Time for "Ask the Australian"

[Teddy_Salad]

Albeit a US Resident one. :*

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

1. What do you think about your Mary Donaldson ?

who is now Crown Princess of Denmark ...

And why is every Australian so nice ? Well everyone of them that I have met that is .

[Teddy_Salad]

9. I'm disappointed in Mary Donaldson

I asked her out in high school and she told me to go to hell.
I said to her then...."Who the hell do you think you are, sheila? Some kind of royalty?"
She replied..."No....not yet anyway, ya wanker."

So no, I wasn't surprised at all that she set her eyes on some outdated European dynastic royal family member.

Of course, we Aussies are not too happy with our Head of State, "Lizzie of Buck Palace", so maybe Mary and her hubby could move to Canberra and become our very own resident monarchs.

And as for your last question....."why is every Australian so nice ?"......How the fuck would I know, loser???!!! Who the hell do you think I am, asking me some stupid question like that? What are you, a bloody moran?! Jesus christ! Get a life you idiot!!!

Oh sorry. I guess I've lived in the suburbs of NYC too long.
Don't know what came over me. :silly:

;)

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

10. Ok ...

[Teddy_Salad]

15. Sorry if my reply was silly but

I'm terribly anti-monarchy.

But if Mary has found love then good for her.
And it's nice to see Australia in the news too, I guess.

[rooboy]

43. I'm not nice...

I'm a complete asshole. :evilgrin:

[terrya]

2. I may have asked this before. Is there something in the water Down There..

That explains why so many Australian men are so damned hot???

Guy Pearce, Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger, Russell Crowe. Your average Australian lifeguard...

:-)

Terry

[GOPisEvil]

3. Uh, the women aren't too shabby either.

:7

What IS in the water down there?

[terrya]

5. Right you are, GOPisEvil.

Nicole Kidman, for one, isn't exactly plain looking. :-)

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

6. Add Eric Bana to your list ...

Yeah why are so many Australian men so damned hot ?!?!?!

[Teddy_Salad]

14. Yep, I've told you this before Terry

It's definitely something in the water.
And here's proof.

This is me when I lived in Australia......drinking Australian water.




And this is me now, after living in New York for 6 years, drinking New York water.


Now many say they cannot see the difference but all I know is this.
I do 'feel' different. Whaddaya reckon?

[rooboy]

27. If you could give Russell Crowe a lobotomy...

he might be acceptable. He's widely considered to be a conceited dickhead down here. The other guys are quite likeable though...

And what is it that we add to the water that makes us men here so hot?



It's called ALCOHOL.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

4. What are Australia's most left and right wing cities?

Is Brisbane the most right? That's what I'd been told.

[rooboy]

11. I live in Brisbane.

I don't think it's the most right wing city, but the state would possibly be. There are a few guys in the bush and up north who probably have some guns buried somewhere.

There really isn't a huge difference in the political mix between cities imho... in fact, apart from John Howard's shitty little government, the conservatives have been pretty well slapped down in local and state governments.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

12. Interesting. How about the states then? How do they rack up?

I'm glad to hear that about Brisbane. Any city that gave birth to The Saints and The Go-Betweens gets my vote.

[rooboy]

18. Yeah, the Saints were really good...

although it's also home to Powderfinger. In the 80's it bore a great band you may have heard of called The Riptides (Cap Callahan later formed Gangajang). Also home to the Hoodoo Gurus and (once upon a time really, really briefly) the Bee Gees! The Go-betweens were good but I never got into them myself.

As for the states, I think every state government except one (?) is a Labor government. The Carr govt in NSW is Labor but it has a strong right wing faction in the party down there. You typically find a streak of conservatism in each state which is influenced mostly by economic concerns. Like in Qld and Western Australia, where there the governments will always be accommodating to the mining industry, and in Tasmania where the logging industry will get some influence.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

24. Thanks. Very interesting that.

[Teddy_Salad]

26. I personally have found that...

most "left-wing" Australians are not as say 'liberal' as their US counterparts.

My father for example is a life member of the left-wing Australian Labor Party, a strong union man but very conservative on social issues.
I find many lefty Aussies are like this.

My state of Western Australia and the state of Queensland are probably the most conservative of the Australian states, although they both currently have Labor governments.
You could probably throw Victoria in that mix too.

New South Wales is the base of the Australian Labor Party and the state of NSW is probably the most "left" of all the states.

But as Rooboy alluded to in a previous post, for the ALP, the Australian Labor Party, to be electorally viable they must play to both rural farming communities and mining interests, especially in Western Australia and Queensland.

