- australia is huge - no doubt about it. its like 2/3s the size of the US, but on most of the map projections, it looks tiny.
- australians are generally very nice - very nice folks, very friendly, much more so than anywhere in the states.
- australia is far away - after the 2 hour flight to charlotte, the 5 hour flight to LA, the 7 hour layover in LA, and the 15 hour flight to sydney, you are just really tired of sitting on a goddamn airplane. luckily, i was greeted by sydney with a dreary morning... an "aberation" as i heard compared to the sunny and hot weather they had been having for the past month. it was even worse on the way back. sydney -> auckland -> LA -> chicago -> boston... all without sleep. cant someone just knock me out so i think i have been fishing all day?
- australia is warm when boston is cold - there are a bazillion beaches here, and its summer in December. i think thats all you have to say. consistently 90 deg F the entire time
- australia is full of backpackers and tourists - every other corner in australia has either a Backpacker Travel Centre, a Flight Centre, Qantas Holidays, STA Travel, or some mom and pop travel store... all advertising cheap flights to anywhere in australia, NZ, SE asia, europe, or north america. either australians get off 10 weeks a year to go travel, or there are millions of tourists all over the place. after being there for a while, my money is on number two.
- australia is cheap - i heard alot of bitching and moaning about how 'expensive' sydney was. well, it was the most expensive city in australia as far as i saw, but by the standards i am abused with in boston, sydney and everywhere else in australia is just ridiculously cheap. hostels were between AU$15-25/night, which after conversion works out to like US$9-15/night. pretty ridiculous. the only thing that was expensive comparatively were airline flights and cell phone charges, and they were both pretty expensive.
- australians enjoy beer - or anything else alcoholic for that matter. the good beers i found there were victoria bitter,
tooheys new, XXXX (pronounced 'four-ex'), west-end draught, and many others i dont remember anymore. noone there drinks fosters... it is
not australian for beer. the quote was "we export that shit to you guys because we think it sucks". fair enough.
beer in australia was cheap as well, uniformly. most of the crappy backpacker places we stayed ripped us off an charged AU$4/pint, but after the conversion... who cares anyway? they have weird names for their beer container sizes too... pots, stubbies, schooners, middys, cups, glasses, pints... confusing to americans like me who just want a beer - australians are very proud of their accomplishments - whether its kylie minogue, mel gibson, russell crowe (half-kiwi), footy, or their cricket team (that played like every day i was down there), all you hear about is how great australians are at what they do. they have alot of national pride, but not in a patriotic way. we were there for australia day, their 4th of july equivalent, and you didnt see very many flag-waving drunks singing the australian national anthem
- australia has excellent public transportation - i was blown away when, in sydney, they had trains with monitors that TOLD YOU WHEN THE TRAIN WAS COMING, and not only that, but the trains and buses were ALL ON TIME. and sydney, melbourne, and adelaide all had actual functional transporation systems, unlike boston.
- australians (and everyone else) dont really like americans - arrogance, pomposity, righteous, flippancy... all traits that are generalized to americans. i thought maybe the stereotype was false, but i realized that a fair number of the americans i met did fill this bill. since there are very few of us who make it down there (especially compared to britain and the continental europeans) its not that surprising they would feel that way. especially after Dubya entered office.
- australians are happier people - its just goddamn paradise down there. who cares if they make half the money. everyone is more relaxed, the weather is much better, less crime, less congestion, more parks, better scenery, less people, guaranteed medical insurance. sign me up.
funny money
good beer
