I am doing a Japanese translation, and the person says, “I stayed in Moother, a small town two hours north of Brisbane.”
I can’t find any city of a name close to “Moother.” Any ideas?
Perhaps it’s Noosa, though that is only about 80 km north of Brisbane, which wouldn’t take 2 hours even in peak-hour traffic.
If it’s a work of fiction, it could well be a made-up name.
My poor brain imagined an Australian game of dozens, with one competitor saying, “Yer Moother is so fat, when she says Outback, she’s talkin’ about her own butt.”
Actually, Google Maps puts Noosa Heads (there are also Noosaville and Noosa National Park in the vicinity) at 135km (84 miles) due North from Brisbane by road, so perhaps your deduction was correct!
I don’t know that Noosa (any variation of it) fits as a “small town”. Even for someone from Japan.
There is a community called Mothar Mountain, which is about 2hrs north of Brisbane.
My money’s on Noosa. I can’t think of anything that sounds like Moother.
Mothar Mountain is an extremely obscure place for someone from Japan to stay.
It can take 2 hrs to get to Noosa when it’s busy.
Does he describe the place he stayed? Is it at the beach?
I think someone from Japan would think of Noosa as being a small town.
Don’t disagree with you on Mothar Mountain being obscure, hell I had never heard of it, until I had a little look on the map at the areas around Gympie. (for those not from Brisbane, Gympie would pretty much be the limit of " about 2hrs north of Brisbane")
Personally I just don’t buy it being Noosa. Although I guess once you’re outside of Noosa Heads, you could argue it being a ‘small town’.
I think we need a little more context than that in the OP to definitely nail it.
Aeschines do you have a little more detail from the text you’re translating to give us locals a little more help in nailing down what you’re after?
I’m an Australian mail sorter, and I’ve heard of everywhere - but not this one.