Speaker 1: Gooday, welcome to the Mason Cox Show. No, I'm not
Speaker 1: Mason Cox. I'm hardly even six foot tall. My name
Speaker 1: is Braydon Cox. But I am joined by the six '
Speaker 1: ten American Australian duel citizen, Mason Cox. It's been a
Speaker 1: big week. How's it been been.
Speaker 2: A massive week. I'm one of you now, I'm officially Australian.
Speaker 1: You're one of us.
Speaker 3: I know it's.
Speaker 1: Well, you're an Australian now, Maceon, let's jump straight into
Speaker 1: the ceremony which took Australia by storm. You were trending
Speaker 1: Australia wide. Talk us through it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's probably some positive news to come
Speaker 2: out of Collingwood as probably what everyone was pretty desperate for.
Speaker 3: So No, it was. It was amazing. It was an
Speaker 3: amazing day.
Speaker 2: It was very fortunate enough that cong would actually put
Speaker 2: on the function at the mcg so they paid for it,
Speaker 2: which was pretty amazing and just a really like umbling experience.
Speaker 2: I know people kind of think and there's probably maybe
Speaker 2: something we take for advantage.
Speaker 3: I say, we you know, this is weird.
Speaker 2: I'm saying we nowadays us, you know, we take for advantage.
Speaker 2: I guess the freedoms and the kind of liberties we
Speaker 2: have today, and I don't know, like kind of being
Speaker 2: there at one hundred and nine of the people getting citizenship,
Speaker 2: there was people with some amazing backgrounds and I'm sure
Speaker 2: amazing stories.
Speaker 3: I didn't have a lot of.
Speaker 2: Time to interact with people because I was doing a
Speaker 2: lot of media and stuff for it, but just some
Speaker 2: of the emotion that came out of people I was
Speaker 2: started going up to get their citizenship, Like people were
Speaker 2: like full on bawling and like losing it. And I
Speaker 2: can only fathom, I guess, like these people who are
Speaker 2: probably refugees from another country or people you know that
Speaker 2: I've been in dire circumstances that are now you know,
Speaker 2: found this new hope in Australia and now have moved
Speaker 2: to this country with a whole new kind of life
Speaker 2: ahead of them. And yeah, it was really like emotional
Speaker 2: on the DIY, Like I didn't think I would get
Speaker 2: that emotional, but seeing other people and how much of
Speaker 2: mentum was was pretty amazing because I'm super fortunate where
Speaker 2: I've just kind of been able to walk into this
Speaker 2: where for a lot of people there's a whole new
Speaker 2: start on life.
Speaker 1: And the ceremony was huge, obviously put on by Calling
Speaker 1: and You Coach Craig McCrae was there, Collingwood CEO Mark Anderson,
Speaker 1: and the Lord Mayor, your friend, the Lord Mayor, Sally
Speaker 1: cap big Collingwood fans.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so she's the first female board member at Collingwood.
Speaker 2: She's also the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, so she's gone
Speaker 2: on to do some pretty amazing things. And she's a
Speaker 2: ceremonial kind of like induction person for citizenship, so she
Speaker 2: was able to induct me in as a citizen, which
Speaker 2: was really cool because I'm like good friends of.
Speaker 3: Her and staff.
Speaker 1: I think it was cool for both of you.
Speaker 2: She love she loved it, and we were big fans
Speaker 2: of and she's such a good speaker and she could
Speaker 2: tell she just has done a few of these obviously
Speaker 2: and with the way she's spoke and everything else is
Speaker 2: just spot on and told some pretty amazing stories. And
Speaker 2: then Mark Anderson CEO went up there and said some words,
Speaker 2: and then we had I think there was a representative
Speaker 2: from a federal standpoint was up there and had some
Speaker 2: people from like the original part of my journey, like
Speaker 2: some of the people have been with me for eight
Speaker 2: years now that have kind of seen me grown as
Speaker 2: a human and grown as a football player and everything
Speaker 2: else that we're able to kind of show up and represent,
Speaker 2: which was was awesome. It was like cool, get citizenship
Speaker 2: and then just see all these people who have kind
Speaker 2: of made you who you are, which is like just amazing.
Speaker 2: The mom and dad were there, which is awesome. They
Speaker 2: got some media times.
Speaker 1: So Phil Phil pretty much every news program.
Speaker 2: He's got a lot of media this week, between the
Speaker 2: Dad's Day we had and the goal kicking extravaganza he had,
Speaker 2: which was hilarious.
Speaker 3: I'll actually real the tape on that one, but a clip.
Speaker 1: Of him kicking, I don't know, he probably needs a
Speaker 1: few more pointed.
Speaker 3: And he was like he's in the Goald square. I'm
Speaker 3: pretty sure he was.
Speaker 1: Not far out real straight leg technique. It was weird.
Speaker 4: It was it was. It was he's got a long
Speaker 4: way to go. Let's just say that we all start somewhere.
Speaker 4: And the frame wasn't wide enough. It could have really
Speaker 4: sailed off the boot maybe fifty six. The frame was
Speaker 4: goal kicking distance, probably like father, like Sondra.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I know, confidence, confidence is there?
