Beoz

Man Cave. With the outside connection as you mention.

I am kind of thinking about garages in the UK and they are typically small if they exist at all. Not really appropriate for a man cave large enough to house all the junk, tools and a social space.

McMansions in Australia often have large double garages. Perfect for a cave.

GarryP

It's partly the man cave thing, but with the addition of 'the third place' vibe. The garage door is up not because it has to be, but as something of an 'open for non-business' invitation.

As I say, it's a weird cultural thing, akin to the unwritten rules of 'buying a round' in the UK.

Pollyana

All the houses had good back garden space but people didn't use it,It was more a case of sitting out front, being nosey and commenting on all the other neighbours. I was viewed as "odd" even by my then OH because I preferred to sit in the privacy of my own back garden!

spouse of scouse

I quite like the 'nosey neighbour' concept! In our last airbnb rental in Liverpool, the old bloke next door sat out the front day in day out. He'd set himself up with his book and a flask of tea, and chat to everyone going past. Everyone knew him and most would stop for a brief conversation and catch up.

I think it's nice, and it's one of the things I loved about the UK. Lots of little communities, instead of everyone locked away in their own houses. Makes for a friendlier and safer place to live in my opinion.

moneypenny20

There's a house around the corner from me (not boganland) where the elderly couple sat in their chairs in the garage and watched the world go by (a few cars, it's a no through road). Sadly the guy died and the garage door was shut for about a year. Not long ago the old lady was back watching the world go by with an empty chair next to her. It's very sweet and seriously bloody sad. Nothing bogan about it at all. If the sun's out, and neighbours wander round, we may chat on the drive with a beer in our hands. We did that in the UK as well.

scottishcelts

paulry

You want to have a barbie but first you gotta get past those pesky snakes

This video of an 81-year-old grandma removing two pythons from a BBQ is the most Australian thing we've ever seen

ozzieeagle

My Wife would definitely give that a go, I already asked her specifically, "They're not Poisonous" was her flippant response.. Should have seen her trying to sort out a Tiger Snake when we had our onsite Caravan and Annex up at Nagambie, she destroyed it's hiding spot as it had swum over the Goulburn River to our heavily grassed bank and she wasn't having it hiding in there with our youngsters running around. She was out there pulling and picking and banging the thick couch grass within a minute of it's arrival. She's not so brave with spiders though.

I'd say a few people on here would at least open the bbq to let the Pythons go in their own time.

the troubadour

Interesting the 'noisy' concept. Sounds a bit 'twitching curtains' Midsomers Murder sticky beak sort of thing so well executed by the English, particularly in Middle Class localities where neighbours are too often kept at arms distance. Not so much in working class areas where I recall folk, often older, sitting outside their premises, passing greetings and seemingly knowing everybody. Something akin to Southern Europe, but too a far lesser extent. No idea if still very prevalent in this age and suspect it has declined considerably, but one poster made a note of it up north, so suspect it goes on, but far lesser, otherwise an individual would probably not have provoked a comment.

A shame these things die out. No wonder so many, especially aged folk, complain of loneliness. It seems the more connected the more this becomes a problem.

Returning to Australia a few weeks ago, even after only a little over two months away, the sighting of so few pedestrian traffic about and houses, that for all intent and purposes, could be empty with a complete lack of life, always is a reminder I'm back in Australia.

ozzieeagle

Quite a bit of foot traffic around here Troub, Well in relation to a Lot of Aus... . So not the whole of Australia

Lots of crowded footpaths about 800 meters away from me, and they stay crowded all the way into the City.

However Nosey I do understand. The twitching net curtains were the bain of my Childhood and Youth back in London. It's not Aussies hiding behind the nets of UK Suburbia, They're generally doing it out in the open.

paulry

My observation has been that older Aussie women are very gutsy, almost fearless in comparison to women elsewhere.

I'd probably open the BBQ for a while and hope they'd slide off of their own accord but my patience wouldn't last long though....

the troubadour

Melbourne having the greatest density in Australia would indeed have pockets of urban foot traffic intensity. Indeed found much the same in Sydney, when used to stat in Newtown. But I have driven around suburbs of Melbourne enough(not in recent years, mind) To know it is only in particular areas and hardly the norm.

But coming in from Perth airport to where I live, close to the city, it always strikes me. just how Perth suburbs are so lifeless. Probably less than the fingers on one hand people passed en route, over a time frame of thirty minutes. Just a thing that I always pick up on with the initial return.

BadgeIsBack

The garage is definitely a man cave particularly in the case of a double.

I suspect with tiny backyards that an open door gives a bloke a chance to be outside, away from the family and potter around, and still be in the shade.

Too hot in the backyard.

You see men proudly display a workbench with a tool pegboard complete with outlined placeholders barely used.

Around here people build barns and never use them.

moneypenny20

You see this out of your front window.

BadgeIsBack

Indeed. We have a flock of them down the back this last year or two.

How about - there is blossom out in the equivalent of late Feb - yes it is cold, but the sun is a fair bit higher in the sky.
When you are thinking about a Back Country snow trip and fishing trip - both activities within days of each other.