What is it like being an Australian?

i just remembered i saw a documentary series years ago about 'being australian'

my question was serious, are there giant frogs in australia?

nope, no giant frogs. unless you're mistaken with the colossal cane toads? then the answer is yes.

so pigster, what did you do today, in australia....?

being austrlian is better then being any of you slags, now to be Tasmanian ; that WOULD suck ...

being australian is great because you get to see pivot play live all the time hehe. plus the underground music scenes in perth and melbourne are freakin' awesome.

hmm hmm hmm. do you reckon there'll be a problem getting tickets on the night? i can't imagine it being an issue but i have no idea really. might get tickets tomorrow.

Australia...

THE OUTBACK

You're surrounded by a wide and open expanse of bush land, littered with kangaroos grazing underneath eucalyptus trees, the sun is beating down on your brow. "This is Australia dundundun"

Dirty, weathered hands, a layer of grime covering your body - you're a worker, an Australian farmer, it's time to tend to your cattle. Rain would be a blessing, but the rarity of it's presence means that the air is thick with heat, making the days work seem more tiresome.

DARLING HARBOUR - Sydney

Blue skies, circular quay, white boats, blue boats, boats docked everywhere...

Numerous upmarket dining facilities - the hustle and bustle of a lively metropolitan city - consumerism, big named brands overtaking the central business district. GUESS, GAP, STAR BUCKS, DKNY - nicely, expensively dressed mannequins.

People everywhere, invading your personal space - "why would they need to walk so close?"

Condensed walkways, squares, usually open areas are filled with the sounds of buskers.

Traffic lights, green, red, cross, go, stop - you're pushing your way through the crowd.

Faces, a sea of faces, Sydney is very multicultural.

Australia is not one set image, it's constantly changing and can't be stereotyped simply.

Because Australia is a very multicultural country, the concept of being Australian will be different for everyone.

The Australian culture is interpreted differently in each state, much like in America.

For instance, those in Canberra, stereotype Sydney-siders as bad drivers. Those in QLD are known as the partying, beach go-ers, characterised by their deep brown tans, large sunglasses and constant wearing of flip flops.

To be Australian is to be apart of something bigger - but "Australian Pride" is less apparent in society, there's no need to discuss how great Australia is, how wonderful Australian people are, etc.

Our humour can combine aspects of satire and slight arrogance - but it's all in good nature, we're fairly laid back and easy going as a whole.

oh yeah, sydney sucks. except maybe newtown and bondi. but yeah melbourne is so much more awesome.

also: dunno if pivot will sell out, maybe i should get tickets yeah.

this is fascinating

but it also makes me think about being a person living on the continent that I do

What happens when you drive out of whatever city you are living in? What is the progression in the landscape, say, if you are living in Melbourne and going north? When does city give way to suburbs, then country, and finally wilderness? I was looking at Perth on google maps and it looks like there are hardly any other towns near it. Not as extreme as Fairbanks, I'd suppose...

I wanted to reply to this thread before, I typed a big long reply but then I deleted it because over-analyzing things is pretty un-Australian.

we make bongs out of anything and hang shit on women publically

it's about three thumbs up

  od++ said:

we make bongs out of anything

i have an >AUSTRALIAN< friend who claims he can make a bong out of any 3 random objects you give him.

  Mesh Gear Fox said:

Sydney and Melbourne hate each other. Melbourne is an artfag city where everyone believes they are better than each other because they go to the most obscure cafe in the city.

hey, fuck you.

our public transportation system may be constantly delayed and almost unreliable, but at least we don't have a stupid monorail.

actually, i haven't been to sydney.. for awhile. probably need to go again sometime, but until then i've got nothing against you peeps.

  Mesh Gear Fox said:

Ice Tea bottles, Gatorade bottles and actual bongs are the best to smoke out of.

I don't know who the fuck you are, but you know what's up.

However; I've become attached to my shitty club-x purchased 'alien jar bong' which is like a plastic sleeve over a gllass jar with some holes in it. It's so harsh and we don't have much smoke at the moment,. so you really need ot to burn little holes in your lungs every time otherwiise you're wasting your money and you won't sleep that night.

  pigster said:

  od++ said:

we make bongs out of anything

 

i have an >AUSTRALIAN< friend who claims he can make a bong out of any 3 random objects you give him.

Ingenuity! In high-school we made a party-popper bong and also a bong made out of a sharpener and a 4-pen.

Sydney's alright, it just doesn't have any of the redeeming features that a city usually has like culture or personality.

  pigster said:

our public transportation system may be constantly delayed and almost unreliable, but at least we don't have a stupid monorail.

actually, i haven't been to sydney.. for awhile. probably need to go again sometime, but until then i've got nothing against you peeps.

  Mesh Gear Fox said:

  pigster said:

our public transportation system may be constantly delayed and almost unreliable, but at least we don't have a stupid monorail.

actually, i haven't been to sydney.. for awhile. probably need to go again sometime, but until then i've got nothing against you peeps.

 

Man I've never been to Melbourne, just have met a lot of people from there. Overall I have nothing against Melbourne, it's probably a better place than Sydney. Our transport is worse, I can garuntee. And the Monorail is more of a tourist attraction.

i've lived in both sydney and melbourne (and being an ex-perthie), and i have to say that both public transport systems are pretty terrible, at least in comparison to the crystal clean, impossibly punctual futuristic trains and buses in perth. but perth's public transport is only clean and on time because it doesn't have nearly as much reach or complexity.

connex sucks because their pattern of cancellations and lateness can't be predicted. shityrail is just as unreliable, but at least they're consistent enough that a train will run late enough to be considered on-time if it was the next one, zole.

melbourne trams are a bit of a novelty imo, the buses however are actually quite decent even though hardly anybody who lives near the city uses them. inner sydney buses (from my experience) tend to smell of urine/vomit/etc lol.

i still say melbourne is the best place i've lived so far, though there were a few things i liked about sydney - for example, the abundance of second hand 'money lent' stores EVERYWHERE. and the awesome underground breakcore/noise/hardcore warehouse party scene. everyone's so friendly and welcoming - my relatively tame idm got rather good reception at their *core shows, with people dancing and such.

Yep, old TV outtakes and bloopers are definitely the way to understand Australians.

hahaha what the hell's with those agro clips??

  pigster said:

hahaha what the hell's with those agro clips??

'Cause I couldn't find any good Dickey-Knee clips.

i live in an australian/polish area of london. theyre like super drunk versions of the american stereotype - loud, obnoxious cretins you can spot a mile-off. their womenfolk are pretty annoying too, they're always like "that's so hot" "she's so hot" and address each other as "babe".

the funny thing is i never meet or see ozzies when out and about london, just drunk on the bus or around antipodean bars called walkabout or redback or waggawallabarbiedoof. its as if when they come over here they just naturally group together to only get pissed at shitty home-themed boozers.

im sure there are exceptions but otherwise this is fact.