The political landscape in Australia is certainly a lot different to here in the United States.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

28. So, Economically left, morally/socially right?

Interesting. We should have a thread comparing Australian, Canada, the US, UK and NZ in this way. Where I live (Calgary) people are economically right / socially left.

[Teddy_Salad]

32. I'd imagine that

the similarities between Australians and Canadians in this regard would be striking.

Both countries do have their similarities, historically, geographically in regards to size and maybe even politically.

I do know that I myself have become much more socially liberal since I've lived outside of Australia.
I have always been an ardent Australian Labor Party supporter but was definitely rather socially conservative when living there and before I experienced what I call "The Real World".
In fact, if I could vote in Australia now I would more than likely vote for the Green Party ahead of the Labor Party, especially after the Labor Party pretty much sided with the Howard government during the Tampa refugee boat incident of a couple of years ago.

I hope it is not the case nowadays but when I was growing up in the seventies, it was pretty much instilled in us to hate Asians and Aborigines. Certainly not in a blatant type of way but in a more 'subconscious way', I guess.

Australians always had a fear of what was called "The Yellow Peril", the fear of the country being over run by Asians and you will find most older Aussies still have this archaic and racist view.
It even reared its ugly head in recent years with Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, whose platform was basically to blame migrants and aborigines for all of Australia's ills.
And although her and her party are pretty much finished with now, their views still garner much sympathy from many Australians.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

36. There are some obvious analogies.

Canada has about one million treaty aboriginals (I believe), so about 3% of the population, and relationships between First Nations and other Canadian communities can get pretty strained. There were scares about Japanese and Indian immigration in BC, which resulted in the shameful removal of the Japanese population in BC during the war, when they were reallocated to camps in the interior.
Obviously, Australia has no equivalent of Quebec, due to immigration and settlement patterns, but then Quebec is pretty unique.
In general (sweeping generalizations ahoy), Canadians are social progressives with a fiscal conservative bent. Since the Pearson-Trudeau governments (1963-84, that social progressive attitude has become more ingrained. In terms of Provincial administrations, BC is run by Liberals who are really Conservatives, Alberta is run by Progessive Conservatives who are really Regressive Conservatives, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are run by pragmatic social democrats, Ontario by Liberals, Quebec by fairly right-leaning Liberals, the maritime provinces by Progressive Conservatives, who one can charitably say actually are fairly progressive.

[Teddy_Salad]

44. Australia could have been....

even more like Canada.

The British landed in and settled what was then known as The Swan River Colony and is now known as Perth, Western Australia just a day before the French did.

The French had every intention of settling on Australia's western coast but literally 'missed the boat' by only a matter of hours.

Had the French had faster ships, Western Australia could today have been Australia's Quebec.

Interesting, huh?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

59. Very. I hadn't heard that.

Like Nova Scotia very nearly being the fourteenth state of the US.

[Teddy_Salad]

61. Hmmm. I hadn't heard that.

Nova Scotia?

What's the story behind that?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

62. Nova Scotia was largely populated by people with family in the 13 colonies

And the colony was invited to take part in the founding of the USA. There were sympathetic uprisings at the time of the Revolution, but it didn't pan out. Halifax being a major Royal Navy base may have been the deciding factor.

[Teddy_Salad]

64. Hey thanks!

They say one learns something new every day and I just learnt something new.

I never knew that about Nova Scotia.

[Teddy_Salad]

17. Good answer, rooboy

I'm originally a Sandgroper (from W.A) and have had great fun over the years making fun of Queensland and Queenslanders, especially during the Joe Bjelke-Petersen era.

But Queensland has had a Labor govt. for what, 6 or so years now, is that right? So maybe there is hope for the Banana-Benders.

And of course, every state has a left-wing Labor govt. now too.

[rooboy]

21. George Bush has nothing on Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

I don't think people on this board would believe me if I published his speeches and press conferences verbatim. I was told once that the communications students and the Qld Institute of Technology were given an assignment to analyse one of Joh's speeches, and it was virtually undoable. "Don't you worry about that, you're all communists and north is south as the crow flies and if you don't watch yourselves you'll be up a dry gully in a creek without a paddle"


The old bastard is close to death now - in fact they expect him to drop off the twig any day. Silly old coot tried to claim 300 million from the government over his legal troubles when the whole corruption shebang went down. I won't miss him one bit.

[Teddy_Salad]

29. Yeah, he was a nut alright

I remember he used to win elections with just something like 32% of the vote, the way he had the state gerrymandered.