Speaker 2: Accuracy question of all times. But it has been a
Speaker 2: massive week and it's been pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: The coach Craig McRae was there. He I heard him
Speaker 1: speaking about it on se and he was involved in
Speaker 1: the ceremony and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, even his wife was involved. Yeah, so Gabb's his wife.
Speaker 2: And this is a funny story behind it, right. So
Speaker 2: I was the first one to go up. They kind
Speaker 2: of you know, they say everyone's name, kind of like
Speaker 2: graduation style. You know, someone goes up and then the
Speaker 2: next person they said the name, they go up and
Speaker 2: get the citizenship.
Speaker 3: I was the first one.
Speaker 2: The next two people actually my best friends here in Australia,
Speaker 2: so they are American and they were getting their citizenship also.
Speaker 2: And I go up there and I knew kind of
Speaker 2: like everyone in the front row. So there was like,
Speaker 2: you know, the federal leader or the federal representative. Then
Speaker 2: there was Mark Anderson, there was Craig mccrane and his
Speaker 2: wife Gab, and then there were some other like kind
Speaker 2: of people that were you know, representatives from a government standpoint.
Speaker 2: So I went up there and I shook Mark's hand,
Speaker 2: I shook Craig's hand like you know, gave Gab the
Speaker 2: kiss on the cheek, whatever you're gonna call it. And
Speaker 2: the next people will come up all my friends who
Speaker 2: also know them because they have been in my journey
Speaker 2: for a long time, so they do the same thing. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So then they set this precedent that everyone has to
Speaker 2: shake everyone's hand.
Speaker 3: And then Gab is just Craig's wife.
Speaker 2: She's all of a sudden now like a representative of
Speaker 2: and everyone's like super excited like shaking her hand.
Speaker 3: One guy gave her a high five.
Speaker 2: At some point she was just eating up, but she
Speaker 2: just took it, like took it while. It was so funny.
Speaker 2: I was absolutely dying laughing. The whole ceremony, one hundred
Speaker 2: and nine people rolled through, a whole one hundred and
Speaker 2: nine of them essentially. It was so good, It was
Speaker 2: so funny. It was so much fun. Man, The whole
Speaker 2: thing was a great day.
Speaker 1: And of course the ceremony took place at the MCG,
Speaker 1: which is pretty crazy. I mean, you wouldn't have known
Speaker 1: it existed, you know, ten years ago, and now it's
Speaker 1: it's pretty much your second home. So what did it
Speaker 1: mean for you the ceremony taking place at the MCG.
Speaker 2: There was a full circle moment, like I'm talking about
Speaker 2: that of Remember the first time I came to Melbourne,
Speaker 2: I went out and walked out with the IFL and
Speaker 2: I think Congood at the time, and they kind of
Speaker 2: were like, oh, this is the Melbourne crooking around. You know,
Speaker 2: this is like one of the most iconic places in
Speaker 2: Australia and one of the most iconic stadiums in the world.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I had no idea what it was,
Speaker 2: so I was just kind of like, Okay, we'll go
Speaker 2: walk over there and check it out.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: We walk in the colisseum of like the MCG and
Speaker 2: you kind of see the expansive kind of seats that
Speaker 2: go out into this, you know, this massive stadium and
Speaker 2: they walk us out onto the ground and like this
Speaker 2: is it's pretty like you're not allowed really to walk
Speaker 2: out onto the ground. So there's definitely some you know,
Speaker 2: some tape we had to kind of cross and whatnot.
Speaker 2: But we went into the center circle and never forget
Speaker 2: and they were just like someone whoever was it was
Speaker 2: the AFL Collingwood kind of you know, sat there and
Speaker 2: said this could be your office and I was like, either,
Speaker 2: you know, you got to Houston and working in engineering
Speaker 2: job behind a cubicle essentially, or you could sit here
Speaker 2: and play at the MCG in front of crowds of
Speaker 2: eighty thousand plus to one hundred thousand. And that was
Speaker 2: kind of like the moment where I was like, I
Speaker 2: think my life's about to change for going down this
Speaker 2: path into like IFL because this is something that's not
Speaker 2: going to ever come around again and an opportunity I
Speaker 2: couldn't say no to. So it's cool to see at
Speaker 2: the MCG kind of full circle moment and like I said,
Speaker 2: like pretty emotional. I think like being there and just
Speaker 2: everything happening so much and having those kind of people
Speaker 2: involved was was an amazing kind of life achievement. That
Speaker 2: there's moments in life you never forget. You never forget,
Speaker 2: you'd never forget those kind of details of everything that
Speaker 2: happens that day, and that was definitely one of those moments.
Speaker 1: So where does that come from? You know, not everyone
Speaker 1: can leave a safe job, pack up and move to
Speaker 1: a foreign country in the pursuit of a pretty crazy opportunity,
Speaker 1: like you didn't know much about what you were getting into, really,
Speaker 1: So where does that adventurous personality come from?
Speaker 2: I think I'm the youngest of three brothers, so three
Speaker 2: boys from mom God bless her, and I think we
Speaker 2: all like kind of enjoyed travel. We all loved, you know,
Speaker 2: getting out doing different things, and we're all very active lifestyles.
