Easter - Aussie Style

Soo...

I'm thinking, because I'm here in Australia, I'd introduce you to the Easter that I (and most of my friends) enjoy.

 

Now I have to admit to a fondness for chocolate eggs and bunnies - but there is a new trend here, which in about the last 10 years, has caught on... The Easter Bilby!

What is a bilby I hear you ask? It's a small creature (a little like a natural rat) and you can read more here.

But back to the topic at hand. For most states of Australia, Easter is a 4 day break from Good Friday until Easter Monday - where most businesses are closed. Tasmania does enjoy an extra day (Easter Tuesday) - something we discovered during our time in the island state!

Now, I'm just back from the market as I'm writing this blog - shopping on Easter Saturday is something I really don't enjoy. But for a moment just imagine aisles and aisles of chocolate (ohhh my hips!!) Hot Cross Buns (do you have them in America?) and rabbit ears.

We also celebrate Good Friday. Fish... More Fish and still more fish. The meal is prawns, deep fried crumbed calamari rings, chips and fish. (My husband particularly enjoys Barramundi and Flat Head, though Red Emperor and even Snapper have been on the menu!) I've popped a photo of this year's feast for you :)

Saturday is the day of madness - cleaning, shopping, and where necessary the kids have gone into work.  Come Saturday night, we relax and with a clean house usher the pets into the bedrooms for the night. (Don't want the cat taking a chomp out of the Easter Bunny!!)

In our house, it's a quiet day. A day of reflection and relaxation. (And maybe also for gluttony - by the kids of course.) It's family breakfast after checking out the contents of the easter nests (usually washing baskets filled with bedding). Then enjoying each others company.

Lunch in our house will be a roasted duck with copious vegetables, then hanging out with a movie.  Dinner is whatever we choose to make it and often light.

Monday, being the last day of our break, is the last clean up, getting ready for work and back to school for our youngest.  It's not the last break for us, but it is the last lengthy break in the year.  

I hope you have a wonderfully safe Easter and i'd love to learn more about your Easter. Do feel free to share!

 (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Kisses

Imogene

Aussie Fun!

Hi everyone - I'm new to the Spicin' It Up blog, but when I was chatting with the other Beachwalk Authors, we thought I might do something a little different. So here I am! (Yep I'm certainly different!!)

So who am I? I'm Imogene Nix - nutty author and bookseller :D In my spare time I have 2 daughters (but only one still at school) a husband and of course Super Pup! (My trusty sidekick)

I write Paranormal, Science fiction and generally any kind of hot romance that captures my attention.

To find our more about me though, I recommend visiting my website - www.imogenenix.com and following me on Facebook www.facebook.com/ImogeneNix  but now I have that out of the way, what was I going to chat about today??

Oh! That's right!

I was having a lovely chat with the gorgeous Pamela the other day about school and specifically the rules in Aussie Schools and it got me thinking...

Are there really so many differences?

It seems that there are. See I have a teenager in her last year of school (the last of my two) and she's chomping at the bit to be grown up. She wants to wear makeup and jewellery to school. In Australia, most schools actually ban the wearing of makeup and jewellery, just as they ban mobile (cellular) phones too.

They are only allowed to drive once they have their license and can only carry one non-family member in their car as well. And there is no in school parking.

All of these are "normal" over here, yet not in America. It's something I struggle a little to remember - particularly when writing about Australianisms.

When I wrote A Bar In Paris I had a heap of Australianisms which made sense to me, but may have to be adjusted for the overseas market. So here are a few:

• Swag (sleeping roll - usually consisting of mattress and bedding)
• Pull up a stump (grab a chair)
• Geez (wow, gosh)
• shout (no not yelling - when you buy a round of beers/drinks, we call it a shout)
• chucking a Brenda (throwing a tantrum)
• Cactus (as in it's dead - that machine is cactus)
• Carked it (as in it's dead - the washing machine carked it!)

Anyway, I thought I might focus on things that we say/do differently over the next few blogs :D I hope you enjoy learning a bit more about 'Staylia" (Australia)

Oh and if you have some time, why not check out my Beachwalk titles? This month, The Plan, is on special for a tiny 99 cents!

The Plan

What happens when wrong and right collide amidst indescribable passion?

Jonah Fielding has been brought in to clean up the Department of Authority on Centauri. In the course of his work, he captures Kadie Frost, the young woman who managed to escape his sting operation. Kadie, an orphan, now almost destitute illegal parts runner, is shocked to find herself falling for the man who arrested her.

Jonah's world is one that Kadie doesn't understand and fears. When he offers her a deal, she agrees to help him with the investigation. Now they must fight an impossible attraction, find the bad guys, and along the way they'll even end up getting married…purely for the sake of the case, of course.

In the middle of upheaval they find themselves surprised by the scorching promise of passion while bewildered at how it all went awry. The clock is ticking and anything can happen next. Will they survive when work and pleasure collide?

Content Warning: This book contains a sexy, hot man in uniform and a wayward, hotheaded woman, as well as lots of adventure of the futuristic and bedroom variety.