Anyone been to Australia?

[Ares]

Aussies are like Germans - great at home, pains in the arse on the road. Edinburgh is full of them and all they talk about is how great Australia is.

I am curious if you could elaborate.

I cannot talk about Aussies as I've met none myself, but I have met Germans.

We had exchange students come over twice when I was in high school and I remember them being kinda weird about some stuff. Like one of them complained that our breakfast options are too sweet.... which if you get Donuts or Pancakes with syrup or French toast with sugar/syrup, etc then yeah she was correct.... but you can also eat eggs and bacon and toast and bagels and all the same shit you have in Germany albeit American local versions. I think her complaints spawned from them doing a breakfast where the school bought donuts and milk for everyone and that is all they got.... but even so just eat some donuts and have a sweet breakfast, it won't kill you.

You talkin about stuff like that? Where you wanna go to them and be like "You do realize you are not at home right? You are in another country.... its not going to be exactly the same as where you came from"

 

[AuCN]

No, not hard to understand. Like I said, I was unfortunate to meet several aussie travelers while living and working in SE Asia who were not the best examples for their country. Visiting Australia changed that for me, but it still remains one of my least favourite accents.



The flies though, man. When I returned to Taiwan after my visit, everyone thought I had the pox.

LOL! My buddy is Aussie and goes to Bali alot (well flies in to there and then heads to other islands/villages. He says they (especially Bali) are chock full of bogans. It is very cheap to get flights there from Oz. But since he goes there surfing all the time, I am going to group him in with the bogans. Its like the saying "you are not IN traffic, you ARE traffic."

 

[malcore]

lol, bogans. Ha.

There are indeed a lot of aussies throughout SE Asia. A lot of South Africans too. South Africans seem to travel very well, and I am still in contact with several I met back then.

 

[Ares]

lol, bogans. Ha.

There are indeed a lot of aussies throughout SE Asia. A lot of South Africans too. South Africans seem to travel very well, and I am still in contact with several I met back then.

South African is a very interesting accent.... very hard to imitate.... every time I see Blood Diamond on TV I try and fail....

 

[malcore]

Roll those rrrrrrs.

It is an odd accent, but I like it.

 

[Ares]

Roll those rrrrrrs.

It is an odd accent, but I like it.

I like it too, its all the more maddening that I can't replicate it lol

 

[Omeletpants]

I am curious if you could elaborate.

I cannot talk about Aussies as I've met none myself, but I have met Germans.

We had exchange students come over twice when I was in high school and I remember them being kinda weird about some stuff. Like one of them complained that our breakfast options are too sweet.... which if you get Donuts or Pancakes with syrup or French toast with sugar/syrup, etc then yeah she was correct.... but you can also eat eggs and bacon and toast and bagels and all the same shit you have in Germany albeit American local versions. I think her complaints spawned from them doing a breakfast where the school bought donuts and milk for everyone and that is all they got.... but even so just eat some donuts and have a sweet breakfast, it won't kill you.

You talkin about stuff like that? Where you wanna go to them and be like "You do realize you are not at home right? You are in another country.... its not going to be exactly the same as where you came from"

Tales of donuts? Tell us more!

 

[Ares]

Tales of donuts? Tell us more!

Ah don't be mud Ommy

 

[clonetrooper264]

Tales of donuts? Tell us more!

 

[DrGonzo]

I go to Aus once every year or two for work. I get a little bit of time off to go surfing and hit up Margaret River and the like, but I am usually on the West coast. Always a very good time. Little known fact, Australia has overtaken the US in obesity rates. Surprising.

As far as the huntsman spiders. They scare the crap out of you but are harmless. They actually have commercials there saying to make sure to roll up your car windows at night because they crawl in and then run across your dashboard while you are driving and cause accidents. Enough to warrant a commercial! LOL! Im more worried about the redbacks and various poisonous snakes. But then I spend most of my time in the bush while I am there.

They also have funnel web spiders and those things will straight up kill you. I really want to go to Australia (and New Zealand!) but not for just two weeks, and I never manage to save enough time off.

