Hi Mum!
How are you?
Today we did something a little bit different. We voted! Well, Host Sister and Host Brother did. There is an election soon. Time to choose a new Prime Minister, or perhaps keep the old one! 
In Australia, voting at elections is compulsory. Everyone aged 18 years and over must vote on election day, or they have to pay a fine. It used to be that everyone had to show up on election day to a polling place to fill out their ballot. How annoying! 
In the last few years it has been allowed to vote by postal vote. The voters go online to request a postal ballot paper, then the papers are sent out in the mail. They're filled out at home and sent back. As long as they're filled out before election day, everything is fine.
Host Sister says voting at home is more convenient, but not as fun! Normally the polling places are at a school. The people running them usually set up a barbeque to raise money for the school. After voting, you can buy a sausage in bread, and sometimes they have a cake stall as well. Host Sister and Host Brother didn't want to miss out on the fun of the barbeque! So we made sausages in bread and sweets at home. Here are the chocolate crackles and honey joys.
Who are we going to vote for??
Wow, this paper is so long! So many to choose from!
Phew! Now the papers are all filled in and put into the envelopes. We'll take them to the post box tomorrow morning.
Now it's time for another chocolate crackle!
xx
