Stereotypes About Australia
I'm sitting on my ass here in Ohio thinking of what to do, so now seems as good a time as ever to roll out the blog updates. Even though I will be heading back to Australia again, I feel 10 months there has given me enough experiences to come up with a list of general tips and tid-bits from the country we refer to as "The Land Down Under" (more in that in a minute).
This first post will be a list of stereotypes we have about Australia. Most of these are way off the mark or at the very least aren't the whole picture. Such as:
The Outback
We tend to think of Australia as a vast, red desert. Yes, lots of the county does look like that, but there are also snow-capped mountains, tropical rain forests, fertile grasslands, and temperate forests. You can ski in the southeast during winter. North Queensland reminded me of south Florida. The country is quite geographically diverse.
Sheep herders and Crocodile Dundees
Most Australians don't actually live in the Outback, and the definitely don't spend their free time wrestling crocodiles. Australia actually has one of the highest urbanization rates of any large country in the world - over 89% live in large towns or cities, more than in the US (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country)
Describing the country as "The Land Down Under"
I've never heard an Australian use that term. Maybe it's just me but it seems to be used a lot more by foreigners.
Good looking beach bumbs
This actually hits on two stereotypes. The beach is a big part of Australian culture, but most Aussies aren't muscular dudes spending their days chilling in the sand. Actually obesity Down Under (oh well, it sounds good to say) is a big problem. Also the country is ethnically diverse. A majority of Australians' trace their ancestry to Europe, but there are significant Asian and indigenous minorities.
Kangaroos and Crocodiles
The country does have a lot of Kangaroos (or roos), and up north crocs van be dangerous, but they aren't exactly running around the cities. You can see wallabies, which look like mini kangaroos, in some urban areas, but the whole time I was in Australia I saw all of two wild roos.
How big can an island be?
Well, the country is nearly the size of the continental US! Americans may be familiar with that kind of space, but many Europeans just aren't used to traveling over such vast distances within a single country. Sydney to Perth is over 2,000 miles by plane and closer to a 2,500 mile drive. That's not much shorter than NYC to LA or Madrid to Moscow!
Fosters beer
And last but not least, I gotta include this one. I had heard about this one before I left the States, on a stand-up show I think. Not sure if this is well known yet, but here's a newsflash: Foster's isn't, as they claim in the ad, "Australian for beer." Actually I didn't see one person drinking it the whole time I was there. So if you go, please don't be that guy. I may have missed it in the back corner of the liquor store, but there are definitely better beers out there!
This seems like enough for one post...so for my next installment I'll have some tips for travelers, followed by tips for workers, and then any of my general observations about Australia that I didn't get to mention.
This first post will be a list of stereotypes we have about Australia. Most of these are way off the mark or at the very least aren't the whole picture. Such as:
The Outback
We tend to think of Australia as a vast, red desert. Yes, lots of the county does look like that, but there are also snow-capped mountains, tropical rain forests, fertile grasslands, and temperate forests. You can ski in the southeast during winter. North Queensland reminded me of south Florida. The country is quite geographically diverse.
Sheep herders and Crocodile Dundees
Most Australians don't actually live in the Outback, and the definitely don't spend their free time wrestling crocodiles. Australia actually has one of the highest urbanization rates of any large country in the world - over 89% live in large towns or cities, more than in the US (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country)
Describing the country as "The Land Down Under"
I've never heard an Australian use that term. Maybe it's just me but it seems to be used a lot more by foreigners.
Good looking beach bumbs
This actually hits on two stereotypes. The beach is a big part of Australian culture, but most Aussies aren't muscular dudes spending their days chilling in the sand. Actually obesity Down Under (oh well, it sounds good to say) is a big problem. Also the country is ethnically diverse. A majority of Australians' trace their ancestry to Europe, but there are significant Asian and indigenous minorities.
Kangaroos and Crocodiles
The country does have a lot of Kangaroos (or roos), and up north crocs van be dangerous, but they aren't exactly running around the cities. You can see wallabies, which look like mini kangaroos, in some urban areas, but the whole time I was in Australia I saw all of two wild roos.
How big can an island be?
Well, the country is nearly the size of the continental US! Americans may be familiar with that kind of space, but many Europeans just aren't used to traveling over such vast distances within a single country. Sydney to Perth is over 2,000 miles by plane and closer to a 2,500 mile drive. That's not much shorter than NYC to LA or Madrid to Moscow!
Fosters beer
And last but not least, I gotta include this one. I had heard about this one before I left the States, on a stand-up show I think. Not sure if this is well known yet, but here's a newsflash: Foster's isn't, as they claim in the ad, "Australian for beer." Actually I didn't see one person drinking it the whole time I was there. So if you go, please don't be that guy. I may have missed it in the back corner of the liquor store, but there are definitely better beers out there!
This seems like enough for one post...so for my next installment I'll have some tips for travelers, followed by tips for workers, and then any of my general observations about Australia that I didn't get to mention.
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