In Australia, we call it “turtle necking”. The visual is worse.

Oh boy. Yes, I have come across those on some hikes. It’s unnerving how they look up at you as if they are sizing you up, and walk backwards while still looking at you. Didn’t know about the anaphylaxis, only know that the bites are very painful. Thank you!

I know. I also don’t like when my feet can’t touch the ground, so there’s that, too.

I’m also mad allergic to bug bites (mosquitoes and spiders are really bad), so I try to avoid anything that bites.

Still learning about Australia. I’ve survived for almost 6 years now, I think I’m doing okay.

As a Canadian living in Australia, I prefer the North American dangers. At least you can see most of them. I’ve nearly stepped too close to a tiger snake once and didn’t notice until I put my foot down. Luckily it preferred the warm spot over me.

I usually don’t go far in to the water out of fear of dark waters and rips. Seen the cute little blue dragons and jellyfish on beaches, but I leave those alone.

White tailed spiders under the covers, or in your closet or drawers are a joy, especially the baby ones.

Spicy peanut noods.

That’s awesome… And you know that now you’ve mentioned dogs, you must pay the dog tax.

Milk and cereal, milk and cereal, milk and cereal, cereal and milk!

I’m not sure. My partner isn’t as pedantic as I am, so I end up scooping his day old crumbs on to my toast the next day.

I love that you buy in bulk because you’re right - it definitely is cheaper buying more if you can eat it all before it spoils. What kind of foods do you make with cream cheese? Genuinely curious. I love cream cheese but I can’t finish it fast enough.

I don’t have a lot of stuff and not a lot of expensive stuff, but my top are:

• Instant Pot. I have a tiny kitchen, so being able to do x number of things with one piece of equipment is amazing. Also keeps the heat down in summer instead of oven and gas stove.

• Hiking poles. Got them recently, and they are a game changer. I’ve only ever seen older folks use them, but they got it right. Not only is it easier on my knees, but somehow they feel like they let me go further when I can use my arms as a little push forward.

• Garmin Fenix watch. Keeps me motivated to keep moving, and it serves as a silent wake up alarm so I don’t wake my partner in the early hours.

Honourable mentions:

• A good hand-held flashlight. I use this daily for work and when I go camping. Also great at night when hunting mosquitoes in the bedroom.

• A digital probe thermometer. Also used daily for work, and takes the guesswork out of cooking meats and things at home.

Absolutely. Butter acolytes unite!

Absolutely no digging in to the tub of butter, and no other food bits (usually bread crumbs) must be left inside.

If dug in to, it must be smoothed out before putting back in to the fridge. As for the crumbs, take them out and put them back on to the bread they came from. Now the butter can be put back in to the fridge.

I drive lots on the weekends, so I listen to podcasts. I’m currently listening to “Behind the Bastard” and I’m spending time here and there reading up on very dark history that I was never taught in any level of school.

So to answer your question, podcasts and reading! I’ve also made lists and info sheets on all sorts of things like what to look for in health food supplements, what my regiment is when I’m sick, list of books to read, ideas for birthday gifts, price comparisons… I also recently bought a Kalimba so that’s keeping me busy, too. It’s an instrument that’s easy to carry, so I dream of being able to play it by a camp-fire since I am hopeless at guitar.

At least I’ll never go hungry, but eventually I’ll get sick of myself.

When I was about the age of 12, I had a new friend who asked me if I believed in God. I said no, and then she told me I was going to burn in hell. That was my first introduction to religion.

I don’t remember ever speaking with her again, but I still remember that interaction crystal clear and where it happened 20+ years later.

“Don’t do today what you can put off until tomorrow.”

I know it sounds like procrastination, but it helps in particular with high stress jobs where things just keep piling on and priorities keep changing. Don’t burn yourself out trying to get everything done today.

“Everyone has to start somewhere.” and “You’re one step ahead of the people who decide to stay on the couch.”

