Welcome to Cracker Tracks!

Hey there and Welcome to Cracker Tracks!  Many folks have been pushing me to start this blog to keep up with my many travels and as a way to learn about new and exciting places that they may like to visit themselves. Known for my constant thrill for adventure and general love for diversified and cultural activities, it has been somewhat of a joke between some close friends that they need to put a device on me just to keep track. So here it goes. I will start by explaining a bit as to why the title and a little about myself.

As a native born Floridian we are given the distinct title of being a “Cracker” and it is often a term touted with great pride by the few lucky enough to be born and raised here. Being raised on the Space Coast, and a bit of an island hopping beach bum, I often will refer to myself as a Coastal Cracker. I do understand that in other parts of the country this is not considered such a positive term and will take more time to explain about the importance of being a Florida Cracker later.

Known for my advent wanderlust, I am seemingly on never ending adventures or involved in some kind of activity. From sunset trips and diving in the Florida Keys; working to set-up the winter Olympics in Whistler, Canada; founding a town and running for Mayor; camping with my Boy Scout Troop; to watching a friends beach house and doing back country hikes. A few of the many activities I have been involved in include State Culinary Competition finalist; working at a Historic Cattle Ranch that also serves as a ecological preserve; National Underwater Robotics Competition; growing my own food and member of the Brevard Rare Fruit Club; Worm Grunting in Sopchoppy and Mullet tossing across the state line; extensive removal of invasive species (particularly Brazilian Pepper Busts) and always looking to stop at local markets while I’m out and about.

The combination of these two parts of my life (being a Florida Cracker and needing to be “kept Tracked”) gave the idea for the title of this site. My friends and family have been pushing me to start up a website, something more than Facebook in order for them to not only keep up with my many travels, but as a way to learn about new and exciting places they may like to visit themselves. I have largely shrugged this off primarily because I am not a very big technology person and more of a hands on outdoors guy.

So needless to say when I took off on my biggest and most wondrous adventure yet, to live and work in Australia for upwards of a year or more, with little to no plans, they were just as supportive as they where jealous and disheartened about not being able to follow me on my walk about.

After returning home and spending so much time answering questions about my grandest wander yet, I made a personal promise to myself that I would create a site to share my adventures and experiences for others. However the final momentum for me to start this blog was the potential for the Best Job in the World: Taste Master for Western Australia (WA).  My time in Perth during my working holiday gave me a glimpse into the natural splendor of WA that I may have otherwise over looked. This job would give me the opportunity of a lifetime; for me this means returning to a land that changed my life and fed my soul.  A chance to surprise distant friends and see the things that just can’t be copied into pictures and only preserved  in memories; like the hues of salmon on the pink gums or the smell in the eucalypt forest after a rain storm.