what does everyone think about australia as a whole!

connie   Monday, April 05, 2004, 10:59 GMT
i'm interested in hearing what people think about our country. (i'm australian). i'd like to know what people from other countries have heard. i've heard some americans think we ride kangaroos to the shops. i can tell you that is not true.
nic   Monday, April 05, 2004, 11:16 GMT
we don't know anything about australians in France. So far.......
Juan   Monday, April 05, 2004, 12:16 GMT
Well...Steve Irwin the Crocodile was pretty cooll. Until he started dangling that baby! (a la michael jackson) BTW why does your PM speak so funny?
nic   Monday, April 05, 2004, 12:20 GMT
sorry, i forgot Mad Max!
Chilli   Monday, April 05, 2004, 13:46 GMT
I think it looks like a nice enough place, but I think I would like it a whole lot more if you stopped ramming it down my throat.
Simon   Monday, April 05, 2004, 13:58 GMT
To be perfectly honest, the positive images I have of Australia are of the outdoor lifestyle. I also like the stereotypical no bullshit attitude, though to what extent this truly exists I don't know.

But I am very happy in Europe. I can always jump on a plane and go to Greece or Spain if I want sunshine and the outdoors and the "indoor" cultures of places like London and Paris, have no parallel in the Southern Hemisphere.

I'd like to visit but it's not so high up on my list.
wawawaw   Monday, April 05, 2004, 14:44 GMT
Australia is the Aborigenes' country. Nowadays their social situation is still awful, it's a shame for the Australian government. Give the Aborigenes their lands back and respect their rights. Their standard of life is the same as that of Bolivian indigenes!
Martin   Monday, April 05, 2004, 22:06 GMT
Its fair dinkum cobber.
connie   Tuesday, April 06, 2004, 04:33 GMT
where the hell are you from wawawaw. i have many aboriginal friends they all attend my school and have the same opportunities as me. if not more. they get a free school uniform, breakfast, break and lunch provided. there whole schooling fees are paid for by the govt. excursions are free. and i am at a public school. i pay approx. 1000 dollars a yr. in fees and around 500 dollars in excursions. theres is free. there parents have the same jobs as mine.and i'm 4 hrs out of sydney. and how exactly do you say we give them back there land. what we all hop on planes and shift out. we have the biggest continent, with a small population, most of aus. uninhabited, i think we can share. and if you knew anything about it, you'd know that we are. i hate pm howard, but what can he do. its not his fault, it happened 100's of yrs. ago. and that being factual, it would be the europeans fault....hah.
Juan   Tuesday, April 06, 2004, 07:14 GMT
You can give out reparations. Oh wait a minute do you guys already do that? African American were discussing that in the U.S? I don't know if it's actually going ahead.
Simon   Tuesday, April 06, 2004, 08:15 GMT
Well it's a big piece of land but it's not all useable, is it...
mjd   Tuesday, April 06, 2004, 08:27 GMT
Australia is usually portrayed in a very positive light here in the U.S. As Simon said, people often like the outdoor lifestyle and the beautiful landscape (it's a popular spot featured on the Travel Channel and E! Entertainment).

I know many students who have studied there and they had a ball.
mjd   Tuesday, April 06, 2004, 08:30 GMT
Of course there is also the bullshit portrayal by the media too...the kangaroos, Crocodile Dundee etc....but those who have brains know there is more to it than that.

I'd say New Zealand has gotten a lot of positive representation as well, especially with the beautiful scenery highlighted in the "Lord of the Rings" movies.
peanutter   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 12:16 GMT
I like AUS, except for the MASSIVE HAIRY FRIGGEN SPIDER that fell on my head when I was there the first time - and I also don't like the big stingy ants and the massive cockroaches - lol - ok I don't like any of the insects in Australia :P
But overall its quite cool :)
as   Thursday, April 08, 2004, 12:33 GMT
In Britain, Aussies have a reputation for

*being sport addicts
*saying "mate" too many times, just like they do in southern England.
*getting beat in the Rugby World Cup Final in 2003 by England.
*having ancestors that where "convicts"
*having a culture that's similiar to US, Britain, Ireland.

Plus our kids get to watch the only two tv programs ever to exported out of Australia.

*Neigbours
*Home & Away

*Something to do with Fosters
*Them "Australians wouldn't give a CastlemeinsXXXX for anything else" adds on tv. etc