West of the ranges, East of the Outback, Woop Woop, Australia
By Tim Narraway
22 Jul 2009
What city do you live in? What neighborhood?
Wagga Wagga is a bustling metropolis in a sea of farmland in the midst of the most serious climate change it has ever faced, lingering and chronic drought.
Australia, Australia, Australia we love you. Amen
Land of freindly people, and interesting roadkill.
You dont get much more Aussie than this. When someone can greet you in four words, using two syllables, and not even bothered to open his mouth, you know youre in the real Australia.
What are some adjectives that describe your neighborhood?
Waggararians tend to be a little like hobbits, while them may winge and whine about how much better the bad old days were when times are good, to a man they pull together when times are tough.
We have a large aboriginal community. We are the teenage pregnancy capital of the state, if not the country.
The Murrumbidgee river meanders it way through the district, and has over time created several billabongs (oxbow lakes) which lend themself to landscape and birdlife photography.
How long have you lived there, and what brought you there?
Its a city of all the modern amenities, too many supermarkets, and are really overwhelmed by choice. All the benefits of a city, but one still lives in the country, nowhere is more than twenty minutes away from anywhere else in town.
Its youth are restless and engage in binge drinking on the weekend, and binge thinking at the university during the week. After dark the streets can be a very different place, when the nightcrawlers come out.
Wagga is home to an army and air force base, although some would argue that its more air than force.
What is your favorite thing about this place? Your least favorite?
The people, the people, the people are my most favouritist thing about he place. They would give you the shirt off your back, and certainly will give you the time of day if you met them on the street.
We are however waiting patiently for ocean levels to rise so that we can have something approximating beachfront property. We are five hours from the ocean.
Do you feel that you belong there?
I feel like I have been drawn here by a deeper power, and that in a sense all of my life I have been waiting for this moment, this place, these people.
Its quite uncanny.
What is the most common misconception about where you live?
There are many misconceptions about this part of the world which our city cousins seem particularly prone to. We had a Sydney comedian completely crash and burn the other night while trying to describe how city kids could do bush tours to the sticks.
Unfortunately, it appears that our government is also significantly out of touch with what is going on in regional areas.
What is a special fact about your city that you have to live there to know?
Perhaps the least know fact about Wagga is that it is the home of an important culinary creation, the chiko roll. Those of you who are not familiar with the chiko roll may easilly mistake it for a deep fried batter encrusted cabbage leaf stuffed with leftovers.
What aspect of your city do you secretly love?
The early mornings by the river, the laughter of children, the sound of water and the cookaburra beats brown paper packages tied up with string, which were very fashionable until the war on terror began.
1 response
-
Christopher J Chalk gave props (9 Aug 2009):
Great Aussie story, beautiful photos to compliment it! (voted)