Speaker 2: And in the US, at eighteen, you kind of go
Speaker 2: off to college and you kind of start your own
Speaker 2: life out there and you don't live at home. Really
Speaker 2: a lot of people move away and go to different
Speaker 2: cities and stuff to go to university, and that was
Speaker 2: the case for myself, my other two brothers, and I
Speaker 2: think once we did that, there's not many people. I
Speaker 2: guess that a lot of people don't stay in the
Speaker 2: same home, like don't go back to their hometown. Like
Speaker 2: in Australia, you kind of go, you know, if you're
Speaker 2: from Melbourne and go to Union and Melbourne and you
Speaker 2: stay in Melbourne, you work in Melbourne, et cetera. Where
Speaker 2: Like that's not really necessarily the case in the US.
Speaker 2: And I think after university we all moved to different
Speaker 2: cities and did different things. And obviously myself, like I
Speaker 2: finished Union, I thought I was gonna move to Houston, but.
Speaker 3: Then I ended up moving to Melbourne.
Speaker 2: And we always just had this love for travel. I
Speaker 2: always loved it, and we're very independent. I think my family
Speaker 2: compared with other families I met, and I think we
Speaker 2: all just loved kind of going out and experiencing new things.
Speaker 2: We all kind of have this mindset of like, you
Speaker 2: only do this one time. You know, you only go
Speaker 2: around this life once, so why not make the most
Speaker 2: of it and see what's possible.
Speaker 3: And that's kind of like my life motto. It's like,
Speaker 3: you know, I take risks.
Speaker 2: If you fail, you learn from it, you move on,
Speaker 2: you know, and you know it might seem like a
Speaker 2: really you know, tough thing to deal with at the time,
Speaker 2: but I guarantee you in five ten years time, we'll
Speaker 2: kind of look back and be.
Speaker 3: Like, ah, whatever, it is, what it is.
Speaker 2: But it led to me, you know, to the opportunities
Speaker 2: I have today. So that was probably the biggest thing.
Speaker 2: And it was I mean, it was a massive question
Speaker 2: mark for me moving over here. Like I'm not going
Speaker 2: to sit there and say like, oh, I knew what
Speaker 2: AFL was.
Speaker 3: I loved it.
Speaker 2: It's been a life goal of mine and I always
Speaker 2: dreamed of being an AFL player, Like that was not
Speaker 2: something I thought of. But there's one moment I was
Speaker 2: in Saint Kilda Beach. I've talked about this before as
Speaker 2: I was with my brother whenever he came out here
Speaker 2: on our trip over here, and we sat down and
Speaker 2: never forget the place and where it was at the time,
Speaker 2: and he said, you know, a degree doesn't expire, but
Speaker 2: opportunities like this will. And that was some of the
Speaker 2: best advice I've ever got my life. And he's like,
Speaker 2: now I've worked a job, I've done it for you know,
Speaker 2: five ten years, and you know it's great alrea get
Speaker 2: paid and all that kind of stuff, But like, would
Speaker 2: I rather be working out for a living and being
Speaker 2: able to kind of, you know, have a bit more
Speaker 2: say in my in my career as far as you
Speaker 2: know where it's going to go and how you're going
Speaker 2: to how much you can get paid, and contracts and
Speaker 2: everything else. Like it's so unique the way the AFL
Speaker 2: is and in a job sense of being employed by
Speaker 2: someone where comparatively to you know, being employed by a
Speaker 2: big company, you're just kind of a number. Where at
Speaker 2: Collingwood you can kind of make your own career and
Speaker 2: make something like totally unique out of it, which I've
Speaker 2: tried to do over the years. You know, I don't
Speaker 2: think I'm really similar to any other person really in
Speaker 2: the IFL. I'm very unique and just different and like
Speaker 2: to say my own say and do things in a
Speaker 2: different way.
Speaker 3: And yeah, hopefully people will enjoy it.
Speaker 1: So I guess it's probably fair to say that you
Speaker 1: love Australia. Now you're an Australian. What compelled you to
Speaker 1: kind of make the decision to become a citizen and
Speaker 1: stay here and when, I guess did that love really
Speaker 1: start to flourish?
Speaker 3: Oh man, this kind of sounds a bit cocky, to
Speaker 3: be honest. I'll tell this.
Speaker 2: I've never really told this story, but I remember when
Speaker 2: I first came to Melbourne. I remember going over the
Speaker 2: would be the Balty the Balty Bridge. I remember driving
Speaker 2: past and they're like, oh, that's the that's my Marvel
Speaker 2: Stadium it is now, but back then it would have
Speaker 2: been Eddie had Stadium. That's the AFL. You know, that's
Speaker 2: where you can, you know, you'll be doing a bit
Speaker 2: of work. And then like, you know, here's Melbourne as
Speaker 2: a city. And I kind of thought back to that.
Speaker 2: I thought, how cool to be to kind of be
Speaker 2: like like known in the world, like away from home.
Speaker 2: You know, like in a place that's like unique, you know,
Speaker 2: and be, you know, create this lifestyle and just different
Speaker 2: life away from you know, everything you possibly could have
Speaker 2: imagined and essentially have a second chance at doing something totally.
Speaker 2: And I was kind of my mindset going into it.
