority French colony in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, my French is shit. Like properly shit. Like, people can’t understand me when I try to order a baguette.
I knew it had to be bad. I did nearly fail half of my university French classes, and…
The events depicted below are based on real experiences I had in Australia from 2020 to 2022. The names of people and places have been removed. Not to protect them, but rather to accommodate the handful of names that have relentlessly built and pushed forward the same issues I am about to address. Think of…
Mount Yasur erupted up from the ashy ground, an understated but formidable entity. Plumes of volcanic smoke crowded the top of the mountain, hinting at an active crater below. The air was electric with anticipation as swathes of tourists waited eagerly at the crown. They were ready to gawp at the pyrotechnical displays from Yasur…
Each day had a handful of half-an-hour drives. It was a halfa to swim in the sea. A halfa to work. A halfa to yoga. A halfa to the pub. A halfa to visit that mate who had a half an hour free. That collectively made for a lot of time in the car feeling…
Content warning: This piece deals with the impacts of sexual violence, but does not go into detail about the act itself. If you think this will upset you, do not proceed. If you have had a similar experience and require support, you can contact the Sexual Assault Support Service on 1800 697 877 and/or 1800RESPECT…
3:32am
I am barely five feet tall. He is a professional kickboxer, stocky and red, and a breath away from my face. His furious words land on me as spit droplets. His finger wags, like he knows everything in the world, and I know nothing. He calls me a little girl.
“Don’t point at me,”…
She sits hunched on the edge of a garden bed on Cavill Avenue, carry-on suitcase beside her, head in her hands. The scenery is picturesque: perfectly preened garden, spotless blue sky, sun blazing, the sound of seabirds constant but soothing – at least to any other listener. Inside her head, a storm rages.
It wasn’t…
Dawn. Somewhere in Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Jim stares out at the mist-soaked valleys, which lie like the fallen limbs of sleeping giants, tangled in a duvet of fog after some Brobdingnagian orgy. I honestly think if I hadn’t been there, Jim would have just walked and walked, till he landed in the giants’ arms or…
Regret is a funny thing. As I edge closer to my mid-twenties, I notice the term ‘regret’ being thrown around a lot. I overhear conversations that include pointed statements like “he’ll regret doing that” and “she’ll regret leaving him”, and when I tell people about my own dreams to turn my life upside down and…
When I think of Spain I think of a dog, handsome but dusty, sleeping in the shade of a tangled olive tree, while the sun beats down all around and the cicadas screech. Repeat that scene a hundred thousand times and you will have a passable impression of España.
Of course, there are variations. The…