Although Joe was without doubt more "loony" than Dubya, he wasn't as dangerous, though if he had of had possession of a military the size of Bush's, maybe he would have been.

And do you remember the "Joe For Canberra" era?
Imagine that senile old coot running the country? Good grief!

Doesn't he live in Tassie now with Flo the scone baker?

[rooboy]

38. Joh for Canberra with his flat tax policy... lol...

and he had an incredibly corrupt and dangerous govt by the end of his term. As a result of the Fitzgerald inquiry, over 140 people were charged with crimes, including the police minister and police commissioner.

He is living with Flo at his property in Kingaroy, north of Brisbane.

[rooboy]

22. George Bush has nothing on Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

[felonious thunk]

7. Is the flight as awful as I'd imagine it to be?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

8. Try Scotland to NZ. 26 hours!

[rooboy]

13. Try a Greyhound bus from Brisbane to Melbourne and back...

24 hours each way... and nobody serves you even a peanut!

Although I pity the poor bastard I was sitting next to. He was going from Perth to the Sunshine Coast - at least 3000 kms, I think.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

16. Hey! Never pick a fight with a Canadian over distance bragging!

My brother in law took the Greyhound from Calgary to Ottawa (3600km), back in the days when you were allowed to smoke on the bus. Four days in a smoke box without a shower stop and the guy hasn't been able to go near a pack of smokes since.

[Teddy_Salad]

20. Try Melbourne to Perth on a bus

I did it twice!

Never, ever will I do it again.

[rooboy]

23. No thanks!! Virgin or Qantas for me these days! n/t

[Teddy_Salad]

19. It can be pretty bad

I flew to Perth, Western Australia and back just last February and all in all it wasn't too bad.

But I had to fly from Newark, NJ to Los Angeles which is what? About 6 or so hours?

Then it was 13 and a half hours to Sydney.
Then I had to wait 4 hours for my connecting flight to Perth, which is another 4 hours away.

I always get an aisle seat at the very rear of the aircraft when I fly and because of a barking back I actually spend most of the flying time standing at the rear of the plane reading a book than I do sitting.

It's the same as anything I guess.
While enduring the long flight it is rather boring but once you get there it's like...."Oh, that wasn't too bad."

And I find that the jet-lag isn't as bad going to Australia as it is coming back to the U.S.
Don't know why.

[pansypoo53219]

25. going west always is

but i discovered how to eliminate jetlag.
if you are a day bird. fly at night and come back to land when it will be light. if you are a night owl, make sure you land in the dark. i did that this time and barely any jetlag from denmark.

[Teddy_Salad]

33. Going west is better, you say?

Jetlag is worse flying east, is that right?

Because that's what I think, from my own personal flying experiences.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

30. How come they don't all fall off the Earth?

:evilgrin:

[Teddy_Salad]

35. How can we fall of the earth?

When we are the ones on top.

[wickerwoman]

31. Whither Vegemite?

:evilgrin:

[Teddy_Salad]

41. Vegemite is the best!!!

In Australia, one is raised on the stuff.
Maybe this is why we are all so damn good looking.



We're happy little Vegemites

As bright as bright can be.

We all enjoy our Vegemite

For breakfast, lunch, and tea.

Our mother says we're growing

stronger every single week.

Because we love our Vegemite.

We all adore our Vegemite.

It puts a rose in every cheek!

[dbt]

34. Whatever became of Daddy Cool?

How come they didn't take over the world? I thought they were completely outrageous! Eagle Rock and Teenage Blues will play in my pointy little head forever!

Don't wanna get a job, don't wanna go to school,
Just wanna hang around street corners like a fool.
Coz the way things are, there's nothing better to do.
It may be nifty when I'm fifty but I don't wanna be like you.
I got the Teenage Blues, I know I won't be like you.

:beer:
dbt

[mac56]

37. Daddy Cool!

My god, I thought I was the only one who knew that band. "Eagle Rock" was a mainstay on my college radio station in the 70s. We even tried making up a dance to it: flapping our arms like wings, very embarrassing.

"Now listen....
Now we're stepping out...
I'm gonna turn around...
Gonna turn around once
And we'll do the Eagle Rock!"

[rooboy]

40. Ross Wilson got a haircut and formed a band in the 80's...

called Mondo Rock. He wrote some good music, and his wife had a disastrously short singing career with an AWFUL song called "Bop Girl".

I saw him perform with a band about 5 or 6 years ago - a mix of his own stuff as well as gear from the Daddy Cool days.

