The Yak Shack Forum

Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia? I have never seen it rain on TV,
so how do the plants grow? (UK).
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching
them die.

Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA)
A: Depends how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad
tracks?(Sweden)
A: Sure, it's only three thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Australia? (Sweden)
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a
list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK)
A: What did your last slave die of?

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia?(USA)
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe.
Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does
not... oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in
Kings Cross. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (USA)
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia? (UK)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA)
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which
is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night
in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Can I wear high heels in Australia? ( UK)
A: You are a British politician, right?

Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round?
(Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is
illegal.

Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense
rattlesnake serum. (USA)
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All
Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make
good pets.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its
name. It's a kind of bear and lives in trees. (USA)
A: It's called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of
gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them. You can
scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

LOL ;D ;D ;D

I wonder what our Aus-tra-lian members think about this Q&A?

This Aussie thinks it hilarious!  ;D People do think some strange things about our country...

Kate

lol i bet most of the questions where asked by males lmao


If any forum member does have any questions about australia feel free to ask ( but i don't quarentee and answer ) lmao

ROFL - mcgonagall, Trey, Kate I love it!

And for all the non Aussie members - ITS ALL TRUE! REALLY IT IS! ;D

Is the part about Australia having all non-poisonous snakes true?? I have a very severe phobia with snakes and have avoided travelling anywhere that I might come into contact with them (and that includes reptile houses at the zoo).

Sadly no - we have the most poisonous snake in the world (5 of the Top 10) :-X

    List of Deadliest Snakes in the world as per their ranking : -

1) Fierce Snake or Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus ), Australia. The most toxic venom of any snake. Maximum yield recorded (for one bite) is 110mg. That would porbably be enough to kill over 100 people or 250,000 mice. These rare snakes are vitually unknown in collections outside of Australia.

2) Australian Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis ), Australia. One 1/14,000 of an ounce of this vemon is enough to kill a person.

3) Malayan Krait (Bungarus candidus ), Southeast Asia and Indonesia. 50% of the bites from this snake are fatal even with the use of antivenin treatment.

4) Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus ), Australia. The venom delivered in a single Taipan bite is enough to kill up to 12,000 guinea pigs.

5) Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus ), Australia.

6) Beaked Sea Snake (Enhydrina schistosa ), South Asian waters Arabian Sea to Coral Sea..

7) Saw Scaled Viper (Echis carinatus ), Middle East Asia.

8) Coral Snake (Micrurus fulvius ), North America.

9) Boomslang (Dispholidus typus ), Africa.

10) Death Adder (Acanthopis antarcticus ), Australia and New Guinea.

11) Black Mamba, both species of Green Mambas, and the Mojave
Rattlesnake.


But unless you were to go tramping around in the bush and desert by yourself (highly unrecommended for anyone esp people who are unfamiliar with the areas) you should be OK! I have only ever seen 2 snakes face to face in my life!

I've been swimming with a Tiger snake, though it was completely by accident   :o

I should hope so!  :o

Gee Australia sounds like the enchanted land in the Wizard of Oz!!   ;)  Sounds like my kind of place snakes and all!!   :)

Hope to see you here someday! Watch out for Drop bears! ;D

Yeah the drop bears are tough !!!

I lost a good portion of my brain through meeting one of those in the zoo... they look so cute in order to entice you to go nearer....

 ;D

Geez - SWIMMING with a tiger snake?? I bet you've never swum so fast in your life than just after you saw that!

CUTE?????

Have you ever been up close and personal with a koala? They smell, scratch and are generally lazy. When we visited the zoo lately, my sister thought the koala was stuffed as it did not move at all!

Koalas must be one of the most overrated animals in the world 8)

I was only a kid, so I didnt actually notice it until they had it on land and sliced into lots of little, very dead, pieces...

I love koala's one of my most favorite picture is 2 of our kids with hubby holding a koala .

Oh, don't get me wrong, koalas are cute (from afar) and I love them because they resemble me in nature ;) I just think the attention they get is overrated :)

Did the koala try to bite/scratch you at all? I heard they can get a bit frisky at these types of photo sessions!

nope the koala just cuddled up to my hubby and went to sleep lol



I always say my hubby is a big teddy bear lol

Hey FTY have you seen the new 3d kangaroo chips from the real mccoy ??????

