Australia

[Lolly]

Thanks. That doesn't sound like much of a difference to me, but whadda I know?

 

[Hallo Alfie]

Thanks. That doesn't sound like much of a difference to me, but whadda I know?

When your on your 18th stubby it starts to make a difference.

 

[lionking]

Ours is usually about 4.8 or 4.9%. Overseas it's usually about 4.5%. I think.

Have a crack at Carlsberg Elephant Beer, 7.5%, and a pretty good drop.

I have read of beer with 32% alcohol content, but I'm not sure it would be drinkable.

Oh, and MG1962, one of my sister's taught at Mt Druitt, and I'm certain she would endorse your post. My company is trying to get more apprentices out of that region. A real tough gig.

 

[MG1962]

Have a crack at Carlsberg Elephant Beer, 7.5%, and a pretty good drop.

I have read of beer with 32% alcohol content, but I'm not sure it would be drinkable.

Oh, and MG1962, one of my sister's taught at Mt Druitt, and I'm certain she would endorse your post. My company is trying to get more apprentices out of that region. A real tough gig.

LOL - Mount Druit is not as bad as it once was. Just growing pains of a newly developed area where there were large tracts of housing commission will always cause a percentage of social issues.

In the day places like Green Valley, Dundas all had the same reputation. Now it seems areas around Campbelltown have taken on the crown of the Bogan captial of Sydney

 

[Akhenaten]

Just like Bogandenong.

 

[Sideroxylon]

Has anyone here heard of Marlo Morgan or her book “Mutant Message Down Under”? It’s basically a fantasy (originally touted as a true story) about her travels across the Australian desert and experiences with a lost tribe of Aborigines. Over the course of her adventures she learns to cast aside her Western thinking which allows her to communicate telepathically and find water instinctually. Aside from this obvious malarkey, she misrepresented aboriginal culture enough to get a group of elders on a plane to the US and nip ideas of a movie deal in the bud. Together with Steven Segal they even managed to get some sort of apology from Morgan. Still didn’t stop her crapping out another book a couple of years later though.

Whenever someone over here asks me something about Aboriginal people her book is almost always mentioned along with questions like, “Are they really telepathic?” I of course do my bit to set the record straight by pointing out that it is in fact a complete load of cobblers.

Interesting background here:
http://www.creativespirits.info/resources/books/mutantmessage_timeline.html

 

[Akhenaten]

Has anyone here heard of Marlo Morgan or her book “Mutant Message Down Under”?

Well that was intreresting. I'd never heard anything about this fool at all until now.

She's a serious loser alright, and doesn't seem to have learned any lessons at all from the debacle of her first book.

I'd like to recommend that she take her work on a publicity tour through Arnhem Land and Melville Island, so that she might find herself better able to gauge public opinion on it.





Also of interest, to me at least, is this snippet quoted from your source:

Complaints by Indigenous academics led Harper Collins to apologise for including a section on how to play the didgeridoo in 'The daring book for girls' and to remove it from later editions. Aboriginal people consider it inappropriate for women to use the yidaki (dideridoo) and believe it makes them barren.

As it happens, I gave this very book to my Niece for her last birthday. This is indeed a remarkable coincidence, because it's her birthday today and I'm heading up to see her this afternoon.

Anyway, I was aware of the didgeridoo-playing section, and of the Aboriginal designation of 'inappropriate' behaviour, which I ignored in much the same way that I ignore Papal Bulls and directives from the local Imam.

 

[Sideroxylon]

I don't think many Australians have heard of her. I hadn't when I arrived in Turkey about ten years ago but many people brought it up when they learned I was from Australia. It is starting to be forgotten but I think it once had an “Avatar” like appeal of escaping to a better and more natural lifestyle in order to achieve mystic self actualization. I vaguely remember some news story about a Turkish primary school kid who fronted at the airport with a ticket he had purchased with his parents credit card – I’m pretty sure it was to do with reading this book.

Here she is here on Italian TV. (might want a chunder bucket at hand)


‘The daring book for girls' looks like a great gift. From what I see and hear around here a Turkish translation is needed.

 

[HawaiiBigSis]

(might want a chunder bucket at hand)

Your use of the word chunder reminds me of a question that I remembered when we were talking about the Men At Work/Kookooburra thing.

In the song, they seem to make chundering (proper usage??) sound like it's something to be aspired to... Is there a cultural thing of which I am not aware?

‘The daring book for girls' looks like a great gift. From what I see and hear around here a Turkish translation is needed.

It's a wonderful book. I don't remember the thing about the digiridoo, I'll have to go look it up, I guess.

A gazillion years ago, there was a show on some radio station that I occasionally ran across that was basically a two-hour long digiridoo concert. It was pretty cool, and kinda amazing what the instrument can sound like in the hands of an expert.