Speaker 2: I was like, you got nothing to lose, Like, why
Speaker 2: not just make it the most unique, amazing opportunity and
Speaker 2: experience you could possibly think of. And that's kind of
Speaker 2: been my motto for a long time. But there's just
Speaker 2: there's been so many people on my way that have
Speaker 2: helped me out. I don't think there's been one moment
Speaker 2: in my life where I've gone, oh my gosh, I'm
Speaker 2: going to stay here for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3: I don't think.
Speaker 2: I think it's been accumulative over the years and the
Speaker 2: people I've met, and without those connections and stuff, I definitely.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't be here.
Speaker 2: There's no chance, and I wouldn't be wanting to stay
Speaker 2: here for the rest of my life if it wasn't
Speaker 2: for those people that have made this experience so amazing.
Speaker 2: But I think in general, man like I've just fallen
Speaker 2: in love with the people that make up this country.
Speaker 2: Like I think it's very different from America and people definitely,
Speaker 2: you know, they work to live, not live to work.
Speaker 2: I always say, that's like just how Australian mentality and
Speaker 2: culture is. It's like Americans think of Australia, I think, oh,
Speaker 2: there's some some dudes chilling on the beach, you know,
Speaker 2: shakas and we're I'll just live in the dream now,
Speaker 2: like surfing, chilling, riding kangaroos, man like chilling, you know,
Speaker 2: like it's the kind of like California vibe. But I've
Speaker 2: come to realize there's so much more than that here
Speaker 2: in this country. And it's something I've really fallen in
Speaker 2: love with. Like it's amazing man like meaning people like
Speaker 2: yourself who you know, very passionate about what they do
Speaker 2: and want to do something different and want to you know,
Speaker 2: start their own thing and be able to kind of
Speaker 2: create their own pathway in life. It's pretty unique to
Speaker 2: anywhere else I've really kind of experienced. So it's something
Speaker 2: I've fallen in love with. I've fallen in love with
Speaker 2: the people, and the place of Melbourne's been an amazing
Speaker 2: you know, it's rated I think number one most Liverpool
Speaker 2: city in the world.
Speaker 3: For she's like fifty years straight for a reason, you know.
Speaker 3: It's yeah, yeah, yeah, Melbourne.
Speaker 2: It is a credit to it, man, It's a reason
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of people want to move here.
Speaker 2: And it's like this amazing kind of day to day
Speaker 2: life that people really enjoy and there's amazing people that
Speaker 2: kind of make it a unique culture.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine it's been all smooth sailing. There would
Speaker 1: have been some hard times in your personal life and
Speaker 1: in your football life. How did you cope being so
Speaker 1: far away from your family, your friends and that kind
Speaker 1: of support structure.
Speaker 3: It was a bit of as a learning curve.
Speaker 2: I mean, like I think with anything, I wasn't really
Speaker 2: understood how hard it was going to be initially, like
Speaker 2: because whenever you don't have your core group of friends
Speaker 2: and stuff to lean on, you just kind of had
Speaker 2: people in America who didn't know what you were doing
Speaker 2: and didn't understand the situation you were in.
Speaker 3: It was tough for those first two or three years.
Speaker 2: I remember like breaking down on like out in the
Speaker 2: on the track with like Craig McCrae and Anthony Rock
Speaker 2: and I couldn't kick a goal because I was like
Speaker 2: shit at kicking a football, you know, and I was like,
Speaker 2: oh am I not getting this? Why am I not
Speaker 2: getting this? And it takes time and practice and everything else.
Speaker 2: I remember just breaking down and crying at training and
Speaker 2: crying the ice bass and you know, over the like
Speaker 2: probably eight years I've been playing, there's been like moments
Speaker 2: where you rock up and you just break down the
Speaker 2: parking lots, you're just like, I just don't want to
Speaker 2: go in today. Like it's just like tough times where
Speaker 2: you just really are at your kind of end of
Speaker 2: your rope and you just don't know who to go
Speaker 2: to and you don't know who to talk to, and.
Speaker 3: It's just a it's a struggle. But that's footy.
Speaker 2: I think you learn from those tough times of like
Speaker 2: how much you can actually go through and get out
Speaker 2: the other hand. And you know, you get to other
Speaker 2: times where, you know, I think back to like twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: I was like, oh man, do I ever want to
Speaker 2: play footy again? Or twenty sixteen do I want to
Speaker 2: play foot again? Then and have amazing years like twenty
Speaker 2: eighteen where it's you know, life changing and you have
Speaker 2: such amazing experiences and you go, I'm so grateful that
Speaker 2: I stuck with it and was able to kind of
Speaker 2: get through those hard times come and enjoy the good times,
Speaker 2: and it makes those good times so much better. But
Speaker 2: even recently with COVID, like getting moved to a different
Speaker 2: state and being away from friends and family and your
Speaker 2: support network and everything else. Like, yes, we're very fortunate
Speaker 2: in the sense that, you know, we were given opportunities
Speaker 2: that a lot of people here in Melbourne didn't have.
Speaker 2: But it doesn't mean that a lot of the players
Speaker 2: were taken away from their families and their networks and
Speaker 2: stuff that really keep them on a level playing field
Speaker 2: as far as mental health. And like, there was times
Speaker 2: there where I was unsure of what I was gonna
Speaker 2: do in contracts, and you know, if I wanted to
Speaker 2: go home, if I every wanted to play footy again,
Speaker 2: and like all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: And it even comes to last year, I was out of.
Speaker 2: Contract and sitting in the US just traveling around like
Speaker 2: seeing if anybody else would ever want to contract me again.
Speaker 2: You know, I was like, well, maybe this thing's done
Speaker 2: with who I was. You know, you just kind of
Speaker 2: get to a realization of like, holy crap, this can
Speaker 2: kind of be taken away from you in a very
Speaker 2: very quick way. So yeah, there's there's been some tough times,
Speaker 2: no doubt. But yeah, I think like you go back
Speaker 2: to the people and everything else that's kind of had
Speaker 2: your back since day one, and I mean you look
Speaker 2: even to this year, man, like I've had Remember there's
Speaker 2: a moment while sitting with I had coach and I
Speaker 2: just said, I don't know what I'm doing, Like I'm
Speaker 2: not playing on playing VFL, like I want to be
Speaker 2: your plain AFL and I know my career is kind
Speaker 2: of on the line and I'm not sure what I'm
Speaker 2: going to do. And we just sat down, had an
Speaker 2: honest chat with each other and just said, this is
Speaker 2: where we are, this is where I want to see
Speaker 2: you and you know, X amount of weeks and whatever
Speaker 2: and then we'll kind of put a game plane in
Speaker 2: place to hopefully get you back in to AFL squad
Speaker 2: and that's kind of that's where we're at. So it's
Speaker 2: been amazing, Like to have a coach like that, who
Speaker 2: you can I sit down and have an honest conversation
Speaker 2: with and you know, will be genuine and hundredson upfront
Speaker 2: with you to tell you that this is the direction
Speaker 2: you're going in. This is where you sit in the
Speaker 2: you know, the lineup and everything else. It's been career
Speaker 2: changing for me for sure.
Speaker 1: As you mentioned, you do love travel. I think you've
Speaker 1: traveled Australia more than any normal Australian. You really utilize
Speaker 1: the off season to get away and give yourself a
Speaker 1: mental refresher. You've been all over up North, down South
Speaker 1: and everywhere in between.
Speaker 2: Yeah, from Tazzi to the kpor to Kakadi, to Arnum
Speaker 2: Land to the Red Center to w I. I've driven
Speaker 2: from Broom all the way downe to Perth, all on
Speaker 2: the West coast. I've done from Brisbane all the way
Speaker 2: up to Thursday Island all the way through Kporc and
Speaker 2: off roading and all that. And I've been very fortunate
Speaker 2: to have time to do these kind of things. And
Speaker 2: I always tell people, I'll say, you know what, it's
Speaker 2: beautiful that Australians love to go overseas and experience new things,
Speaker 2: but you've got some pretty amazing things in your backyard.
Speaker 2: I think that's one thing I've always enjoyed is telling
Speaker 2: people about some amazing places I go and kind of
Speaker 2: inspiring them to go see these places. I might be
Speaker 2: a bit closer and something that they didn't really know
Speaker 2: was around. It's a passion of mine I would love
Speaker 2: to get more into. I'd love to work with the
Speaker 2: Australia in general, and you know their kind of pr
Speaker 2: scheme of trying to get this out to the rest
Speaker 2: of the world. So I think there's just so many beautiful,
Speaker 2: amazing things that people don't realize because it's so isolated.
Speaker 2: It's an island kind of like New Zealand, you know,
Speaker 2: where it's so far away from everything else. But it
Speaker 2: is one of those things where it's almost like it's
Speaker 2: kind of like golden kind of corner of the world
Speaker 2: where people just don't really know.
Speaker 3: A lot about it.
Speaker 2: But there is some amazing things that haven't really been
Speaker 2: discovered yet.
Speaker 1: We want to keep I know, that's all I keep saying.
Speaker 2: I was like, you just don't tell anyone because you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, we've got free health care, because there's like
Speaker 2: and a place is quite beautiful. But I love travel, man.
Speaker 2: It's a it's a massive passion of mine. Indigenous community
Speaker 2: is a massive passion, massive passion of mine, and I've
Speaker 2: been fortunate enough to be linked up with a few
Speaker 2: different charities and life Changer and then now Shoreline which
Speaker 2: is dealing you know, helping out youth kids and their
Speaker 2: their journey through the teenage years.
Speaker 3: And then also.
Speaker 2: With Shortline Indigenous community around Australia to help them and
Speaker 2: their career post high school and stuff. So there's some
Speaker 2: pretty amazing things I've been a part of and I
Speaker 2: just I just love it, like it's just an amazing place.
Speaker 2: I cannot speak highly enough about it. And yeah, I
Speaker 2: know like you' all like to keep it your little secret,
Speaker 2: but I wouldn't mind a few other people learning about it.
Speaker 1: It's our secret, our secret. So yeah, as you just mentioned,
Speaker 1: you've you've pretty much been everywhere. What have you discovered
Speaker 1: about Australian culture that you like and how it compares
Speaker 1: to American culture?
Speaker 3: Cool?
Speaker 2: American culture is quite decisive, you know, people are very
Speaker 2: patriotic and very like loving of certain things, you know,
Speaker 2: like they're very they're very invested in things.
Speaker 3: We're here.
Speaker 2: I feel like people a lot more laid back, they're
Speaker 2: more just genuinely just enjoy life a bit more and
Speaker 2: understand the holistic side of things, of understanding kind of
Speaker 2: mental health, how important relationships are communication. I look back
Speaker 2: to even something as simple as like a cafe culture here,
Speaker 2: you know, like it's based around Australian culture of like
Speaker 2: I want to sit down and have dinner with your,
Speaker 2: lunch with you, or breakfast with you, rather than just
Speaker 2: getting takeaway and move on see you later. Like a
Speaker 2: lot of people like, oh, let's go catch up for
Speaker 2: a coffee, and that's like it's not really a thing
Speaker 2: you hear in the States, like stage is like bank
Speaker 2: bank bank, go go go. Everything is very much like monopolized.
Speaker 2: There's not mom and pop shops. There's all that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. It's all like just very much very just capitalism.
Speaker 2: One a one there, we're here. I feel like it's
Speaker 2: still very much like the interpersonal relationships you have with
Speaker 2: people and your customers are still very important in Australian culture.
Speaker 2: I mean I even think about Australian made stuff, you know,
Speaker 2: something as simple as that is like something that's pushed
Speaker 2: very hard in this country to try to help people
Speaker 2: that are actually building and making things in Australia to
Speaker 2: help them, you know, grow business here within the country.
Speaker 2: So there's some amazing initias like that. I think people
Speaker 2: will really get around here that I find awesome and
Speaker 2: I think it's so cool that just you know, their
Speaker 2: willingness to help each other and to help each other grow.
Speaker 2: Like I think about this podcast and people have asked
Speaker 2: on and that people will get on through this and
Speaker 2: you know it's someone reaching out and saying, Hey, I
Speaker 2: need help. Would you be willing to help me? And
Speaker 2: most people just say yep, one hundred percent. Give me
Speaker 2: a time.
Speaker 1: Place on there, last one before we get onto a
Speaker 1: bit of a quiz before we wrap up. Now, you're
Speaker 1: not leaving Texas behind. You're a jewel citizens.
Speaker 3: Your ju.
Speaker 1: Was super sterring on to point out what does Texas
Speaker 1: and the states mean to Mason Cocks.
Speaker 3: It's weird, but less and less every day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't really keep up with the news as
Speaker 2: much there. I know, obviously there's a lot going on
Speaker 2: in the US right now with this crazy abortion thing
Speaker 2: that's happening at the moment. It's quite it's quite confronting,
Speaker 2: to be honest, and you kind of hear these big
Speaker 2: stories that come out and you feel removed from it
Speaker 2: because I don't. I'm not there, Like I'm not in
Speaker 2: the first person there. I'm kind of this third person
Speaker 2: looking at it from a distance and the outside and.
Speaker 3: The other thing's happening.
Speaker 2: You just like some of the things you know, obviously
Speaker 2: you don't agree with, and you're like, man like, how
Speaker 2: is this, how is this being passed into law, and
Speaker 2: how is this happening? And how are people like allowing
Speaker 2: this things these things to happen. And it's frustrating because
Speaker 2: you want to be proud of where you come from,
Speaker 2: like you want to be you know, like I was
Speaker 2: born and raised in a lot of the ethics and
Speaker 2: morals and stuff that comes with myself come from my
Speaker 2: upbringing through America, and a lot of that's to my
Speaker 2: mother and father, don't me wrong, but in my family.
Speaker 2: But I think there's also this ingrained kind of love
Speaker 2: for where you grew up in and what kind of
Speaker 2: shake you into the human you are. And with what's
Speaker 2: going on right now, it's embarrassing, it's frush, straying, it's
Speaker 2: you know, all those words I guess you could say
Speaker 2: to describe it. But you always have fondness for the
Speaker 2: place you grew up and the place that's you know,
Speaker 2: giving you the opportunities you've been given.
Speaker 3: So I do become more and more Australian.
Speaker 2: I feel like per day and then less and less
Speaker 2: American every day that I'm here.
Speaker 3: But I always have a soft spot for America and home.
Speaker 2: I always want people people asking this recently that asked,
Speaker 2: do a chance USA or a US or AS or
Speaker 2: whoever it is it games and I wanted USA. I
Speaker 2: wanted to stay at US. I wanted to stay. I
Speaker 2: think it sounds good. It's a cool, unique thing. It
Speaker 2: is different, and I think it's a great chance. Like
Speaker 2: some of that's just of it. You know, you go
Speaker 2: to the footy and go, oh, what's that?
Speaker 3: You know, why do they do that?
Speaker 1: You know, it's very unique to you. It is very
Speaker 1: if they did as it could be anyone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it could be anyone exactly say that is one thing.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I do feel like I'm I'm still American.
Speaker 2: I'll always be American, but tides are turning it somewhat.
Speaker 2: As you could say, all.
Speaker 1: Right, that's enough of the serious stuff. Where going to
Speaker 1: get into the quiz.
Speaker 3: I'm very nervous.
Speaker 1: Actually, I was just speaking to Sally cap before we
Speaker 1: went on, and she said, if you failed this, she's
Speaker 1: going to revoke. She's going to revoke the citizenship. Uh,
Speaker 1: some of these are quite hard. But hard to me.
