Hey everyone. Lots of exciting stuff going on at the moment. Obviously steemlords—the brain child of genius Quest Master @sirknight—is the hottest thing on the blockchain right now. If you’re not following it then you’re really missing out on some great posts filled with adventure and hilarity. I have been in tears reading some of the stories, they are so funny. 

Contestants from Team Australia include @bearone, @bmj, @drwom, @gohba.handcrafts, @jackmiller, @scooter77, @spaingaroo, @steembusiness, @thinknzombie, @tremendospercy and myself. Of course there are plenty of other great writers from outside Team Australia participating, so be sure to show them some love also. On top of this @ryivhnn has been providing sketches of various scenes that have occurred in different plot lines. 

If you don’t like reading, the very talented voice actor and impressionist @jimitations (Disney, Warner Brothers Studios, etc.) has brought a couple of the stories to life by reading them out on camera. This has brought a whole new dimension to the challenge and I hope he will read out more. 

I'm really happy to report that everyone's favourite puppet Mr Squiggle has been given a blockchain reboot. @scooter77 has come up with a great initiative to support the quality content coming from Team Australia.

@mrsquiggle will recognise and reward creativity, curate standout content, and submit worthy posts to @curie. I highly encourage you to check it out and give @mrsquiggle your support, especially if you post original, creative content.  

In personal news, I’m off to Europe on Saturday for two weeks. As such, the Team Australia updates will be on hiatus from today. I will still invite people to join if I come across any newbies while curating, but I won’t be doing any active recruitment. 

I encourage people who find me to submit their applications of course, but note that they won’t be processed until I return to Panama on 21 August. I am doing this to hopefully have enough time to continue to participate in steemlords while not annoying my real life friends who I haven’t seen in five years by being anti-social. 

You can support Team Australia members by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Be sure to check out @centerlink, who is busy putting Aussie-battler tax dollars to work in the form of dole payments for posts, as well as showcasing Australia's most worthy dole recipients. 

Don’t forget the Minister for Welfare @ausbitbank has also created the @discordia bot, which you can use to increase your upvote moolah. Some of the proceeds will support @centerlink so give it a try.

Of course, also check out the awesome Minnow Support Project. Details on how to join are are here and here. You can also come say hi in Discord. It's fun and you can make new friends! 

Candidate 1 

Name and bio 

@chrisdavidphoto is a Philippine born Australian photographer, artist/creative, scuba diver, and adventurer based in Sydney. His family migrated to Australia when he was one.

Apart from being a photographer for the past 17 years, @chrisdavidphoto has also studied graphic design, web design, and fine arts. He started scuba diving in 1999 and has done underwater photography for the past five years.  

@chrisdavidphoto has spent most of what he’s earned making himself the best photographer he can be while growing his business. However, he is living the stereotypical ‘struggling artist’ lifestyle living in Australia’s expensive city, Sydney. He therefore travels to the Philippines for 1–2 months a year during his quiet periods to help with affordability. 

Fun Fact 

“I don't watch enough Aussie TV. Every time I was hired to shoot a PR event I had to google image celebrities names off programs and flyers so I could caption the images, including former Miss Universe Australia Rachel Finch. I had no idea who Justin Beiber was when he passed me followed by hundreds of screaming fans. I had to ask one of them what’s going on and even who Justin Beiber was.” 

Lol. That’s awesome. Those celebrities must be like “why isn’t this person fawning over me? Doesn’t he know who I am?” 

Candidate 2 

Name and bio 

@jackdillon grew up in Darwin and went to university in Perth. Three years ago he married a Canadian woman. They live in Vancouver most of the time, but travel back to Perth every summer for a few months. He feels lucky to get two summers a year. (I agree, summer is the best and winter in Canada would suck). 

@jackdillon’s passions are traveling and his farm. He has an apple orchid and pig farm on Galiano Island, which is one of the gulf islands off Vancouver. His plan is to start a apple cider company in four years’ time. 

Fun Fact 

“I can juggle five balls.” 

Nice. I struggle to juggle one. Hand, meet eye coordination...

Candidate 3

Name and bio 

@sirbob is the older brother of fellow Team Australia member @cheech-oz and winner of @gohba.handcrafts’ recent lawn bowls competition. He lives on the Gold Coast and has a dream of going to Burning Man in the United States.  

Ever since @sirbob left school he’s been working with machinery in civil construction. He has obtained nearly every license out there including bobcat, excavator, roller, truck, traffic control, and security. @sirbob has been involved in numerous road projects and new suburb developments in Queensland for the past 12 years.  

Fun fact 

“I once won $9,000 on keno and lost the ticket from intoxication.” 

Mate, that is the best and worst fun fact rolled into one. Devastating. But a valuable lesson learned I'm sure. 

