I would not send a first story anywhere. I would give myself time to write a number of stories.
In a way Australia is like Catholicism. The company is sometimes questionable and the landscape is grotesque. But you always come back.
I like to think about stringing songs together like a string of pearls, or a string of beads, but ultimately it has to be stuff that really works with the band, and gives a spin to the older material.

