Australian myths dispelled

steve_irwin · Joined: 23 Feb 2005 Posts: 30

Its funny how so many people across the world, from the US and Europe to China and even Indonesia, have these perceptions of Australia from shows like Crocodile Hunter. When I went to the US for exchange in high school, I could remember kids asking if I rode a kangaroo to outback school (I said yes).

Here's some of them:

-Kangaroos and wombats do exist, but only in the countryside

-Most Australians don't live on farms in the outback, nor ride kangaroos, or even cook shrimps on the barbie. Australia actually has a much higher percentage of urban/city dwellers thn the United States; very few people live in the countryside.

-We don't all talk like the guy from Crocodile Hunter. Actually most Australians speak more like Americans than anything else

-Finally, desert is a major part of the country, but unless you're adventurous and armed with a 4-wheel-drive, you'll most likely be visiting rainforests and sunny beaches rather than dry deserts and scrubland. From my memory of geography class most desert regions in Australia are in the centre and west, far away from any civilization.

Enjoy! And if you're from Australia too, feel free to throw in some of the myths you've heard ;)

cocodrilo · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 494 Location: Western Japan

I have never been to Oz, but I have a dozen or more friends from "Down Under". They LOVE vegemite(UGH!) and insist on bringing it with them to Japan when they visit. They have drawls. They use words that at first I didn't understand. None of my friends are into the game, but I hear Aussies are big into cricket. I hear from an Aussie friend that the Australian have no original cooking of their own- that the food's pretty much like what you eat in the states. (Is "pavlova" an Australian dessert? I know my kiwi girlfriend always used to make it...)

Laura · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

Yes, it's an Australian dessert, but when I was in New Zealand last summer the New Zealanders we met would tell us that the Aussies will SAY they invented it, but it really came from New Zealand. I think there's some dessert rivalry going on Down Under, eh? History, however, is on the side of Australia on this:

Quote: In 1935, the chef of the Hotel Esplanade in Perth, Western Australia, Herbert Sachse, created the pavlova to celebrate the visit of the great Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova.

Read more at http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/food/pavlova.php

cocodrilo · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 494 Location: Western Japan

...but it doesn't equal the silly rivalry over who invented Pisco! :lol:

Laura · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

Oh, do tell! I got drunk off my ass on that stuff in Paris once. I was staying with an American friend who was going to school there, and her best friend there was a guy from Lima, who of course had Pisco on hand.

backpackerhiredotcom · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 1

Laura wrote: Yes, it's an Australian dessert, but when I was in New Zealand last summer the New Zealanders we met would tell us that the Aussies will SAY they invented it, but it really came from New Zealand. I think there's some dessert rivalry going on Down Under, eh? History, however, is on the side of Australia on this:

Quote: In 1935, the chef of the Hotel Esplanade in Perth, Western Australia, Herbert Sachse, created the pavlova to celebrate the visit of the great Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova.

Read more at http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/food/pavlova.php

Awwww we can let the new zealander's have pavlova, considering all the musicians and actors and we lay claim too. (neil & tim -finn-keith urban-russel crow-sam neil etc etc etc)

Laura · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

I thought the Finns were from New Zealand? :?: