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Australia

Kangaroo Island Tourism Ad

The new Kangaroo Island television ad has a very catchy tune – but what is it? Well a little on and off Googling turns up the answer – Eddie Vedder’s Rise from the Into the Wild album. Looks like something to go on to my wish list.

South Australia - Kangaroo Island TV Ad

Australian Postcodes

Robert Kosara has created a map linking all of the most of the Australian postcodes [^] together in what he calls a “scribble map”. It’s something that I have always wondered about but never bothered to research. This infographic makes it obvious were the dense clumps of people are with the close zig-zags all down the south-eastern corner of the country.

There are plenty more maps on the website – including Germany, France and the US – so go check them out.

ibbleMap-Australia-color-names-borders-thumb

Australian War Memorial

To mark Remembrance Day we have a post about the Australian War Memorial [^]  in Canberra. The Memorial is a commemoration of the Australians who have died while at war and like the Auckland War Memorial Museum [^], is both a memorial and a museum. The AWM is dedicated to helping us understand the impact of war on Australian society, and to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Australian War Memorial

This is one of the places that was on our must-do list for Canberra. I would recommend one of the guided tours if you are on a tight timetable – it ensures that you get a another view of the Memorial. Paul, our guide for about two hours was fantastic, and spent the time emphasising the very real personal cost borne by our soldiers and their families in past conflicts and today.

It is important for us to remember that the people in the armed forces serve their country. Regardless of our own thoughts about our nation’s military involvement, we need to remember that the service personnel are there doing the bidding of the government that we elected; their duty. Today is a time for Remembrance. A time to honour the sacrifices that have been made in the name of our country. The sacrifices made by the dead and the survivors, and the cost to their families.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Laurence Binyon’s “For the Fallen”

Huntsman – 8-Legged Nightmare?

They are Australian, brown, hairy, and live in trees, but you don’t find tourists queuing up for a cuddle. We uncovered this huntsman [^] under the bark of a dead tree while cleaning up fallen timber on the farm a few weeks ago.

CannibalRabbit goes eye-eye with a huntsman

I can see why some people would be afraid of a spider that can have a leg-span of up to 15cm. The good news is their bite rarely causes anything more than localised pain and swelling.

Digging to Australia

Growing up in the UK, I was always told that if you had a big hole in the ground that you were “digging to Australia”. Fair enough, that kind of made sense to me, it was about half a world away, and everything should be upside down.  Surely they don’t call it “Down Under” for nothing.

Confusion set in when we moved to Australia though. Logic would dictate that if you are in Australia and digging a hole surely you are digging your way to England. Apparently not. Australians think that you are going to China!

At long last the conundrum has been solved. Ze Frank has created a Google Maps mash-up that shows opposite points on the globe – if the world were a sandwich [^].

world sandwich

The answer is neither country is exactly right. Great Britain’s closest landfall on the opposite side of the world is the south coast of New Zealand.  While Australia’s opposite is the mid north Atlantic, coming very close to Puerto Rico.

The Americans with the China Syndrome [^] have a belief that they are on the opposite side of the world to China. A quick check reveals that they are not! That’s almost as bad a guess as the Aussies.

Do any other countries have such a poor understanding of geography, or find it too hard to look at a good old-fashioned (analogue) globe?