Ahhhh, those were the days, though. Sherbet, Skyhooks, Ted Mulry Gang, and the early AC/DC (with Bon Scott)...

[Teddy_Salad]

45. I remember that Bop Girl song

What was her name again?

[rooboy]

50. Pat Wilson. n/t

[dbt]

60. Thanks, rooboy!

And to mac56: we are few but we are desperate altogether!

:smoke:
dbt

[mac56]

39. Just what is "knifey -spooney", anyway?

From "The Simpsons in Australia": "I see you've played knifey-spooney before."

By the way, are you a fan of Bazza? Barry MacKenzie?

"He's a ratbag!!"

[Teddy_Salad]

47. I have no idea

I've never heard of the term.

I am from Western Australia so maybe it's an east coast expression.

Rooboy? Any ideas?

As for Barry Mackenzie, he ain't no ratbag. He's a flamin' drongo! ;)

[mac56]

48. Agreed.

"He's A Ratbag" is the title of a big musical number in "Barry Mackenzie Holds His Own."

[ProfessorGAC]

42. Where Is Mr. Neutron?

The Professor

[Teddy_Salad]

52. Mr Neutron...

runs a pub in Australia's outback with Mrs. Smailes.

On his off days, he saves the world.

[ProfessorGAC]

67. Well, It's Good To Know That We Finally Have The Answer

I've been waiting since 1973 to find out.

On EDIT: Wait A Minute! I thought Mr. Neutron wanted to save the world, and Teddy Salad was the only one who could track him down and stop him. You're not the real Teddy Salad, are you? IMPOSTER!!!
The Professor

[Teddy_Salad]

71. Woof! Woof!

Throw me a bone , take me walkies and then I might tell ya!

:)

[terrya]

46. Yahoo Serious. What happened?

He did a couple of films that were shown here. I think the guy is talented. Yahoo flopped big time over here.

Is he a star Down There? Or a hasbeen?

Terry

[Teddy_Salad]

49. I think he's pretty much a has-been

Although he does have a website you might want to check out.

http://www.yahooserious.com/

I will be forever grateful to Yahoo Serious though.
After all, he did invent bubbles in beer. ;)

[rooboy]

54. Worse than a has-been. Not even called on to be a has-been.

His second movie flopped everywhere and that was the end of him, basically. He was a brief thing that you kind of wish never happened - like the movie Xanadu.

[mac56]

51. Do they show Australian rules football on American TV anymore?

What a wild game.

[Teddy_Salad]

53. Yes...

on FOX sports cable channel.

Isn't Aussie Rules a great game?
I really miss it, a lot.

The women love the short shorts, or so I'm told.

[mac56]

55. It's impossible to explain it to someone.

One has to watch it.

[Teddy_Salad]

57. It's tough to explain

One has to really grow up as a kid watching it to get a full grasp of all the rules and terms.

Unlike most sports, the rules are more 'interpretations' than set laws.
One umpire might award a free kick for something another will let go.

My wife, who is American, tried to get a handle of the game but she gave up, more content to just watch the lithe, muscle bound players run around in their small shorts.

[rooboy]

56. Brisbane Lions. Premiers 2001,2002, 2003..... 2004???

Let's HOPE SO!!!

[Teddy_Salad]

58. No way, Jose!

The mighty, so far undefeated Saints will kick their butts!

Those wimpy Brisbane Bears! (Yeah, they're still teddy bears to me) ;)

GO SAINTS!!!

[rooboy]

66. If it wasn't for a REALLY bad goal umpiring decision...

those mighty saints wouldn't be undefeated right now.

[Teddy_Salad]

72. Ha! Ha! Ha!

Yeah, cry foul!

It wasn't our fault that goal umpire was a Saint Kilda fan.

See ya in September! :)

[Gildor Inglorion]

63. It isn't JUST the women who like them

n/t

[Teddy_Salad]

65. Oh, ok

I understand. :)

[ronnykmarshall]

68. Is Hugh Jackman hot or what?

I just saw "Boy From Oz" in New York and I'm in love with this guy.

[terrya]

69. Well, hot of course. Looks and talent. He was quite good in "Oklahoma"...

as well.

BTW...NICE pic of him in the sleeveless shirt. Yummy...:-)

Terry

[ronnykmarshall]

70. I got to see him shirtless

He does this change on stage in "Boy From Oz" with some of the dancers in from of him. His line is classic "You folks in the balcony are getting a free show" .... all the woman and gay men (me included) were hooting and hollering.

[Teddy_Salad]

73. Hugh must be hot...

people are always mistaking him for me.....and vice versa.

