Freezing snow-drenched winters in inner-city Toronto.

The searing dry heat and expansive plains of the Wimmera.

It is fair to say Earl Moreno, 22, has tackled some diverse conditions in his life.

In just his third week in the Wimmera, music-obsessed Moreno sees his stint here as part of a journey of self-realisation.

It is a step on the road to achieving his goal – stardom in the music business.

‘‘I want to be a superstar,’’ Moreno said.

His journey to the Wimmera started with his friendship with Minyip-Murtoa coach Jaye Macumber.

When Macumber was coaching the Canadian AFL team, he was running clinics in high schools and discovered Moreno.

‘‘Earl was one of those kids who was athletically gifted,’’ he said.

‘‘I just looked at him and thought, ‘this kid could be anything’.’’

A strong bond formed between the two and their families.

When Macumber noticed Moreno was feeling down earlier this year, he invited him to spend some time living and working in the Wimmera.

A former under-23 Canada representative, Moreno will be a welcome addition to the Burras line-up this season as Macumber takes the reins.

‘‘I’m super unfit because I’ve come from six months of being inside,’’ Moreno said.

‘‘It’s been cold back home for a bit so I haven’t had the motivation to step outside when it’s snowing and zero degrees.

‘‘The boys here are very fit and their skills are sharp.

‘‘Footy is at a different level here.’’

But Moreno’s passion for music is what drives him.

While his grounding is in poetry and hip-hop, he believes the latter genre has fallen victim to a lack of innovation.

‘‘Evolution of style – I feel like that’s just the way it should be,’’ he said.

Macumber, also a musician, said Moreno’s potential was special.

‘‘He’s very open to new ideas. He’s not set in one genre, whether it be hip-hop, rap or soul,’’ he said.

‘‘He wants to know more about guitar-orientated rock and he’s got a really good ear for tone, rhythm and beats.

‘‘He’ll invent something that hasn’t been done before.’’

Moreno charts his creative journey from short stories he wrote at a young age.

‘‘I was about 12 and I heard an Eminem song and that’s what made me start liking hip-hop,’’ he said.

‘‘I was amazed by the way he was writing his words and his rhyme scheme.’’

Moreno said by the end of the summer, he had made it to a ‘dollar store’.

‘‘I went to the dollar store and I bought a little computer mic and I still have it to this day – it’s pretty awesome,’’ Moreno said.

‘‘That was how I first started – it was pretty ghetto, but fun.’’

By year eight, he had penned about 60 songs.

He then made the extension into poetry, performing his spoken-word pieces with the Canadian Stage Company.

‘‘I’d say poetry is a lot more honest than hip-hop,’’ he said.

‘‘I feel like people have to live up to some sort of character in their music in hip-hop, even like rock stars in a way too – they have to be a character to complement the song.’’

Moreno is now concentrating on studying musical theory and has a clear and progressive plan of how to release his music once he feels it is ready.

Macumber said Moreno was an inspiration to others.

‘‘He’s got a heart of gold. He’s really generous, he’s a great man,’’ he said.

‘‘Earl is proof that if you follow your dreams you can make them a reality.’’

Moreno has also taken a job working at Schier Cabinet Makers in Murtoa.

So what does Moreno – the musician, the footballer, the traveller – make of Wimmera life?

‘‘It reminds me a lot of St Lucia – small island, small town,’’ he said.

‘‘There’s not many people, but everybody knows everyone,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s homely in a way. There’s a lot of positives because I like open space and green trees so it just reminds me of home and I feel I’ve always lacked that.’’