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Prick Prick Boom
I was 12 or 13 years old when I had my left arm intentionally broken by racist, highly privileged white kids at the school I was going to. And by broken arm, I mean broken. I was in a cast for three months. Though I’d been bullied for years, at the time, I didn’t even…
June 5, 2020
Feature
Santa Claus Coffee in Joyful Minowa
The street bustles with a steady stream of visitors. Every now and again, one individual will pause, examining a store’s goods. Amongst this, Papa Noel stands outside too, his thin long-sleeve top protecting him from the chilly wind that moves through the shopping arcade. In one hand, he clutches a thermos; his other holds a…
May 21, 2020
Feature
Colonisation, The Greatest Imposter
Growing up, I always felt small. I’m half-Vietnamese, half-Chinese, and I live in New Zealand – so of course I didn’t feel like I belonged. For a long time, I worshipped blonde wavy hair, white bread sandwiches over rice and, most, dish-washers – because my family’s was used to store plastic take away boxes. Like…
May 14, 2020
Feature
Coronavirus and the Roar of America
I read an article once, by a man whose name I cannot remember, which attributed the differences between occidental and oriental cultures to the incidence of communicable disease. Asia, he argued, has historically been prone to outbreaks of diverse and deadly communicable diseases. As a result, foreigners were treated with suspicion, since foreigner people often…
April 2, 2020
Feature
Horse Trekking a Country Under a Trump Travel Ban
You might remember in the month after Donald Trump was inaugurated back in January 2017 the thousands of protesters who turned out at airports across America to protest Trumps so-called “travel ban” -- more commonly (and rightly) known as the Muslim Ban. This original ban barred entry to citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Syria,…
February 16, 2020
Feature
January 26: An Exhibition of Patriotism
On January 26, exhibitions are held throughout Australia’s campgrounds. The central themes of said exhibitions are that of patriotism and its associated behaviours. These grounds present a strange and twisted reality in which decency is substituted for brash lad-culture, extreme excess and environmental abuse. As a single critic, it's impossible to review all of the…
January 21, 2020
Feature
Please Remind Me I’m Real
BEEP, beep, beep This tunnel is one of my biggest fears. I’m driving my car on the M5, about to go through the airport tunnel. Horns are blaring since no one likes peak hour, yet the pace is consistent. The lights that line the walls start zooming past, and my mind does a little trick.…
October 8, 2019
Feature
A Crisis on the Glacier
I arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, in the midst of an unprecedented Europe-wide heatwave, the first overt sign of the climate crisis I noticed. My arsenal of heavy duty Kathmandu gear would sadly go unworn. It was a Friday morning and I made my way to the Riksdag, Sweden’s Parliament, where I knew Greta Thunberg would…
September 26, 2019

Astray is a storytelling project centred on travel, place, culture and identity.

We’re run by a team of writers who mostly live, work and play in nipaluna / Hobart. With reverence, we acknowledge the Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the traditional and ongoing custodians of trouwunna / lutruwita / Tasmania: land that was stolen and never ceded. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.