“I’ve always loved draw­ing so my mum asked me to have a go at sketch­ing some car­toons. It was great fun com­ing up with dif­fer­ent draw­ings and I really enjoyed see­ing my pic­tures when the book was printed.” says Lara. Aussie, actu­ally also cap­tures the heartache of leav­ing famil­iar sur­round­ings, fam­ily and friends to make a new start in a for­eign coun­try. Writ­ten from Lois’s per­sonal per­cep­tion as a young migrant wife and mother, it tells the warts and all story of the family’s journey.

“Some may say it’s too hon­est but from the feed­back I’ve received so far, peo­ple have found it funny and poignant. Migrants of all nation­al­i­ties have said they relate to the strug­gles and tri­umphs. They say they appre­ci­ate the hon­esty as so many peo­ple don’t speak about their tribu­la­tions – they put on a brave face.” says Lois.

A NEW South African edi­tion, pub­lished by Aard­vark Press, Cape Town in Novem­ber 2009 is now avail­able in book­stores in South Africa and online at www.aussieactually.co.za

This edi­tion has 5 new chap­ters includ­ing new con­tent which Lois has added to the orig­i­nal chapters.

Aussie, actu­ally, was orig­i­nally pub­lished by Impact Unlim­ited Books in Aus­tralia in 2008 — www.aussieactually.com.

Spencer How­son inter­view with Lois and Lara on 612 ABC Bris­bane Radio (Lois was recov­er­ing from a cold, hence the husky voice).

REVIEWS OF AUSSIE, ACTUALLY

Bril­liant, bril­liant, bril­liant!! I have not laughed so hard in a long time. I can so relate to your humor­ous account on emi­grat­ing to Aus­tralia. Very well written.

Kathy (Aus­tralia)

Well we didn’t immi­grate to Aus­tralia, but your coun­ter­part, New Zealand! Pretty much the same in terms of emo­tional upheaval and miss­ing fam­ily and friends.….Good to hear some­one else going through the same emo­tions and putting pen to paper to cap­ture those thoughts.… and well done Lara, those draw­ings are beau­ti­ful! God bless.

Michelle and Mark (New Zealand)

I am an Aus­tralian, who moved to the USA 12 years ago and received your book for Christ­mas. I can really relate to the feel­ings of cul­ture shock — hav­ing vis­ited the US sev­eral times before we moved, I thought I was well pre­pared. I miss Aus­tralia and Aus­tralians and your book made me feel home­sick and laugh all at the same time but with a cup of tea and a Tim Tam I just about coped.

Prue (USA)

‘Lois is pro­foundly grate­ful that she and her fam­ily left South Africa and became Aus­tralian cit­i­zens. She believed that as a mother of a young child she’d quickly find friends here.

That didn’t hap­pen for a while. She thinks that her accent had some­thing to do with it, and I believe she’s right. On the whole, this is an upbeat account of com­ing to terms with a new coun­try. Lois feels safe and that’s a nov­elty. Yet she misses the pas­sion­ate con­ver­sa­tions with friends and strangers. By now, I expect, she has found her niche. We should get over this accent thing…’

Coun­try Style Mag­a­zine Sep­tem­ber 2008

‘A great heart-warming account of adjust­ing to a new world. A great gift for tourists, friends and Aussie larakins.’

Kathryn (Angus & Robert­son staff member)

Hey, your book is BRILLIANT! I finally fin­ished it about 3 weeks ago, but life has been so hec­tic. I love it! It’s so real and I have to admit, I laughed, chuck­led, screamed and cried because it’s so real and I can SOOOOOOO relate, but I do think you had it harder than me!

Desire (Toronto, ON)

‘Hav­ing emi­grated to Aus­tralia almost 7 years ago it was a very inter­est­ing read … I felt myself think­ing ja …ja… many times.

It has been a smooth tran­si­tion for us, but I have my fam­ily in Bris­bane and have been very lucky to form some truly won­der­ful friendships !

Con­grats on a very bal­anced tale …’

Gill (Bris­bane)

‘The book is fan­tas­tic! Thanks for the really good laughs and a cou­ple of tears. I have only lived in Auz for 6 months, but could really identify!

Thanks again and I will be sure to tell every­one to have a read!’

Antoinette (Bris­bane)

Hey Lois, am just lov­ing your book, can’t put it down and caus­ing me to be late for work everyday!

Cheryl (Kok­stad, South Africa)

‘Over the past three years of “snot and trana” we so often said some­one should write a book about all the things we go through as new immi­grants. I received the book yes­ter­day after­noon after col­legues heard your talk on the radio and I have already read half. I read out loud to my hus­band and he kept say­ing “it sounds just like you” A great read that I am def­i­nitely send­ing back to fam­ily & friends in SA to help them under­stand what we are going through. It should be part of every emmi­gra­tions agent’s pack­age in SA.’

Jacque­line (Australia)

‘We lived in Pieter­mar­itzburg and my Mom, who lives in How­ick, sent me a news­pa­per cut­ting about your book from “The Wit­ness”. We have been in Aus­tralia for 8 months. Although we are gen­er­ally happy so far, we are def­i­nitely feel­ing the cul­ture shock and miss the famil­iar­ity of Africa. I have ordered your book today and can’t wait for it to arrive!’

Car­o­line (Australia)

‘Great read! Thanks for tak­ing the time to write the book and more so for per­se­ver­ing in print­ing it! Well done.

Thought I would order a few copies to send to our “inter­na­tional” place­ments so they can have some­thing real to read and be pre­pared for their arrival in Oz. So Fri­day night I couldn’t sleep, thought best I have a read through and make sure the book was send­ing the “right mes­sage” to our can­di­dates. Well, I couldn’t put it down, fin­ished it off in one sit­ting and enjoyed every last page.

I just wish you pub­lished the book 6 years ago when we arrived from SA. I so related to the roller­coaster of emo­tions one expe­ri­ences whilst attempt­ing to set­tle down in a for­eign coun­try and to a very dif­fer­ent life style. Anx­i­ety, uncer­tainty, lone­li­ness, fear, guilt and just a gen­eral feel­ing of “ver­driet” were all real to me dur­ing the years .

To me the mes­sage is that it is ok to be vul­ner­a­ble, call out for help when you get that “sink­ing feel­ing” and let us be there for each other in a real and mean­ing­ful way.

So good to know that it wasn’t just me try­ing to put on a brave face!

Thank you and bless you.’

Kris­tine Berry (Australia)

I have fin­ished the book — very enjoy­able! A warn­ing against read­ing it on the train, as I found myself laugh­ing very loudly at times, attract­ing the atten­tion of the “Quiet Police”, with their frowns and brood­ing stares — Sorry!’

Aaron (Aus­tralia)

‘I so enjoyed read­ing the book over the week­end. My Aussie wife can­not wait to fin­ish her cur­rent book, so that she can start read­ing yours to see why she was con­stantly woken up by her husband’s loud chuck­les. I relate to every page! It will be a great buy as a gift for Aus­tralian fam­ily and friends so they can finally see my point of view! The book speaks for me — Thankyou very much…I was gut­ted when it came to an end.’

Clyde (Aus­tralia)

‘This book made me laugh and cry, but most of all it touched my heart. Lois, what a beau­ti­ful book — you have cap­tured the thoughts, strug­gles and tri­umphs that so many migrant fam­i­lies face. I can­not wait for next book!’

Laura (Aus­tralia)