What happens on vacation stays on vacation right? A bit of background information for context. This happened a few years ago. My BF (now husband) and I just turned twenty-one and went traveling, as one does. This would be the first time traveling and spending an extended period of time alone together. One night, after a busy day exploring the local tourist attractions and a long day at the beach, my boyfriend decided to m...

Bec shivered despite the Top End December heat as her partner pulled up to the house outside of town. “Nice place for a Christmas party,” he remarked of the large elevated farmhouse by the river. Whilst the rest of Australia enjoyed long summer days, the nature of the tropics meant that, at five-thirty, the light of approaching sunset already gave the surrounding sparse boab trees a golden hue. “Members of our mums and bu...

The afternoon went as follows… As the meet host, I sent an email to all the guys who had confirmed their attendance to the speedo party on the morning of the meet. Proceedings kicked off with us all meeting in the beer garden of my local pub (let’s say at Bondi)… as some of the guys are not out, the pub of choice is a straight pub to avoid any anxiety such a meet might bring on. So 2 pm rolled around and the guys turned u...

On Monday morning I received a message from my old fuck buddy Alex telling me that the local pool has been shut down as part of the Corona measures. To be honest, I was surprised they stayed open as long as they did. I saw on the news last weekend some of the tourist beaches, like Bondi were shut down, but that hasn’t happened here and I don’t think that would happen here at my sleepy little town... but who knows what nex...

The band's encore faded out and the final set for the night came to an end. Pumped-up festival-goers began to pour out of the arena looking to take the party elsewhere – probably to a field somewhere, in true country style. I took one look at the human traffic jam at the arena gates and decided to stay put and wait out the crowd. As the crowd thinned, I noticed the blanket of red plastic cups and other rubbish that had be...

After my morning walk/swim/coffee today I got back to my unit complex and crossed paths with my landlord.  We chatted for a few minutes, he thanked me for having him for drinks last night and we both said that we were a little bit hungover this morning but nothing a swim in the ocean couldn’t fix. The last thing he said to me was, “Thanks for… you know.” “Anytime,” I replied as I headed back to my unit. I’m glad he rememb...

  Do you know Audrey? To ask, “Audrey who?” is to lose. No breakfast at Tiffany’s for you. You'll be relegated to IHOP. My grandad loved Audrey. Because of him, I am, maybe uniquely, a millennial bought up in her image. I even named my cat Holly Golightly. For once he surprised me, for some reason that role underwhelmed him. Holly was free-form, fluid and difficult to categorize. Inspirational to me, and Audrey as Holly,...

I had just gotten on my Xbox to relax for the night. I had a rough night at work and it was already one in the morning. I had gotten myself something to eat while lying down to prop my legs up. I always had to work the late shift because most of my coworkers hated it. I thought, it gives me hours and I'm normally up at that time anyway. I've always kind of been a night owl.  I am twenty-seven working in a grocery store; e...

Keiko met her sixteen-year-old lover at the indoor pool of the high rise condo in downtown Sydney she shared with some wealthy Chinese and South Korean twenty-somethings who were in Australia to study English.  For three months Keiko went to an English conversation school daily and in the evenings would go downstairs to the pool. One day she met a teenage boy named Jason who began to flirt with her. Keiko’s English was fa...