Not really surprising though, don't you think?

[terrya]

75. Yeah...right. The resemblance is amazing. Sure.......

Maybe if I move my chair about 30 or 40 feet away from the monitor. :-)

Terry

[Teddy_Salad]

78. Terry...

You're obviously looking from the wrong angle.

Move your chair a tad to the left, then see.

You'll think me and Hugh were separated at birth. :)

[terrya]

79. Oh, so THAT was my problem, Teddy. Move the chair to the LEFT.

Gotcha.

Oh...you're right. It's like...you and Hugh are the SAME PERSON!

:-)

Terry

[Teddy_Salad]

80. It's all in the 'angle'

:)

[kmla]

74. What happens if a girl is named Sheila? How do you introduce her?

Is it like this?

"Hey, mate! This is my sheila, Sheila!"

Or have I watched too many Crocodile Dundee movies? ;)

[Teddy_Salad]

76. No, that's how it goes

I have an Auntie Sheila, so she's a 'sheila' who happens to actually be a 'Sheila'.

Now if she wasn't Sheila, she'd still be a sheila but she wouldn't actually be sheila because she's not Sheila but a sheila.

It's really quite simple, you know.

[kmla]

77. Ummmmm. OK. I think I got it....

No. Not really. Now I'm confused.

[KamaAina]

81. Dolphins?

Yes, I know of Monkey Mia, and a couple of other, less isolated spots in WA, and Hervey Bay in Qld as well.

Are there other, less touristy spots where a Bush*-hating dolphin enthusiast (who shall remain nameless :-) ) might settle if Bush* continues to rule his homeland after 20/1/05 (note correct date format)?

[Teddy_Salad]

82. Yeah, my old hometown

Bunbury, Western Australia.
I was born and raised there and yes, they have dolphins that you can swim with.

Mrs. Salad and myself were there in February and we were swimming down the beach when Mrs. Salad yells out to me....."Is that a dolphin or a shark?"
I turned around to see a fin no more than 30 feet away from us.

I replied....."Yeah, don't worry...it's a dolphin......I hope!" :scared:

[KamaAina]

83. It was already on the list

Are there hordes of people at that beach, like at Monkey Mia? We've had problems in Hawai'i (Makaha, west O'ahu) with people who have no proper appreciation of marine mammals going out in powerboats or whatever, prompting a crackdown by local authorities which may lead to no dolphins for anyone. :(

Fancy meeting someone from Bunbury here at the mighty DU! You will be astonished, no doubt, to learn that I have actually researched the place somewhat. For instance, local transport has only existed for a few years, and seems rather skimpy. But (unlike in many similar-size U.S. cities) there's shopping right near the centre (note correct spelling). Housing seens quite reasonable by U.S. (certainly Hawai'i!) standards, considering it is a bit of a tourist draw.

Who knows? Mom's spiritual adviser, since deceased, once stated that she saw me in Australia...

[Teddy_Salad]

84. I'm not 100% certain

But I don't think they get huge crowds there.
It is done at Koombana Bay and the beach there is a short walk from the centre of town.

I used to hate Bunbury, couldn't get out of there fast enough.
I left in 1989 and have never lived there since, although I visit regularly because my parents and siblings all live there still.

But I went back in February and was pleasantly surprised by Bunbury.
It is much nicer now than when I was living there and I'd even consider going back there to live, something I would never have considered previously.

As for dolphins, it's quite common to see them at any beach around that area.
Unfortunately the shark population seems to be increasing too.
Well I say 'unfortunately' for us but it's good for the sharks as some of them were dying out not too long ago.

But the beaches there are truly beautiful.

Uh Oh! I'm getting homesick.

[BlueJazz]

85. I was born in Sydney

My parents brought me over here quite young (7)

My question is:
Do you know if I would have an easier time of becoming an Australian citizen again? (then somebody who wasn't born there.)

..or do you know where I can get an answer to my question?

Thanks.. Mate!

[Teddy_Salad]

86. Are you a US citizen?

You were born in Australia, therefore you are automatically an Australian citizen.

The only way I can see how this could be different for you is if you have become a US citizen and had to relinquish your Aussie citizenship.

Previous to last year, when the law thankfully changed, you could not keep your Australian citizenship when assuming the citizenship of a foreign country.
But now you are permitted to hold both Australian and foreign citizenships.

Places to get an answer?
Try here... http://www.citizenship.gov.au/

But really, you were born in Australia.....you're Australian.
As far as I can see, you should be free to get an Australian passport and to go and live there forever.

Congratulations!!! :toast: ;)