Australia, I salute you!!

[grunty]

2 things

1 - i read an article in national geographic about a guy who biked around the perimeter of australia. lucky those of you who live down there. nice stuff dudes. i live i blasted iowa, corn, pigs, paintball, and barbeques. though i must say the beer brauts are most excellent. but you guys got something iowa has little of. HILLS.

2 - guess where AC/DC's from. thats right. Aussiland, (sorry if i spelled it wrong, i'm a wisconsonite). i found this out by taking the time to read the little pamphlet that comes with the cd, rather than just putting it in and cranking it.

the pictures i've seen have made moving, or at least travelling there quite tempting. though i will probably never get out of the midwest *save the military*. to all of you down there enjoy the scenery, whilst i wait for the corn to get knee high by the 4th of july.

(my relationship with my surroundings is like and older borther to a younger, it is annoying and p!sses you off sometimes, but if made fun of, you will beat the living crap out of the opressor) i'm not saying i hate it here, sometimes it can be freakishly awesome! as a little kid i mapped out the entire woods in my backyard on a now-yellowed notebook in my closet.

whats your surroundings like?

[Swallow]

I think you're assuming something that a lot of people do when they don't live in Australia and have never been here.

We're not that small (not like New Zealand *prepares to get whacked by Kiwis*) Our Environment is as diverse, if not more so, than America. I live in Canberra, which is surrounded by a mountain range known as the Brindabellas. But they're not massive. But if you go just three hours west of here you get roads that run straight, no hills, no turns for hours, and ground that is so flat. You get areas that are like Iowa, with fields of crops (mainly wheat or buttercup). If you could find a high hill all you would see is squares of yellow and brown. You don't get much green there, though there is the occaisional splash of red (iron in the dirt) and purple (Patterson's Curse, great for cow feed, kills horses, and takes up space better used for crops). The area bassically remains like that until you reach the desert. Then everything is red and orange with mobs of kangaroos and plague proportion amounts of emus. And yes, they are plagues, drought turns them into lunatics and you get stampedes of emus that cause a lot of damage. Most ridiculous thing, but then again, i think locusts are pretty damn funny. We get those by the millions too, but so does everyone.
If you go up north on the East Coast, you start getting bananna plantations (well, not right now, tropical cyclone knocked all them out) and eventually it turns into rainforest. Rainforest that leads right down onto the Barrier Reef. (and i bet you that cyclist didn't go there, it's simply impossible to walk, let alone ride)
If you go down the bottom, you come to Tasmainia, which is so cold it's senseless (which probably explains why they're all bonkers *waits to get hit by tassies*). Thick forests, high mountains and temperate rainforests (that's what you call them, right?).
We have such a diverse environment, such wide open spaces, it's a mistake to assume we're small and all the same. We all don't live in Sydney (which is not the damn capital!) bum about on the beach and have blonde hair.

And to be honest, if you want to get out of Iowa, nothing is stopping you. If you really want it, you just do it. Come over here and see for yourself why Australia is kicking America's ass, when we're ranked number three, and America is ten, i can understand why you'd want to live here Just don't think we're small ;D

[Min]

Nice, Flit! Very good answer!

I can hear Paul channelling me though...*token* NZ is also beautiful! From the blue-green streamlets to the amazing mountains, to the glaciers, to the volcanos and all the other goodies that make it a geologist's dream! NZ amazes me, for being so tiny, yet so...diverse!
Just don't go to Auckland *waits to get hit by Aucklanders*. They're crazy. All of them

I live in Brisbane. It's the City of Beige. Nuff said.

[Swallow]

I didn't mind Auckland that much, Wellington was a windy as all hell. That would drive me absolutely bonkers to live there. But it was beautiful. I loved the south island. It was just gorgeous.

Though it is tiny, you can't argue with that

And as for Canberra, aside from the mountain range, the public servants and the direct wind from Antartica (brrrrrrrrr getting it now, dagnamit!) it's a beautiful city. All season show here, and while they're making a good effort to destroy it now, there's lots and lots and lots of trees and scrub in the city, so much so it's not uncommon to find the occaisional kangaroo in the outer suburbs. ;D

[Dark One]

I for one would love to visit Aus. However, i just can't afford it. I cold probably just about afford the flights, but i'd really need to visit for a month and that would cost to support myself

Maybe one day when i'm better off i shall have the chance

[grunty]

as with dark one, i wish i could afford it. if i was able to i would also pop over to indonesia and say hi to my cousins serving as missionarys there. i don't recall saying australia is small. but the cyclist did bike all the way around it. (took him about 3 months). kangaroo in suburbs? is that like recently deer have been reported downtown? (in the very large city next to us)

[Min]

Dark One, you'll be fine. A couple of quid'll be worth about a thousand dollars here

[Swallow]

Yeah, and DO, you're a Commonwealth Citizen, you'll score a working visa really easily, and you can come do a working holiday. With your computing skills you could pick up a casual job, get up a bit extra cash, and then travel the rest of the time.

and like Min said, the pound is like gold over here have you seen the exchange rate lately?? anyway, i'll be over there in about two years, so i'm going to have to demand a cuppa from you Maybe we can actually get you poms to have a meet? though that's better discussed in Member's Only and closer to the time...

and about Kangaroos, i used to live in Queanbeyan, which is a fairly sizable country town literally just outside of Canberra. They're about 20mins away from each other. Anyway, i woke one morning to find my puppy chasing an adult kangaroo about my backyard. Now we didn't live on the outskirts, we actually lived fairly central to the town.