Speaker 1: You don't know, No, I know what's a bushman's clock?
Speaker 3: Bushman's call the sign a cook a barrel laughing? Ah?
Speaker 1: Okay, over which former prime minister set the beer drinking
Speaker 1: world record?
Speaker 3: Hog? He just scolds a beer like no one else.
Speaker 3: What a legend.
Speaker 2: What a legend to have represented your country. There's a
Speaker 2: guy scold beer like no one else's business.
Speaker 1: This one's quite interesting. I didn't know this. I have
Speaker 1: to admit. With the five thousand kilometer long dingo fence,
Speaker 1: Australia has the longest fence in the world. What else
Speaker 1: does it have the longest of rabbit fence, longest golf course?
Speaker 3: Of course yes.
Speaker 2: And it's also the longest like straight Away highway I
Speaker 2: think in the.
Speaker 3: World made there.
Speaker 5: You know you're telling me, yeah, that one.
Speaker 1: Australia was the second country in the world to give
Speaker 1: women the vote. Who was the first? Let's go Switzerland,
Speaker 1: New Zealand, New Zealand. Very progressive over in New Zealand,
Speaker 1: very progressive. Shout out to New Zealand.
Speaker 5: Shout outtot Why was Australian football invented?
Speaker 3: You should know this This was the off season for
Speaker 3: cricket to keep him in shape. It was listening I
Speaker 3: fl do you know a few things?
Speaker 1: What is the highest grossing Australian movie.
Speaker 5: Australia Australia Crocodile would be it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, mate, you got to be getting that, mate. What
Speaker 1: national Australian landmark has its own mailbox?
Speaker 3: National Australian mail landmark?
Speaker 1: You can send it a postcard.
Speaker 3: I can see a postcard. Yeah, a National Australian landmark ULARUF.
Speaker 1: The Great Barrier reef.
Speaker 4: Where in the world is the post box? Ask questions?
Speaker 3: Island has a postbox? I do know that. Maybe that's
Speaker 3: considered it. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Of the twenty five deadliest snakes in
Speaker 1: the world, how many are found in Australia.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go nineteen twenty one, twenty one of how
Speaker 3: many twenty five? Twenty one to twenty five. Okay.
Speaker 2: So here's the thing about this, right, So Americans always
Speaker 2: say this, They go, I want to go to Australia.
Speaker 3: Everything there will kill you. Yeah, and it's somewhat true.
Speaker 2: But I've come to realize any tell people like Melbourne, Victoria,
Speaker 2: Sydney not really This is more of a Queenslander kind
Speaker 2: of thing, you know, Like this is more they're all
Speaker 2: up there from like all the snakes, all the spiders,
Speaker 2: like everything that scares the.
Speaker 3: Hell out of you Queensland.
Speaker 1: And to be fair, people say that they don't want
Speaker 1: to go to America because everything will kill them there.
Speaker 3: But that's humans. That's different.
Speaker 1: What Australian animal did England scientists think was a prank?
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go planypus correct. Oh, there's a huge kit.
Speaker 1: They believe the Aussies stitched a duck's bill onto a round.
Speaker 3: Wow, I could see it though, I could see it.
Speaker 1: Which alcoholic beverage holder was invented in Australia?
Speaker 5: Stubby goon the wine caskon wait wine cast?
Speaker 2: It's oh yeah, they kind of like do the windmill
Speaker 2: thing or you're throwing on that? Was it called slap
Speaker 2: the bag?
Speaker 1: Yeah? See you know that one goon of fortune?
Speaker 2: Fortune, that's what we call. We call it slap the
Speaker 2: bag in college? Yeah right, I mean sorry, I didn't
Speaker 2: drink in college.
Speaker 1: In Aussie slang, what does it mean to go have
Speaker 1: a bow.
Speaker 3: Peep a bow peep asleep? Maybe a nap? Correct?
Speaker 1: Asleep we're getting there. I think.
Speaker 3: Actually I'm a better I thought it would.
Speaker 1: We're wrapping it up. We got three to go, which
Speaker 1: classic Australian film features the phrase tell him his dreaming.
Speaker 3: Oh the castle, the castle? Yeah? Huge?
Speaker 1: When and as he tells you he's going to bend
Speaker 1: an elbow, what's he talking about?
Speaker 3: Uh? Question?
Speaker 1: It's not dirty?
Speaker 3: Okay, good. That takes out of the answers.
Speaker 1: I was going to give Ben the elbow.
Speaker 3: I just have a drink of beer.
Speaker 1: Have a drink?
Speaker 3: Why not?
Speaker 1: This is the last one, alright if you get this Uran.
Speaker 3: Sally.
Speaker 1: Why is Canberra the capital city of Australia.
Speaker 3: Because it was halfway between Sydney and Melbourne?
Speaker 1: Correct?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, yes, finally.
Speaker 1: All right, congratulations Urin for now, Now we know you
Speaker 1: haven't eaten vegimie yet, which is.
Speaker 2: I've lied to a lot of people and staid I
Speaker 2: have had it. Well, I have liked, I've had a spoonful,
Speaker 2: but I haven't eate vegimie like properly, like your butter
Speaker 2: vegimie toast.