Candidate 4

Name and bio 

@mel1ss was born in England and moved to Airlie Beach (nice!) when she was five. However, because of financial circumstances her parents lost everything and they were forced to move back to England and live with her granddad when she was 12. At some point her dad was offered a job in Melbourne and they returned to Australia. Although she considers herself a Queenslander, she lives in Melbourne today.

Even though she’s a newbie blogger, @mel1ss has made some really interesting posts about her life and has inadvertently reminded me of why I don’t want to be a teenager/in my early 20s anymore.

Fun fact 

“I've moved countries four times and in that time lived in 20 different houses.” 

Ha, you could rival me! I literally keep a list of previous addresses in case I need to remember them for some dumb government form. 

Candidate 5 

Name and bio 

@krishatnet is from Hyderabad, India. He is an active stock market and currency market trader and is very interested in cryptocurrencies.  

@krishatnet spends a lot of time mediating and is always ready to help others. He wants to join Team Australia as an ambassador because he believes that teamwork brings good results. He has been inspired by Team Australia and wants to be part of it.  

Fun fact 

"When I was bachelor I wore a towel while washing my clothes. The house owner called me from then upper floor and when I stood up my towel fell down. He was shocked and is still in coma 😁."

Lol, seeing your tenants naked is probably not something a landlord wants. I doubt this was part of your lease agreement. 

Candidate 6 

Name and bio

@br86 was born and raised in RAdelaide. Despite being of Lebanese decent he has only been to Lebanon only twice in his life. @br86 has been married for almost five years. He is the father of a three year old daughter and has another one on the way.  

@br86 loves sports including tennis, Aussie rules, Formula 1, and cricket. He feels like he should have been a sports journalist but ended up in sales. For over 10 years he has worked in telecommunications, the coffee industry, and now education. @br86 also loves cooking but admits that he’s had more failures than successes. 

Fun fact 

“I was born with a rare heart condition. A bit serious I know, but I've overcome it so it's fun times.” 

Indeed. Good to hear. 

Candidate 7 

Name and bio 

@bullion is also from RAdelaide and is a self-confessed gold bug who has been stacking both silver and gold for just under 10 years. (FYI, I’d never heard the term ‘stacker’ until I got on steemit.) His interests include cryptocurrencies, property, stocks, and the monetary system in general. 

@bullion also loves technology, including owning the latest gadgets, reading about new developments, or occasional gaming. He is also the co-founder of a recent tech startup. When he’s not at his computer @bullion likes hiking and being in nature. 

Fun fact 

“A colleague at work gave me the nickname 'Bullion Baron' when I would come back from lunch breaks with a backpack holding kilo silver bars. I liked the name so much I started using it as my online pseudonym.” 

Interesting. Most people just pop into Myer or JB Hifi on their lunch breaks. I’ve never heard of anyone going bullion shopping. 

Candidate 8 

Name and bio 

@gowd is Sydney born and bred recently found steemit through his crypto trading adventures. He can't wait to meet other Aussie crypto traders and share thoughts, ideas news and reviews. 

That’s it. 

Fun fact 

“From the ball of my foot to the tips of my toes on my left foot have been numb for almost a year now and the doctors still can't work it out yet. Not really fun but yeah.” 

Hmm, this not so much of a fun fact but more an intriguing fact. I hope you get an answer soon.  

@sirknight, please add these new members to Team Australia.

The rules for joining Team Australia

If you’re not yet a member and want to be, this is what you need to do:

1. Vote here for our resident steemit witness @ausbitbank.
2. Regularly check the  Team Australia and Australia tags and upvote the content you like. 
3. Follow and upvote existing members of @teamaustralia who you share a common interest with. Alternatively, you can show your support by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions are listed here.
4. Comment below or DM me on steemit chat or Discord that you want to join.
5. Link your introduction post so I can find out a bit about you. If you’re new to steemit you'll have to write one so use the introduceyourself tag to help boost your following. You can also follow this handy guide written by @teamsteem.
6. If it’s not mentioned in your introductory post, tell me which city and country you’re in, cos let's face it, a lot of us live in Australia's fourth largest city—London.  
7. If you’re not Aussie tell me why you should be a Team Australia ambassador. 
8. Tell me a fun fact about yourself. This can be anything. For example, maybe you run a successful business, or you have eight kids and three dogs, or you rode your bike across America, or you won the blue ribbon for javelin throwing at sports day back in high school, or Toadie came into the pub you work at one day and you served him a beer, or, maybe you can fit 55 maltesers in your mouth like Ed Sheeran can. It doesn’t matter what it is, I want a fun fact about you!

Once I receive this information I will try my best to write a good introductory paragraph about you for the official Team Australia membership updates. So the better your information is, the better I can make you sound. Where relevant, please use the teamaustralia and australia tags to promote your work. I will try and post weekly updates unless there is a lot of interest, in which case I will try and post sooner.

Team Australia banner and steemlords art by @bearone

Page dividers by @kristyglas