A parcel from America

  One of our goals whilst travelling around Australia is to learn to tune into our senses and use them to embrace our world and learn of new places and towns. This has also included broadening our knowledge of places outside of Australia via the use of the internet. Modern technology is an amazing tool that used correctly and to our benefit can take us places we could not ordinarily go. It is due to the technology of computers that Good Gabble is distributed worldwide.

  So with technology at our fingertips we have been spending time talking to our new friends in America and have embarked on a journey of parcel swapping to enhance our senses of touch, taste and smell and learn more of American culture and our common ( or not so common ) link.

   Thank you William for sending us our wonderful parcel. This was an experience that will remain in our minds for a life time. The box was filled with lots of goodies that we spent an afternoon sinking our teeth into and reviewing. We sat out the front of our caravan and laughed and shared. Sam ran away with the chocolate and Alex got high on Mountain Dew. Celeste just adored her soft cuddly raccoon and I fell in love with Fannie May Chocolates.

  Below is a list of the items that were in our parcel with a description as sent to us by William. We are currently putting together a package full of our Australian goodies and will add a photo at a later date.

  If you would like to swap a parcel with us and enjoy the experience we would be more than happy to share. It does not have to be overseas but can be interstate, from anywhere in Australia. We can share information leaflets, stickers, homemade jams - the imagination being the only limit.

GooGoo Clusters - an American candy bar sold since 1912 in Nashville, Tennessee. The disk shaped candy bar contains marshmallow, caramel and roasted peanuts covered in milk chocolate. GooGoo Cluster is considered the first combination candy bar, meaning it contained several types of candy rather than an all-chocolate bar. During the Great Depression, GooGoo Clusters were advertised as "a nourishing lunch for a nickel"

Moonpie - A classic American snack food, Moonpie originated in 1917 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Moonpie is a graham-like cracker, marshmallow covered with frosting such as chocolate, vanilla or bannana flavour. It's similar to a homemade campfire treat called a S'more ( graham crackers, marshmallow and melted chocolate bars ), which is apparently also unknown outside of American culture. Moonpies are considered old fashioned. They are still sold in "all 50 states", but difficult to find outside the south. William had to put in a special request to get them - we are so honoured, thank you!

Fannie May - is a chocolate company that originated in Chicago in the 1920s and is still only available in the Chicago area where William is from. William included some samples of different items they sell, including Mint Meltaways, Trinidads and one of their chocolate bar types.

Twizzlers - are a popular brand of fruit flavoured candy in the United States and Canada ( often called a licorice candy). William sent us a strawberry flavoured one.

Twinkies - are a popular, even iconic, American snack cake made and distributed by Hostess Brands. They are marketed as a "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling". Twinkies were invented in Schiller Park, Illinois about 1930.

Ho Hos - are cylindrical, frosted, cream filled cakes that are also made by the Hostess Company and are sold throughout the United States.

Mountain Dew Baja Blast - A tropical lime flavoured "Mountain Dew" drink. Mountain Dew is high in caffeine and a very popular drink in the USA. This particular flavour is ONLY available as a fountain drink at Taco Bell restaurants. William brought an extra large and resealed it in a regular Mountain Dew bottle to send it to us. Regular Mountain Dew is lemon flavoured and yellow coloured.

Arby's - A popular fast food restuarant chain in the United States and Canada. It is as common as Subway here, but almost never seen overseas. Arby's is primarily known for selling roast beef items. William included some of their best known sauces - Arby's sauce and Horsey sauce.

American Money - All American coins denominations, including the penny, nickel, dime, quarter ( included 3 types of state quarters out of 50 possible!), half dollar, dollar coin and the new dollar coin. We also received an email from William with further currency details.

Hollywood Movies - Included were three films. 1776, a musical made in 1976 for the 200th anniversary of American independence about how the USA came to be. One of the stars is Gwyneth Paltrow's mum, who was five months pregnant with Gwenyth when the movie was made.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a really crazy teen comedy from the 80's starring Matthew Broderick. It takes place in Chicago and was filmed entirely on location, so you'll see the region of the USA where William is from. Some of it's famous landmarks are in the film.
Star Trek - The 2009 reinventaion of the world's greatest sci-fi franchise. Made by people who never watched Star Trek before and made to appeal specifically to non-Trek fans, It was the 5th highest grossing film of 2009. It stars several Aussie and NZ actors. The world premier was held at the Sydney Opera House, but Aussie still didn't pay any attention. William is a huge Star Trek fan.

Raccoon Plush for Celeste - North America's most famous animal, I suppose the American version of a Kangaroo since they are indigenous ONLY to North America. The toy version is almost life-sized! Raccoons are adorable looking creatures and very playful, but dangerous because they constantly steal things and often carry rabies, so they can't be kept as pets.

Pokemon figure for Alex 

INXS CD's for Sammi - An Aussie item and not American ( sorry!). One of Australia's most legendary bands, but 'too 1980's' for today's teens. Michael Hutchisence was their famous singer, he died in 1997 and included was their last album he recorded along with the first with their new Canadian lead singer. They had a reality TV show to name a replacement and a Chicago came in 2nd place and in 3rd was a young Aussie teen heartthrob of Filipino decent.

  A few items that William wanted to send but ran out of space - Illinois fact book, sports memoriabillia ( stickers, decals etc ) of all their major league sports teams in the Chicago area. Ah well! Maybe next time!

We also received a taste test of Captain Crunch cereal as requested by Sam and Alex.

Checking out the Twinkies

Chocolate faced Celeste with her Raccoon she named Ruby.

A cautious bite!

Fannie May heaven!

Wait! Bring back that chocolate!