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Good Gabble Newzine first started distribution around Australia in both hardcopy and e-newzine in February 2010. Each month Good Gabble celebrates all things positive. You can learn more about this innovative and exciting newzine and subscribe at http://goodgabble.blogspot.com. Join us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Good-Gabble-Newzine/255402333689?ref=mf

In March 2010 Good Gabble hit the road, being produced and published around Australia, whilst its founders spread the message of positivity and shared stories of the good nature of the Australian people and business's.

This is the adventure of one magazine, two co-founders and a family who had a dream of a world where positivity is the norm and the negativity of the mainstream media is long forgotten.

Here they share their journey. From the idea of a newzine, to the people they meet, the sites they see and the positivity they hear. This is the story of how one dream can change the lives of many and how a little positivity can create a chain of never ending hope.

Gabbling Around Australia - One Dream, One Goal, One Land.





Where have we been?

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

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!

3 comments:

  1. Wow, there was a lot in that parcel!! Lucky guys! What did the captn crunch cereal taste like? :)

    I think it would be great to do soemthing like this as a group on facebook or something...where everyone can swap parcels with others around the world. :)

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  2. It was an amazing experience. The Captain Crunch was sweet. I didn't like it but Sam and Alex are hooked.

    I started the worldwide coffee shop on Facebook some time back so that all coffee addicts, like myself, could share a cuppa. http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=154685227780&ref=ts

    We are collecting a postcard from every destination we stop at over the next twelve months. I will soon be asking Good Gabble readers to send us a postcard that represents them and their town ( it can be hand made ) and include a note of positivity on the back. At the end of the twelve months one lucky reader who sent us a postcard will be drawn to win the whole bundle, who knows what they will get. Photos will be taken of items as they arrive and put on our blog spot.


    Also coming up is a competition to name our Good Gabble teddy and be the first to host his trip around the world. Interested parties will register their name and Teddy will go from one to another blogging diary entries of his journey and sending home items if he so wishes.

    Keep your eyes on our Newzine, our blogspots and Facebook for some great adventures.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The teddy project also sounds cool! :)

    ReplyDelete