This helps with just getting started, like if you are a beginner at the gym and intimidated by those fit people who look like they know what they’re doing, or just going solo to a dance class for the first time. Or going on a hike and needing to take a lot of breaks. You’re one step better than where you were before you went. At least now you have a starting point and you can only improve.

Also helps when it’s cold and/or miserable outside because you know there will be a lot of people who decided to not go out, and you end up with a gym to yourself!

Oh, no I haven’t, but thank you for the share, I’ll go take a look. Going out to eat has gone up in price so much that it is pushing me to learn to cook my favourite dishes, and explore flavours I would otherwise never have tasted before.

Something else I had planned to do was once a month, my partner and I write down three countries (six between us) we want to visit or re visit on small pieces of paper. We put them in a cup and draw three countries: First is the main meal, second is dessert, third is an activity.

Definitely more effort involved but it gets him to expand his culinary skills past pasta and chicken wraps.

Cook one meal from a different country every month. I’ve always loved cooking and I have a partner who is equally as enthusiastic to eat it with me! The foods have to be something I’ve never cooked before. Some can be ones I’ve eaten before, so I have something to compare to. I’m thinking of starting with traditional foods from Afghanistan, Russia, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Uyghur…

I’ll never be able to hold a candle to my grandma, but planting seeds and seeing the little seedlings poke out of the soil. It’s really satisfying to know that I’ve done something right to be able to create life.

And also adding pieces of chicken (cooked leftovers or raw, can even be bbq chicken) and eggs (any type, really). I use an Instant Pot on the porridge setting and use frozen chicken, bones or meat. Works a treat. Otherwise, I used to put everything on low overnight in a slow cooker to be ready when I wake up.

I’ve also used frozen fish, which is pretty good. It just falls apart in to flakes.

Top off with some spring onions, soy sauce, sesame oil before eating. All very delicious and easy to eat when you’re sick af and have a bad sore throat.

I’m not so up on what’s new and such, and I’ve really enjoyed a few games I’ve downloaded:

(Obligatory apology for any link or format issues. On mobile and first time posting.)

Scalak. You rotate and move blocks and pieces around to try to match up edges. Hard to explain. Kind of like the baby’s “put the square in the square hole” toy except for adults. It’s got really nice, calming music, so it’s nice to play before bed or offline on the plane.

MultiSudoku. Off-line sudoku that has five sudoku squares (?) attached together.

Word Hero. I love word games and this has been my favourite. It’s basically Boggle and after each game, it ranks the scores from everyone around the world who played the same game as you. Been playing this for years. Unfortunately online only.

Burnable Garbage Day. Earth has completely filled with rubbish, and a cleaning robot has woken up from a deep slumber to find out why the planet has become this way. Originally a Japanese game so the translations are a bit dodgy, but it’s a really fun play. I think it can be played offline. It’s been a while since I’ve played this.

Mahjong 13 Tiles. The only actual mahjong game I could find that isn’t like the old Windows tile matching game. This is the gambling version where there is no money bets, but you can play against bots. It’s been ages since I’ve played this so I can’t remember if it’s online or offline or if you can play against real people.

Dingbats. Guessing famous idioms from drawings. Can be played offline.

Quell Reflect. Moving a bubble around to capture all the gems. The puzzles get harder as you progress. Can be played offline.

Influence. You start with one cell (think Chinese checkers) and you keep spreading your influence to conquer the other players. Can be played off-line.

What the Forecast. Obnoxious, rude weather app.

Whicons. Minimalist white icon pack for Android.

BirdNET. Identifies birds by their call. I’ve used this in Canada and Australia.

Plant Net. Same thing as BirdNET but photos of plants. Also can confirm it works in Canada and Australia.

Edit: Forgot one game, Slitherlink. I set it to easy and listen to podcasts in the background to wind down at the end of the night. Each hexagon (or whichever shape you choose) has a number, and each number represents the max number of sides that can be selected. Eventually the entire board is connected via one line. You’ll have to read the description, it’s the best description I can give, albeit not a very good one.

Edit edit: This is what happens when I haven’t had my coffee yet. Kakuro is another numbers game like sudoku.