Lol!! ;D Great stuff! The Drop bears sound like fun.....  ;)

HA HA I just saw this thread HA HA  :P FANTASTIC



No laughing at this one though, I live in the country and we have many kangaroos in the paddocks near our town....they just hop around without a care in the world, and unfortunately at times hop in front of a moving vehicle!!!! There have been many roo accidents on the back streets around where I live so you have to watch out especially when driving at night!

Anyway, as mcgonagall said, any questions then just ask!

HA HA drop bears!

Hey Trey, which part of the country are you from?

My family lives in the country as well (and I mean real country NSW) - I live in Sydney cos of university - and there are roos here as well :) Sadly, as yo said, they do tend to bound across and around roads. I was not there, but one night about 2 years ago, my dad hit one while driving as it just came out of nowhere. He was fine, the car was not too bad but the roo was so badly injured that he had to put it out its misery :(

Haha! That's hilarious!

Actually I didn't know a Boomslang was a real creature until now though...  :o

I thought it was something JK made up! Silly me...

I live about 15-25 minutes out from Melbourne Airport ( I really dont want to say where in case someone is reading this and starts stalking me hehe unlikely but hey, its the last thing I need at the moment!) around suburbs like Kyneton, Gisborne, Sunbury, Romsey....they are close-ish to the city (50mins) but they are still very much country suburbs surrounded by paddocks so we see heaps of roos and they are a nusance on a lot of the back roads.

Damn FTY our plan is foiled

;)

*acts innocent*

Who, me???  ;D

I feel like Gollum... "he is always watching". You are very sensible Trey and I am only teasing... we never know who's watching  :)

I can relate to your Roo problem as we have the same dangers but with Moose, Deer, and Black Bear here in upper New Hampshire where I live.  We have large signs on the highways warning about the animals especially the Moose but people drive way too fast especially at night and you just cannot see them and brake in time.  We are always reading about car accidents with animals and unfortunately we suffer anywhere from 5 to 20 deaths a year from these accidents.  Many of them happen in the Summer and Fall and most of the fatalities are tourists visiting our State.  

Now now Roz and FTY....you really dont want to start stalking me cause if you came to the door my mum would make you a cuppa and chat to you for a couple of hours!! hehe  :P  

Also Roz you already know my address so I cant hide anyway  8)

Sounds great... what time should I be there?


D'OH - completely forgot that ;)

oh no you misunderstand me....this is not a reward it is a Punishment!!! Listening to my mum babble on for a couple of hours can drive the sanest person insane!!! But she does make a good cuppa  ;D

Still - the promise of a good cuppa is an overpowering one... couple that with a sit down and a nice chat.... hmmmmmmmmmmm ;) I think I could live with it :P

PS I have run out of milk... hence my desperation for a good cuppa!

Go an do what we do in the country - go and chase down the nearest cow 8)

Hmm.. there are several grazing just outside the city on Midsommer Common... but it's dark outside and I might get eaten by a Highland cow which might mistake me for an overgrown piece of grass ;)

And a 6 ft one at that ;)

I have been to Ireland a few times and a majority of the people I met there poured on and on about wanting to visit Australia.  Being the American that I am, I have always wanted to see London, Paris, Rome (the usuals).  Why is it that so many people on the Europe side want to flock to Australia?  Not that it isn't a lovely place I'm sure, but just asking why that is a universal destination.
PS. please excuse the ignorant american questions.......

I think when most of us think of Australia we tend to think of the bush first with yer kangeroos, koalas and the like. Now when you think of America you tend to first think of big cities (New York, San Fransisco, Las Vegas etc) and everywhere has big cities. Maybe it's the fascination with something a bit different that makes everyone want to visit Australia?

I don't really know - I want to visit Aus but there are also tons of other places I want to visit too! I don't mind which order I do it in ;)

Well, if you want something different, come to Melbourne, where we have all four seasons in one day  ;D

Just the other week we had a really hot day which turned into massive storms and our yearly average rainfall in one night   :o

No offense to any other countries here.... but ...

Everywhere we Europeans go people compare it to places like home... for instance, my friend who went to the Himalayas came back saying... well ... basically it's Dartmoor scaled up a bit...