 

[AuCN]

They also have funnel web spiders and those things will straight up kill you. I really want to go to Australia (and New Zealand!) but not for just two weeks, and I never manage to save enough time off.

For sure. And even in New Zealand you can spend 2 weeks on the north island and 2 more on the south. Too much to do.

 

[bearmick]

I am curious if you could elaborate.

I cannot talk about Aussies as I've met none myself, but I have met Germans.

We had exchange students come over twice when I was in high school and I remember them being kinda weird about some stuff. Like one of them complained that our breakfast options are too sweet.... which if you get Donuts or Pancakes with syrup or French toast with sugar/syrup, etc then yeah she was correct.... but you can also eat eggs and bacon and toast and bagels and all the same shit you have in Germany albeit American local versions. I think her complaints spawned from them doing a breakfast where the school bought donuts and milk for everyone and that is all they got.... but even so just eat some donuts and have a sweet breakfast, it won't kill you.

You talkin about stuff like that? Where you wanna go to them and be like "You do realize you are not at home right? You are in another country.... its not going to be exactly the same as where you came from"

Just from living in and travelling around Europe. They can be a little ... socially overpowering at times. They'll have their towels holding all the chairs and sun loungers at the pool in Spain at 6am so when everyone else wakes up they're already taken. Just gerneal stuff, nothing serious. But they're always nice in Germany, it seems.


As for your South African accent, pronouce hard a's as an e, the softer a as a hard o, and your hard e as an i.

For example, "Since apartheid inded, we hev equolitee for blecks in South Efrica".

 

[malcore]

That's not bad mick. Add a couple of rrs to Efrica, and Ares can't fail.

 

[Ares]

That's not bad mick. Add a couple of rrs to Efrica, and Ares can't fail.

Lol ima be practicing dat line at home now

 

[JimJohnson]

If you guys had the choice to go to Australia or a South African safari, which would you go for? Luckily, I've saved up enough miles in my airline account and could do either. Would just need to pay the hotels/activities/food. Each destination requires about the same mileage in my account so need to decide.

 

[malcore]

Africa is the only continent I have not yet visited, other than Antarctica. So, South Africa for me.

If anyone is interested in the history of Australia, I highly recommend The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes.

 

[Unannounced Fart]

I used to have such a hard on for Elle MacPherson back in the day. I saw a recent picture of her and she's held up extremely well.

 

[JimJohnson]

I used to have such a hard on for Elle MacPherson back in the day. I saw a recent picture of her and she's held up extremely well.

What the hell happened to her acting career? She was in a couple big movies in the late 90s and then fell off the grid.

 

[Tjodalv]

If you guys had the choice to go to Australia or a South African safari, which would you go for? Luckily, I've saved up enough miles in my airline account and could do either. Would just need to pay the hotels/activities/food. Each destination requires about the same mileage in my account so need to decide.

Did South Africa two years ago for a couple months. It's definitely much, much, cheaper if that's a concern (gas is expensive, food and lodging are dirt cheap [as long as you avoid places like Sun City], smoking and drinking are about the same). Wandered around Pilanesberg National Park, stayed in the Johannesburg suburbs, went as far south as Venterstad and Oviston in/near the Oviston Nature Reserve, and east to Durban.

You get a pretty diverse experience of terrain, flora, and fauna within reasonable driving distances -- Johannesburg and the surrounding areas are very similar to LA in vegetation and weather; Durban and the east coast is much more lush and forested (they get Indian Ocean monsoon rains) and has some really nice beaches; and down south in the Karoo it's semi-desert much like a lot of New Mexico.

Really depends on what you want to do. Either way, you'll probably have to figure out how to drive stick with the wrong hand and the correct foot setup (clutch is still on left, but throwing forward and away with your left hand for 1st gear is fucking obnoxious).

 

[SERE Bear]

No vaccinations to go to nor threat of beheadings in Australia ... Just saying.

Seriously though do your homework on threats to americans if you decide on Africa. There are great places that are safe as well as places you dont go without an armed escort. Know the difference.