Also at my University, we had a mother and her joey who stayed outside the library. I'd sit inside studying, look out and see this kangaroo just happily munching on grass with her baby beside her.

Kangaroos are a lot more dangerous than deer though. They've killed a couple of people, and badly damaged others. People just walk up and think they're okay to go near. We had this one on a hike once, seriously the biggest buck i had ever seen was just standing on the side staring at us. And my total city kid of a friend walk straight up to it.

[Kangaruth]

I had quite a few friends from uni who went to Australia on a gap year when they finished - while I was doing my Masters year - and another who went to Tanzania.

I'm pretty jealous - by the time I finish my PhD I doubt I'll be able to afford to take time out to travel - but I guess I'm getting my chance to travel now.

Kangaroos outside your library sound amazing! The most exciting animal you're likely to see here is a sheep. Although it's funny when you tell people there is a flock of sheep living on the CERN site!

I love kangaroos though (can you tell from my username?) There's a wildlife park about an hour away from where I live in the UK where you can hand-feed kangaroos and wallabies (but I wouldn't want to try it with wild ones!) My fiance adopted one of them for me for a year as a Christmas present.

grunty - you should take time to travel if you possibly can. Even with America there are loads of amazing things to see. I went on a road trip once from Ohio (where my aunt lives) to the Grand Canyon and back in a fortnight. It was tiring, but pretty amazing!

[Min]

I dunno, I was pretty excited to see squirrels in London...(do you have them in Swizerland?)

Stanthorpe golf course has, for as long as anyone can remember, been overrun by kangaroos. If you hit your ball into their midst, you don't go after it...

[Dark One]

Did you see our lovely Red Squirrels, or the more common Grey ones?

The pound is worth just uder 2 and a 1/2 AUS$ at the moment. Thing is, if i'm going on holiday, i don't really want to work. I go on holiday to get away from work! lol

Its just the problem with being able to save up enough money. Some of my friends have been to Aus, and they've discovered that they've spent about £1000 wilst spending a month there

[Min]

I think it was a grey one. It was in Hyde Park. He was sooooo cute! I had him eating this little bit of fruit out of my hand and everything!

I guess you're right re: funds - chances are if you're not coming over to work, you're going to spend every day seeing something new - going on tours, hiring cars, paying for hotels. I suppose against the mighty pound even that takes it's toll...
Paul and I are looking at doing a trip in 2008 for three months...I want to show him a couple of places I loved in the UK, and we'll see a little of Europe as well. We don't want to work then either. Better start saving seriously ! But just thinking of 3 months of to travel makes me excited...

[grunty]

Deer kill way more people than kangaroo's. Why - because someone put it in their little heads to cross roads when cars appear.

and another fact about iowa. why do people flip out about seeing black squirlles when they come there. they're like "OMG!! what is that!! it can't be a squirrel, its black" *i sigh*

[Min]

Well, in that case, it's not *exactly* the deer's fault now, is it? They were running around in their forests a fair bit longer than humans put the road there.
What Flit was saying is that kangaroos will attack you. You should see some of the male kangaroos, they're bloody huge, with arm muscles to match. They look all cute and cuddly, but I wouldn't want to cross one. Where do you think the image of the boxing kangaroo came from?

I loved the squirrels in Britain, but I have to admit the most fascinating creature we never got to actually see...the "wild haggis" !! It's kinda like a cross between a kangaroo and a sheep, and one of it's front and back legs have evolved to be substantially shorter than the other side, due to it's grazing on hillsides all the time. If you want to hunt one, you have to get it on flat ground, because then all it can do is run around in circles!! ;D

[Swallow]

The scary thing about kangaroos is that they grab you with their little paws and use their legs to crawl your insides out. I've seen two wild bucks fight it out once and that was bloody freaky. And trust me, kangaroos jump into cars. I've been in a bus before (i was a farm kid growing up) that had a kangaroo just jump out in front of it. Caved in the front part of the bus and we had to bust open the emergency exit because the door was squased in. And one of my old guide mums had her car totaled because a kangaroo decided it wanted to jump into it from above.

But yes, they are very cute, there's a massive mob who live in the defunct military communications area near where i live. They were going to turn that area into a new suburb, but the ground was a little too poisonous for humans to live on. So the kangaroos have the hold. I'm waiting for weird geneitic mutations to occur in them... wouldn't it be great if kangas had mental powers? tehe, it makes me giggle...

AH! The wild haggis! My Grandpa has regaled me with stories about that animal since i was little. one legs shorter than the other so it can move around the mountains with ease. only problem is it can only go the one way... almost as good as the Australian drop bear. You just can't have picnics under trees anymore

[Arctic Firefox]

grunty said:

2 - guess where AC/DC's from. thats right. Aussiland, (sorry if i spelled it wrong, i'm a wisconsonite). i found this out by taking the time to read the little pamphlet that comes with the cd, rather than just putting it in and cranking it.