But people who go to NZ and Aus don't compare it to anywhere in the UK or Europe, so it seems it's so radically different from our home that we want to see it :)

Plus we read all these books ("A town like" Alice etc)  - so a lot of popular literature describes Australia too... hmm why else? Oh well 90% of Brits are dying to climb up Uluru... although apparently we need a Akubra though as there's a lot of flies up there apparently... now why would they all congregate at a rock such as that... is is shelter or is it just to eat the tourists?

With America... we Brits tend to go for the shopping - people actually do 3 day shopping trips before Christmas (apparently)... or to meet all the people we've been exchanging emails with for years :P

It's very odd as the US has amazing places I'd like to see - Grand Canyon, the Windy City, Jellystone...ahem Yellowstone park, Mount Rushmore... (oh go on - you have to... I know - I know... but you have to don't you??) then New York (yes despite the fact that Mark would be putting on a hideous Italian American accent all the time) Boston,  (so I can say - yep yep - a guy from Emmanuel College Cambridge started all this, ooh and a guy from Magdalene College Cambridge was the first President of the University (Henry Dunster), and the white mountains to the North.  And admittedly yes like every other Brit with a credit card I want to buy a new wardrobe whilst I am there too - not to mention some skates ;) By the way - I do realise that I just described places a long way away from each other :P

Anyway there's not much point to all this as I'll probably be just buying a round the world ticket and try and see it all at once -  ;D yes that's right after I rob a bank  ::)

YOUR ANNUAL AVERAGE RAINFALL IN ONE NIGHT?

Jeez I hope that average is not much - you guys with parched ground must have had floods...surely? Was everything ok?

Since posting the above Mark has added that we need to be in the US at the time of the San Diego Comic Con too - and also for the games equivalent - E3.... so basically we need to move to the USA for about 3 years in order to see all this stuff  ;D

I think it worked out to be about 120mm.  I got stuck in the Sydney airport when it closed; all planes were grounded.  In the botanical gardens and other gardens in Melb, Elms and other trees 100years old were up-rooted. The yarra river (which runs through Melb) rose so high it flooded all the footpaths along it.  It was all a bit chaotic, but no major long term problems  :-\

Melbourne is well known for its bad weather :)

Interesting thoughts by you all about travel.  Speaking for myself I really do not enjoy visiting large cities here in the United States.  Yes there are many things to see and do but I do not enjoy the mass of humanity you run into and the driving is insane.  I would rather visit an areas natural wonders and sights.  

Roz made mention of wanting to see many of our National Parks across the United States and I cannot recommend them enough especially Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, Grand Canyon, and especially Volcano National Park in Hawaii.  My wife and I have been to most of them as she likes to paint scenes from the National Parks. There are so many more both here and in Canada to enjoy.   :)  

But ... but... think of the shopping!

Yes true Ed but I guess you have visited a few and they all start mingling into one... you would probably not be a fan of London then, but Hyde Park is nice as is Buckingham palace and some of the older buildings, taking a trip in the London Eye to see the Houses of Parliament, St Pauls etc... oh if you came over we would have to take you on a visit - thankfully Cambridge is a minute city - probably the size of a US provincial town or something - 100,000 inhabitants - 20,000 of which work or study at the University.

Ed the Volcano national park in Hawaii sounds awesome, probably like a scaled up version of my visit to Iceland... see - see - I am doing it again - comparing foreign lands to Europe (slaps wrist) stop it!!! To be fair though Iceland is really awesome - did you go when you spent time in Norway Ed?

How hilarious is this - I actually WANT to visit a Wall Mart - you guys talk about it so much I think I'd be in gaming heaven... anyway - personal madness aside :P

Anyway - I would like to include Canada too as it looks AMAZING and my Gran went there and loved it, and besides it's only just past your doorstep isn't it Ed ;)?

I would like to see London as there is so much history there.  Plus the fact that your architecture is way more impressive than what we have here in many of our cities!  

I did not spend time on the ground due to the flight schedule we had to keep but I did fly over many of the areas in both Iceland and Norway.

Wal Mart does have some of the best prices around and once you have been in one of them you will see that they are all configured the same way everywhere.  

Canada is only an hour away from where I live.  Montreal and Toronto are easy drives.