I once used The Magic School Bus to teach my charges about the digestive system. Thus, it was with truckloads of eager anticipation that I picked up this book about Australia.

I sure wasn’t disappointed. I learnt this year that I’m not here to fuck spiders (yes, the f word) = I’m not here to waste time. This book introduced me to more delightful instances of Aussie slang. Ankle biter = young child, dinkie die = the real thing (so charming compared to the ‘authentic’ that is brandished about way too often these days), fair dinkum = honest. I just need to make Aussie friends so that I can sprinkle drop these phrases on them. I also learnt that the popularly used “No worries” by my countrymen might have been adapted from Australia - it’s Aussie slang.

As an ex-pri sch Sci teacher, I know that the platypus and echidna are the only two egg-laying mammals in the world, but I didn’t know that they both live in Australia. Speaking of mammals, this book taught me about marsupials. I might have encountered this term before but I didn’t know that they refer to mammals with a pouch, including kangaroos, sugar gliders, koalas. Fun fact: koala is Aboriginal for “no water” because it gets the water it needs from the eucalyptus leaves that it eats.

More cool trivia. The Land Down Under is home to the gastric breeding frog. Apparently, it stops eating and producing stomach juices for about eight weeks so as to have the conducive environment for its tadpoles to hatch in its stomach. Then, the tadpoles will hop out of its mouth. If I were to be a Science teacher again, I would definitely find some way to weave in this intriguing fact into my teaching, come hell or high water!

Finally, the kookaburra song that I sang during sing-a-long sessions as a pri sch kid? It actually refers to a real animal and the kookaburra lives in Australia! Until today, I have thought it is some mythical creature. 😅

I’m glad that I took time out from my conveyor belt of professional responsibilities to read this. I acquired tons of Aussie slang and animal trivia, which really enriched my day and brought a smile to my face.