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Happy Australia Day to all you wishing thinkers!

Lamingtons, meat pies, XXXX & sunshine all 'round ;D

Returnin the greeting.
Have a fosters for me cos i cant drink

Hope you have a great day
Say hello to my brother he moved to OZ just before Christmas

You must know him it not that big is it?

Styler

I hope you had a good one VTRgirl

Thanks guys. I spent the whole day in bed (& not in a good way...). Recently finished 12 night duties straight, so I've been sleeping for about the last four.

Styler, where abouts is your brother? If he's near some good riding roads, I might have to visit

He moved to Brisbane with his wife and two young children.

As it happens with 8 other couples at the same time all who now work for your national electricity company.

They offered a package too good to turn down and just have to stay min of 2 years or forever... Problem is here in the UK our electricity company lost 10% of the HV guys in 3 months.....

Me and my family will be there for Christmas 2008. after all his friend and the excitement has slowed down.

I'm looking forward to visiting OZ and New Zealand

Good stuff, Styler. I grew up in Brisbane. Now I'm only about an hour away. Was down there yesterday doing some visiting. Be prepared when you come for a visit. It's hot & muggy, ESPECIALLY over Christmas!

"Australia Day - We Are One."

LAST

*Tongue firmly planted in cheek for this one*
Apologies if anybody is offended by this.

We are the people of a free nation of blokes, sheilas and the occasional wonker. We come from many lands (although a few too many of us come from New Zealand), and although we live in the best country in the world, we reserve the right to bitch and moan about it whenever we bloody like. We are one nation but divided into many states.

First, there's Victoria, named after a queen who didn't believe in lesbians. Victoria is the realm of Mossimo turtlenecks, cafe latte, grand final day, and big horse races. Its capital is Melbourne, whose chief marketing pitch is that "it's liveable". At least that's what they think. The rest of us think it is too bloody cold and wet.

Next, there's NSW, the realm of pastel shorts, macchiato with sugar, thin books read quickly and millions of dancing queens. Its capital, Sydney has more queens than any other city in the world and is proud of it. Its mascots are Bondi lifesavers that pull their Speedos up their cracks to keep the left and right sides of their brains separate.

Down south we have Tasmania, a State based on the notion that the family that bonks together stays together. In Tassie, everyone gets an extra chromosome at conception. Maps of the State bring smiles to the sternest faces. It holds the world record for a single mass shooting, which the Yanks can't seem to beat no matter how often they try.

South Australia is the province of half-decent reds, a festival of foreigners and bizarre axe murders. SA is the state of innovation. Where else can you so effectively reuse country bank vaults and barrels as in Snowtown, just out of Adelaide (also named after a queen). They had the Grand Prix, but lost it when the views of Adelaide sent the Formula One drivers to sleep at the wheel.

Western Australia is too far from anywhere to be relevant. It's main claim to fame is that it doesn't have daylight saving because if it did, all the men would get erections on the bus on the way to work. WA was the last state to stop importing convicts and many of them still work there in the government and business.

The Northern Territory is the red heart of our land. Outback plains, sheep stations the size of Europe, kangaroos, Jackaroos, emus, Uluru, and dusty kids with big smiles. It also has the highest beer consumption of anywhere on the planet and its creek beds have the highest aluminium content of anywhere too. Although the Territory is the centrepiece of our national culture, few of us live there and the rest prefer to fly over it on our way to Bali.

And there's Queensland. While any mention of God seems silly in a document defining a nation of half arsed sceptics, it is worth noting that God probably made Queensland, as it's beautiful one day and perfect the next. Why he filled it with Richard remains a mystery.

Oh yes, and there's Canberra. The less said the better.

We, the citizens of Oz, are united by Highways, whose treacherous twists and turns kill more of us each year than murderers. We are united in our lust for international recognition, so desperate for praise we leap in joy when a rag tag gaggle of corrupt IOC officials tells us Sydney is better than Beijing. We are united by a democracy so flawed that a political party (albeit a redneck gun toting one), can get a million votes and still not win one seat in Federal Parliament. Not that we're whingeing, we leave that to our Pommy immigrants.

We want to make "no worries mate" our national phrase, "she'll be right mate" our national attitude and "Waltzing Matilda" our national anthem (so what if it's about a sheep-stealing crim who commits suicide). We love sport so much our newsreaders can read the death toll from a sailing race and still tell us who's winning.

And we're the best in the world at all the sports that count, like cricket, netball, rugby league and union, AFL, roo shooting, two up and horse racing. We also have the biggest rock, the tastiest pies, and the worst dressed Olympians in the known universe. Only in Australia can a pizza delivery get to your house faster than an ambulance. Only in Australia do we have bank doors wide open, no security guards, or cameras but chain the pens to the desk.

Stand proud Aussies - we shoot, we root, we vote. We are girt by sea and pissed by lunchtime. Even though we might seem a racist, closed minded, sports obsessed little people, at least we feel better for it.

I am, you are, we are Australian!

PS We also shoot and eat the two animals that are on our National Crest!!!! No other country has this distinction!

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY - January 26, 2007.

I now know more about Australia than I ever did VTRgirl

No mention of Dame Edna

sirch345 wrote:I now know more about Australia than I ever did VTRgirl

No mention of Dame Edna

Glad I could help!
Good point re Dame Edna. She probably does warrant a mention, but what can you say about someone like her?

VTRgirl wrote:
Good point re Dame Edna. She probably does warrant a mention, but what can you say about someone like her?

This should clear the air VTRgirl

According to Dame Edna's autobiography, and to statements she has made, she was born Edna May Beazley in the (then) small rural town of Wagga Wagga, and started her stage career on December 19, 1955 as Mrs Norm Everage, an "average Australian housewife" from Moonee Ponds, a Melbourne suburb. When her husband, Norman Stoddard Everage, died of prostate cancer, Dame Edna became the founder and governor of a charity called Friends of the Prostate, and the creator of The World Prostate Olympics.

She spends her time visiting world leaders and jet-setting between her homes in Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Switzerland and Martha's Vineyard. She is a friend and confidante of the Queen.

Dame Edna has three adult children: a daughter named Valmai (currently in a rehabilitation programme for shoplifters) and two sons, Bruce and Kenneth, whom she describes in a caricature of gay men, though she shows no awareness of their homosexuality. Dame Edna's mother is incarcerated in a "maximum-security twilight home".

Besides these family members, who are never seen, her elderly "bridesmaid" Madge Allsop (played by Emily Perry), a New Zealander from Palmerston North, is often present during Dame Edna's appearances and television shows, but never speaks a word, though she is often the butt of Dame Edna's jokes.

Dame Edna is revered for her insights into her homeland. When asked why Australians are so good at sport she commented "Good food and diet; open air life; juicy steaks; sunshine - and the total absence of any kind of intellectual distraction."

VTR girl,
No mention of Mount Panarama and Holden V8s - the best two things in OZ!

Oi Jaglifter! I'm in Oz!

And Chris, well researched. I... ummm... do have a copy of her autobiography. It's a great read

OK Two of the best things in OZ!