From Down Under to Down South

Send us Fan Mail This week in America, a trip to Daytona Beach for Georgia’s final dance competition of the season turned into something I wasn’t expecting. What started as a week of dance nationals, beaches, airports and sightseeing became a reminder that the things we remember most about travel are often the people we meet along the way. From conversations with a Haitian taxi driver, a Jamaican...

Send us Fan Mail Living in America as an Australian changes the way you speak in ways you don’t expect. After 8 years in the USA, I’ve started noticing American phrases, cultural differences, and everyday habits slowly becoming part of my life without even realising it. It starts small. Saying “y’all” at work. Asking for a “to go box” instead of takeaway. Calling it a gas station instead of a serv...

Send us Fan Mail This week, a few seemingly unrelated things came together. A missing dance partner. The World Cup. Memories of Fiji, Samoa and New Zealand. A part-time job that almost became a full-time career. A YouTube video that suddenly took off. For years, I measured success by promotions, responsibility and whatever the next opportunity happened to be. Lately, I've started asking diffe...

Send us Fan Mail Australian humour can be hard to explain until you live somewhere else and suddenly realise… people aren’t hearing it the same way. In this episode, I talk about the small parts of Australian humour that don’t always translate in America — self-deprecation, deadpan sarcasm, understatement, “taking the piss,” and the very Australian habit of cutting down anything that feels a bit t...

Send us Fan Mail This week in America, I started a new job at a self-storage facility just ten minutes from home — or, as I've discovered, exactly two songs away. What I thought would be a story about starting a new job quickly became a story about people. In my first week, I met a woman from Augusta who shared stories about life during Masters week, the owners of a local Chick-fil-A who remi...

Send us Fan Mail Why do Australians sound rude in America? Why do cultural differences between Australia and the US change how we come across without us realising? This episode explores the moment you realise you sound rude in America — and why it happens. After living in the United States for several years, I’ve started to notice something subtle. It’s not that Australians are trying to be rude —...

Send us Fan Mail After 24 years in banking, more than 2,500 job applications, and a career that became my identity, I found myself facing something many people quietly experience but rarely talk about: Starting over. In this episode of This Week in America, I share the reality of leaving a senior banking career after burnout, the emotional toll of unemployment, applying for thousands of jobs in my...

Send us Fan Mail Living in America as an Australian, you start to notice the small cultural differences that no one really talks about. In this episode, I share 10 American habits that still surprise me after 8 years — from grocery shopping at places like Publix, to restaurant service, home owners associations and everyday life in the United States. These aren’t the big, obvious differences betwee...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of This Week in America, I talk about the unexpected ways living in Tennessee has changed what feels familiar to me. I used to miss the loud chaos of Australian birds every morning—lorikeets, magpies, cockatoos—but lately the sounds of cardinals, blue jays, and woodpeckers have started feeling like home too. That leads into a bigger conversation about life as an Au...

Send us Fan Mail There’s a small money habit in America that I didn’t notice at first — and now I see it everywhere. It shows up in tipping, payment screens, and everyday spending habits that quietly add up. The moment you think you’re done… there’s often one more decision waiting. A tip. An upsell. A donation prompt. Something small, but repeated often enough that it starts to shape how you spend...

Send us Fan Mail A week ago I uploaded a video called The First Things Australians Notice in America . https://youtu.be/a2mJtfnJU-8 What happened next caught me completely off guard. The video passed 160,000 views, the comments poured in, and I found myself spending hours talking with Americans from every corner of the country. What started as a simple discussion about cultural differences became...

Send us Fan Mail There’s a moment that tends to happen when you live overseas.  Someone hears your Australian accent in America … pauses for a second… and then the questions start. After eight years living in the United States as an Australian, I’ve noticed the same questions come up again and again. Some are funny, some are unexpected, and some reveal more about the cultural differences between A...