Speaker 3: Yeah I haven't done that.
Speaker 1: Which, yeah, you have to. And we'll be doing a
Speaker 1: few food challenges across the journey because a lot of
Speaker 1: people want you to try the Tim Tam slam. Yes,
Speaker 1: you had Milo Cereal, but I say that's not legit.
Speaker 1: You gotta have you gotta have a Milo got Lamington's
Speaker 1: technically New Zealand class Australian Golden gay time.
Speaker 3: Yes, I don't have one of that.
Speaker 1: That's an absolute classic.
Speaker 2: But what we do if you have any other like
Speaker 2: classic Australian things I need to try, please like comment,
Speaker 2: tell us, let us know what we should.
Speaker 1: Do and give us tips. Because I got crucified. Now,
Speaker 1: I got you to.
Speaker 3: Make pound of butter with like three sprinkles on.
Speaker 1: Top and you got to cut it into triangles. Okay,
Speaker 1: So what do we have here?
Speaker 3: We have veggimite shapes.
Speaker 1: We thought two birds, one stone, veggie might shapes. It's
Speaker 1: in the shape of Australia, so that that checks out.
Speaker 3: Why do we have an obsession with veggiemi in this country.
Speaker 3: I don't get it.
Speaker 1: Well, it's our thing.
Speaker 2: It is literally like every time it's like, oh, you
Speaker 2: gotta have vegimin.
Speaker 1: Veggimite shapes are like our guns.
Speaker 3: Oh quite hard, careful, tread lightly here.
Speaker 1: We need one in every house.
Speaker 3: A great carpet.
Speaker 1: We need one in every household. Everyone loves them, and
Speaker 1: if someone tried to take them away from us, we'd write, so, uh,
Speaker 1: I want you to try.
Speaker 3: You can't say that, just.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, Yeah, we've got the vegimite shapes here.
Speaker 1: So without any further ado, we want you to taste
Speaker 1: one or a handful.
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 3: Is it one job or is it two or three?
Speaker 3: In you n I'd go a couple a couple, so
Speaker 3: we'll go to.
Speaker 1: Full review veggiemite and cheese.
Speaker 3: I don't smell vegim yet.
Speaker 1: I think it's in the taste.
Speaker 2: Okay, should we should? We look what's actually on the
Speaker 2: into the box. That's definitely not allowed. Okay, we are.
Speaker 1: I feel like they're an addictive product. You'll think it takes.
Speaker 2: I thought they would be disgusting, actually enjoying. Yeah, this
Speaker 2: kind of reminds me of like cheese wears on crackers,
Speaker 2: you know, chee cheese.
Speaker 3: I can.
Speaker 1: Like cheese there because it is.
Speaker 3: Definitely like getting home. You're like, no, not the vegan toast.
Speaker 1: We don't do cheese whiz, it's not a thing.
Speaker 3: This is what cheese waz tastes like.
Speaker 1: Oh no, so is that a good review.
Speaker 3: I mean, I ate a lot of cheese wads as
Speaker 3: a kid. Yeah, I try.
Speaker 2: Maybe I need to try vegima on toast. I've always
Speaker 2: seen like my whole thing is. Someone gave me a
Speaker 2: spoonful of Vegiemi the first time I ever had it,
Speaker 2: and it just put me off for life, and I
Speaker 2: was like, I just don't really want to be a.
Speaker 1: Part of us because it's ultra condensed, dude, just like
Speaker 1: so potent. So so I think I don't know if
Speaker 1: we work good. I don't know if we work up
Speaker 1: to Vegimie on toast because it's kind of the pinnacle, right,
Speaker 1: maybe that'll be the season finale. Yeah, so we'll get
Speaker 1: through some of these. We have a whole bunch golden
Speaker 1: gay time. I want to eat that.
Speaker 3: So we're working with those are our makers. Next week
Speaker 3: we might have.
Speaker 1: To get some more of those anyway. Thanks for joining
Speaker 1: me on The Branden Cox Show, and congratulations on the
Speaker 1: ceremony everything around it and becoming an Australian citizen. It's
Speaker 1: we're glad to have you. It's good that you're here
Speaker 1: and we won't be sending you back anytime.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's no takebacks, mate, so it's official. Government
Speaker 2: says I'm in. I'm in, so I'm locked in. But
Speaker 2: thanks so much, Matt. It's been awesome.
Speaker 3: I am. I really do love this country.
Speaker 2: It's an amazing place that's given me so much opportunity
Speaker 2: and very grateful, man, very grateful. And I think moments
Speaker 2: like these kind of make you look back at the
Speaker 2: last eight years and everything you've been able to accomplished
Speaker 2: in the cool amazing people you've met along the way,
Speaker 2: including yourself. So thanks man, it's been an awesome podcast.
Speaker 3: Great to have you hosting. I love this. It's cool. No,
Speaker 3: it's great starting.
Speaker 2: So you have to end now, you guys say like, comment, heart,
Speaker 2: follow with.
Speaker 1: The five, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter.
Speaker 2: Yes, well official, close it out perfectly, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2: You cannot have done it better, but check your own falls.
Speaker 2: I'll let you lay us out of here.
Speaker 1: Bob, and we'll see you on the next one.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 1: I've never had him