MikeStanton

OK - Oz is unstimulating. To be specific.

Once you've done the beach, bushwalk, 'ooed' and 'ahhd' at the koalas, seen a few aboriginal drawings, eaten carcogenic food from BBQs, dodged a croc, got skin cancer, avoided a venomous creature and committed brain death by watching the vacuous TV - ie pizza and car ads sandwiched between sports programmes (SBS is very much an exception) - you've covered 99% of what Oz has to offer.

We lived in Sydney. Beautiful harbour, nice bridge and Opera House. But once you leave the harbour behind, it's pretty bland.

In the UK, we have many things to do and see, separated by relatively short distances. In the UK, you can choose 'bland' or you can choose so much more. And not just in the UK - it's so easy and relatively cheap to go elsewhere - 3 hours flying from UK and I can visit at least 15 different countries - all with their different cultures.

If I were still in Sydney and sold my children for medical experiments - so I could afford the airfare - 3 hours flying would get me to such exciting places as......the Wave Rock or NZ. Yippee!

Don

You could go diving somewhere good?

HiddenPaw

Nice to see you back Mike...always good to keep it spicy on here!!!

So where have you been hiding out the last couple of weeks then? Was beginning to think you'd eloped with Badge!!

wombat42

The death rate of skin cancer is infact almost twice as high in the Uk then Australia. As for venomous creatures there was someone on the forum who said that while living on Australia he had never seen a snake but was bitten by a venomous snake while walking
in the British countryside. Yes it is expensive to travel to Europe from Australia, but there are many cheap destinations close to Australia that people in Europe and America pay a fortune to travel to such as the Pacific islands such as Fiji and Tahiti also
Asian destinations such as Bali and Thailand.

HiddenPaw

so what does that prove? That your more likely to get skin cancer under British skies than under Australian skies?

There's a melanoma clinic on every shopping strip and mall in Australia. Aussies are much more aware of the dangers of the sun and seek regular advice about the state of their skin. Ho many skin cancer clinics have you seen in the UK?

HiddenPaw

Cheap to travel from Australia to Tahiti???? I don't think so!!! Have you checked out holiday and flight prices to French Polynesia lately??

Ceri

Don't know where you get your facts from _ " Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer and the highest death rate from this disease in the world" from the NSW government .http://www.mhcs.health.nsw.gov.au/he...ions/5945.html

venomous snakes in the UK are Adders, they are not as venomous as half the Au snakes, they are only mildly venomous to humans. You'll be lucky to find an Adder in most parts of the UK. Gower (in S.Wales)is one particular big ground for them. Seen a few myself when I living back home , but most people do not come across them.. unless they go looking for them ( http://forums.kingsnake.co.uk/view.php?id=107,107). most people who want to study the adders go to Gower. I seem to recall it was acd diamond who was bitten by one in Cornwall, which is another hot spot for them.
http://www.netgoth.org.uk/~caleb/ukserpen.html (snakes in the UK) .. P.s those grass snakes are "lovely" I used to collect them when I was kid and keep them as pets in a huge big old "tin" army chest in the garden... but my mum would keep releasing them.. saying to me they have escaped... spoil sport... just because she didn't like snakes

Snakes in Aus .. I've seen a few, had one in my garden in the compost heap, it escaped to my then next door neighbours garden ( I didn't tell him either... didn't like the man, he was a bit of a pervert). And quite recently ( a few months back) I saw a brown snake crossing the road near coochin creek.. nearly run over it.. it was actually lying on the road.. got out of the car to have a look but it scarpered across to the bush the otherside.. tried to find it.. but it was gone. Could only find it's trail in the dust of the road. Another time we were driving we spotted a huge python crossing the road at night.. it was huge.. biggest one I've seen... again stopped the car but it had gone. People who never see snakes.. well what can I say? Perhaps I'm lucky spotting them, or perhaps people who don't see them live in concrete jungles and don't go anywhere near bush .. who knows

Don

The banded sea snake is quite common in Aus waters, very poisonous but also will avoid contact with humans and usually only seen by divers. I have dived quite close to them and you just need to keep a couple of metres away.

Don

Just to add, I saw quite a few snakes in QLD, crossing the road in front of me when driving, killed one big dark one at night (almost black) by mistake.

gedge

You won't find one of those in the waters around the British Isles now will you.

wombat42

No, you would only find raw sewerage, toxic waste, floating garbage and spilt oil, if you were'nt dead of hyperthermia first.

dotty

OMG its the thread I have always waited for..............

Yes its true its the Aussies dont crap thread :scared:

Peter

They do, and you can see it all at Bondi Beach, or if you're in Brisbane, Nudgee Beach.

HiddenPaw

hmm, me thinks Australia doesn't exactly have an exemplary environmental record. Heard about the toxic waste dump saga in Victoria? What do you think about the government's logging policies? Any thoughts on the recyclable waste that is being taken straight to landfill? Do you really think no raw sewerage finds its way into the ocean around Oz?

wombat42

Australians don't crap because we are a very 'analy retentive' people.