 

[Akhenaten]

This is Larry 'Winiwini' Gurruwiwi. He is a master of this instrument.

​

Here's some more by Jeremy Donovan. This clip is embedded, for easier viewing, but Jeremy isn't as good as Winiwini.

​

 

[Akhenaten]

And if you thought those were good, this is going to blow you away.

Nothing on Earth sounds like this. Turn sound volume to 'eleventy'

​

I suppose it's feasible to live somewhere else, but I'm damned if I can see why you'd want to.

 

[MG1962]

I suppose it's feasible to live somewhere else, but I'm damned if I can see why you'd want to.

LOL - well I made the mistake of falling love with a damn yank

I was exceptionally proud to see before I left, the Australian government finally say sorry for what had occured in the past to the various peoples that inhabited our country before us white trash decended on the place

 

[Sideroxylon]

Your use of the word chunder reminds me of a question that I remembered when we were talking about the Men At Work/Kookooburra thing.

In the song, they seem to make chundering (proper usage??) sound like it's something to be aspired to... Is there a cultural thing of which I am not aware?

It can often be the natural result of a competitive drinking culture. For me and my mates it was often about how many and how quickly you could put away without being the first to call an end to the night. The technicoloured yawn is not a fail (unless you say spew all over a table and get thrown out of the establishment) and can even be an art form in itself. I was once able to projectile spew without breaking stride, all in an appropriate pause in the conversation of course.

Drinking is a true blue Aussie sport where our nation’s leaders set the bar.

 

[Sideroxylon]

LOL - well I made the mistake of falling love with a damn yank

I was exceptionally proud to see before I left, the Australian government finally say sorry for what had occured in the past to the various peoples that inhabited our country before us white trash decended on the place

Love sealed my fate as well.

 

[gumboot]

Great article Orphia, thank you for sharing..... I did like this bit

Alone of all the races on Earth, they seem to be free from the 'Grass is greener on the other side of the fence' syndrome, and roundly proclaim that Australia is, in fact, the other side of that fence. They call the land 'Oz', 'Godzone' (a verbal contraction of 'God's Own Country') and 'Best bloody place on earth, bar none, strewth'. The irritating thing about this is they may be right.

Minor nitpick (I know you didn't write the article), but "Godzone" or "God's Own Country" is a label used for New Zealand, not Australia. It's use to describe NZ dates back 120 years, and while Australians briefly tried to copy it, it never stuck, where as it has a long and faithful tradition in our vastly superior land...

 

[Sideroxylon]

Minor nitpick (I know you didn't write the article), but "Godzone" or "God's Own Country" is a label used for New Zealand, not Australia. It's use to describe NZ dates back 120 years, and while Australians briefly tried to copy it, it never stuck, where as it has a long and faithful tradition in our vastly superior land...

Pffft Next you will be telling us that Pavlova or even Russell Crowe, the Finn brothers and Dragon aren't Australian.

 

[MG1962]

Pffft Next you will be telling us that Pavlova or even Russell Crowe, the Finn brothers and Dragon aren't Australian.

Well Crowe is a real 50/50 - spent about equal time between the two countries while growing up - But I am happy to swap him out for the greatest Australian racehorse of all time....Phar Lap

 

[gumboot]

Pffft Next you will be telling us that Pavlova or even Russell Crowe, the Finn brothers and Dragon aren't Australian.

I think dragons come from Wales. The rest is definitely ours. Sometimes.

What I love about New Zealand is that while we constantly complain about Australia stealing stuff that's "ours", we're atrocious at doing it ourselves.

Sam Neill is a New Zealander (born in Ireland).
Anna Paquin is a New Zealander (born in Canada).

If someone once visited NZ on a brief stop-over during their ill-fated summer holiday in '62, and that person later becomes famous...

They're a kiwi, through and through.

I prefer to look at what they have done, and where. Russell Crowe began his climb to fame in the Australian film industry, and far as I know has never acted in any NZ film. He even lives in Australia.

The Finn brothers are irrefutably kiwis, and the briefest study of their songs will clearly demonstrate this - "And the sound of Te Awamutu had a truly ancient ring", "the sun shines on the black clouds hanging over the Domain", and "Kare Kare".

Anna Paquin did a single film here as a child and has since done all of her acting work in the USA, on distinctly American projects. She's not a New Zealand actor.

 

[MG1962]

Yes but one thing Australia never produced was a Jake the Mus

 

[Sideroxylon]

My comment was tongue in cheek. I was born in Palmerston Nth and still have a lot of rellies in NZ. I consider myself Australian but confess I have been known to cheer on the All Blacks against the Wallabies. I’ll get my coat, shall I?