That's not necessarily a good thing. In fact, I would say that AC/DC being Australian is a very bad thing. ;D

grunty said:

whats your surroundings like?

I live a couple of hundred metres away from the coast (Port Philip Bay, Melbourne). It's very peaceful, and I can see the sea from every window in the flat. Really, I couldn't ask for more except that it would be nice if there were a book and CD store close by.

[Dark One]

Grey squirrels are so common. The best ones to see are our original Red Squirrels, though there aren't many of them now.

min said:

I loved the squirrels in Britain, but I have to admit the most fascinating creature we never got to actually see...the "wild haggis" !! It's kinda like a cross between a kangaroo and a sheep, and one of it's front and back legs have evolved to be substantially shorter than the other side, due to it's grazing on hillsides all the time. If you want to hunt one, you have to get it on flat ground, because then all it can do is run around in circles!! ;D

PMSL! I've got a scottish postcard from when i was five showing a wild haggis.

You want to have a look at this site: Save Haggis in Trouble

[Deleted]

I love Australia, and I think a large part of that is how great the living conditions here are. Our "standard of living" (if such a thing can be quantified) has been said to be one of the highest in the world, and I would definitely advocate an overseas friend to come and live here if they wanted to. But after reading my Arts reader today, I realised in terms of the environment, Australia's not doing too great as a country, something that I wouldn't have thought at all. We're the highest greenhouse gas emitter in the developed world (well okay, I knew that one), we use the most water per capita even though we're the driest continent, 2nd larges producers of municipal waste behind the US. From a forum in 2002, we were 125th in conserving biodiversity, 125th in reducing waste and consuption pressures, 128th in air poluution, 134th in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And that was out of 142 other countries. Sorry for the pessimism here guys, but that just really surprised and disappointed me, and with people referring to national parks and biodiversity, I just couldn't help but make the link. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.

min said:

NZ is also beautiful! From the blue-green streamlets to the amazing mountains, to the glaciers, to the volcanos and all the other goodies that make it a geologist's dream! NZ amazes me, for being so tiny, yet so...diverse!

Yes! It's also amazing to look at island ecosystems because so many of them have spent thousands of years evolving in complete isolation and the animals there are just so different from what you'd see anywhere else. And speaking of ecology and kangaroos, we looked at kangaroo skulls in our prac today in order to measure their age by their teeth. Over 20 skulls each! Now whenever I see a kangaroo, I'm just going to imagine its skull. Although I don't think I'll go up to it and ask it to open its jaws so that I can see how many molars it's got and how they stack up against the line made by their cheek hollows. It would probably run away from the Eau de Nerd wafting from me. ;D

grunty said:

i live i blasted iowa, corn, pigs, paintball, and barbeques. though i must say the beer brauts are most excellent. but you guys got something iowa has little of. HILLS.

Well, not to get techy here, but we're a pretty flat nation. Lots of our soil has been eroded away over the years and we only really get a few mountain ranges around the coastal areas. The middle's pretty much one huge expanse that reaches the horizon. Alright, alright! I'll stop with the sciencey stuff. It's just really weird how much stuff in this thread correlates with what I've been studying today at uni.

[Rushton]

We have wallabies on our campus Which are smaller than kangaroos and a kind of grey colour.
They do like to steal food though - so you have to watch them

I live 'out West' where it's quite different to the East. Perth is the most isolated capital city in the world, but there's a lot of money floating around because of all the mining interests. So we do have shiny skyscrapers and all the mod cons .

But if you drive East for about 2 hours you'll hit desert, same going north. But down south we have beautiful old growth forests and some of the most unusual wildlife. I worked with CALM as an undergraduate (Conservation and Land Management) and I used to nurse native animals that had been injured or abandoned by their mothers. Abandoning was quite common when we tagged and released Woylies. They would just chuck the Joey out of the pouch as a defence mechanism... And it was rare to get them to accept them again. I used to walk around with a 'pouch' and a few bottles when I was at uni

This is a Woylie Aren't they cute!

[grunty]

does it smell like cow/horse/pig sh!t all through the spring and partyly into summer? and yes, they do look cute, almost as cute as this one squirrle that will come up and paw on the window until you feed it.

[Swallow]

I've always wanted to do that Rig! looking after wild babies, but with Pheobe it's not really a possibility right now... one of these days i'd really like to do that.

and Grunty, every farming community with cattle smells like that. Have you ever been near sheep in the rain? *shudders* if you think wet wool jumpers are bad....

but still, i'm a country girl, and that's never been a huge problem with me.

[Dark One]

Someone on a farm at the outskirts of my town used to keep wallabies. No idea what happened to them though.

That woylie is so cute! I want one!

[Kangaruth]

Apparently there's a flock (what's the collective noun for wallabies?) of wild wallabies near Loch Lomond somewhere...

[Dark One]

can't find the collective noun for wallabies. its either a mob or troop of kangaroos, so i suspect that it'd be similar

[grunty]

are wallabies like chinchillas, my elementary science teacher had one of those.