Send us Fan Mail This week in America somehow turned into a mix of Jeep suspension problems, MRI tunnels, ballroom dancing injuries, drum recitals, and trying to work out why American kids seem to have busier schedules than corporate executives. After my Jeep Wrangler started developing the infamous “death wobble,” I found myself bouncing between tire shops, mechanics, dealerships, and a father-an...

Send us Fan Mail Living overseas changes the way you see the place you came from. After eight years in the United States, I’ve started to notice things about Australia that I never really thought about when I lived there. Not the big, obvious things — but the small, everyday ones. The kinds of things that quietly shape your sense of home. In this episode, I reflect on what I didn’t realise I’d tak...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when your kids grow up in a country that still feels new to you? In this episode of This Week in America , I share a simple moment at The Hermitage in Nashville that turned into something bigger — a quiet realisation about identity, family, and what it means to belong in America as an Australian. Living in the United States for eight years, I’ve grown used to the ques...

Send us Fan Mail As an Australian living in America, I’ve come to realise it’s not the big cultural differences that stay with you… it’s the small, everyday habits. In this episode, I talk through some of the little things Americans do that still catch me off guard — from sending mail from your own mailbox, to turning right on a red light, to traditions like trunk or treat. They’re completely norm...

Send us Fan Mail This week in America — a Kentucky weekend that started with a dance competition and quietly turned into something more. From Louisville traffic during Derby season to bourbon conversations at a hotel bar, a visit to the Louisville Slugger Museum, and a roadside stop at Buc-ee’s… this episode reflects on the small, unexpected moments that end up defining the trip. At the center of...

Send us Fan Mail After living in the United States for a number of years, there are still plenty of things that surprise me about daily life here. Some are confusing. Some take getting used to. But there are also things America does genuinely well — things that stand out once you’ve lived somewhere else. In this episode, I reflect on a few parts of American culture that have quietly impressed me s...

Send us Fan Mail What does everyday life in America actually feel like? In this episode, I share a week that started with representing Australia at a school international night in Tennessee… and unfolded into a series of small moments that say a lot about living in the United States as an Australian. From sausage rolls, Vegemite, and Tim Tams at an American school event… to watching kids grow up i...

Send us Fan Mail After living in America for eight years, there’s one small phrase I’ve come to appreciate more than I expected. “You’re welcome.” It’s such a simple response. But the way different cultures handle gratitude says a lot about rhythm, acknowledgement, and how we close small moments. In Australia, we tend to say “no worries.” It minimises the act. Keeps everything level. There’s humil...

Send us Fan Mail This week in America, I started noticing how everyday life works a little differently. Living in the United States as an Australian, it’s often the small things that stand out — like how many everyday tasks become services. From lawn care crews moving house to house, to businesses built around things most people don’t want to do, there’s a strong sense of opportunity in everyday l...

Send us Fan Mail Living overseas stretches you. It expands your perspective. It changes you. But it’s not free. In this episode, I reflect on what it really means to live between two countries — Australia and America — and how moving across the world shapes not just you, but your children as well. From magpie calls in Canberra to aircraft overhead in Tennessee… from supermarket aisles in Coles to...

Send us Fan Mail What feels “normal” when you live in another country… isn’t always what you expect. In this week’s episode of This Week in America , I found myself in two very different situations — standing beneath a Saturn V rocket that took people to the Moon… and sitting in a safe room at midnight during a tornado warning. And somehow… both felt like just another part of the week. That’s the...

Send us Fan Mail Why do American goodbyes feel so different to Australian ones? After years of living in the United States, there’s still one small social moment that catches me off guard — the way conversations end. In Australia, goodbyes tend to wind down slowly. There’s a rhythm to them. A soft warning. A gradual exit. In America, it can feel much more efficient. Direct. Sometimes abrupt. In th...

Send us Fan Mail This Week in America: Tornado Season The first time you hear a tornado siren in the American South… you don’t forget it. For many people living in Australia, tornadoes feel like something distant — dramatic footage from the news somewhere in the American Midwest. But living in Tennessee, you quickly learn that severe weather isn’t something that sits in the background of life. It’...