Aint it funny how people from other countries dont have any idea of what a long distance trip is.

I had an argument with an american about how big the USA is, texas in particular. Texas is (quite) roughly the same size as NSW which is in the mid range as far as aussie states go.

I've spoken to a german internet friend about how far he lives from Bad Camberg. He says he lives a long way away. 300kms in fact. So its a long day trip.

A 2 or 3 day return trip to Brisbane from Wollongong is pretty normal.
My honeymoon was 15,000kms in 2 1/2 weeks.
As a teenager some mates would jump in the car on a saturday afternoon and we'd drive to Canberra, have pancakes for dinner, fang up to that tower thingo (telecom?) and back.

OK so the last one may be a little wierd, but foreigners dont know big it is until they come here. George Bush said he was told that Australia is a lot like his home state of texas. He will get a surprise when he puts his Texas Kangaroo Rat ( http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/dipoelat.htm  ) next to a Big Red

There is an old joke of an Australian and a Texan comparing boasts...I'll let you make up the start and the middle of the joke, as these are both standard issue....

The punchline is that when he sees a photo of a big red kangaroo, the Texan says "Well, OK, your grasshoppers are bigger than ours..."

Years ago i packed up my push bike and travelled Australia.
I ended up hitch hiking across the Nullabor with a girl fron the Jersey Isle. There she was from a place she had spent most of her life on what, i seem to remember, was 6 x 4 km's.

She just sat one night when we camped on the SA/WA border and looked.

To say she had no idea (and not being mean either) at what she was looking at was an understatement.
Even i was blown away we i travelled up the west coast!

Yep Aust. is a BIG place

DAAAM TEXANS!

I was given the task of driving the Royal Bruni parachute team from Wagga Wagga to canberra last year.
They thought that it was going to be a nice quick trip as on the map it didn't look far away.
They were blown away that it took so long to get there and back as it takes a total of 3hrs to get from one side of there country to the other.

i take offense to that Pat

Forieners dont know how big a trip is, How about all the forieners that have traveled to Australia to live here, They just magically appeared here didnt they! You travel on a ship for 3 months and we'll see who has no idea about traveling long distances. The thing you got to consider is, how many states has Australia got? Not many! So of course they are going to be heaps bigger than the US or wherever...And if it weren't for all the different nationalities in this country, well..... Sorry to say, but....

N!

Its funny when my mum talks to our rellies overseas and tells them i live 100kms away from her... they think thats a HUGE distance!

I guess 1 hours drive is alot for them. they can drive to another country in an hour.

The reason oz is perceived as being so big is the lack of towns in the outback.

if you drive 2-300km between roadhouses with nothing in between, thats big.

If there is a town every 10kays the place would seem much smaller, its all relative.

Pat is real funny isnt it, The fact that he was "INVITED" by our leader! YOu should take offence to Johnny Howards invitation...

N!

hmmmm.

michael moore... 'stupid white men'

when i was i germany a few years back. hired a golf, as you do, adn hopped the autobahn. was stunned when i found my self at the other end of the country in a matter of hours. had to turn around and head back again.

I remember when I was a little fella, Mum and Dad seemed to be driving for hours. I asked my Dad if we were in Western Australia....."no son", he replied, "we're in Penrith".

.....and please don't get me started on politics. Let me just say that you don't make peace with guns.

Squiz.....

Your right Squiz, peace is not maqde with weapons.
The only problem is convincing people to put them down.
And if they all put down the guns and bombs i would be happily out of a job.

There is actually a cattle station in Australia that is bigger than all of Texas

and please don't get me started on politics. Let me just say that you don't make peace with guns.

Squiz.....


deffinatly agrree we should all just shag and have fun, oh yeah drink lotsa too

i agree that we shouldnt talk polotics on here, this is not the place

Fair enough.

Back on topic, One of my close friends moved to Boston a few months ago. When I visit him next year, we're going to do the east-west coast drive. How long does that take?

You should try driving Melbourne to Sydney in a 36hp bug, I did last year it took about 14-15 hours with only a couple of short stops. 40 degree weather too.

PAT- dats a long drive. from Boston to LA is around 3000 miles. wich if my calcualtions are correct, thats like 46 hours drive time, plus or minus a couple

It took me longer to drive Wollongong to Sydney last year in a turbo kombi. I think it was something like 16 hours. Had more than one problem on the way there.

I am REALLY keen to do a run across the bottom coastline of Australia one day to Perth. Its the boring return trip thats turning me off. I think I wil have to save up some money, do a fulll lap of every state. How far is it for a full lap of Australia including Tassie? Must be something like 30,000kms.

Sure you don't mean Wollongong to Melbourne, Chris? If you do, it was 16 1/2 hours... Not to mention how long it took you drive Valla to Wollongong this year....

DOH!

In regard to the 'average' size of states, we have a handful compared to the US!

But I do agree with Pat, and from a young fellas percpective, you get the feeling from Television that the only smarts in the US, consist of Judge Judy and Jerry Springer!

If only they had a President that could actually speak english, hey if he in the very least could speak 'American' it would be ok.

Love Michael Moore, his work is second to none!

errrr yeah Wollongong to Sydney. And how did I forget Valla.

When I started this thread it wasnt anti american or political. It was about people from overseas (including tasmania :P) that dont have the same feel for distance as we do. The fact that the land on this continent is divided up into smaller chunks than Europe or America is irrelevant, because over there a kilometre is 1000 metres just like here, only its spelt differently.

From my experience talking to them, we have a different view of what makes up 'a long way' than what they do. Theres alot of us that dont think twice about doing a 2000km round trip over a weekend to see a VW show. I dont know that is the case elsewhere.

I used to do a round trip of about 150kms to work and back every day, yet my German friend was telling me that I wouldnt want to stay with him and drive to Camberg because its 300km, way too far. And like I said earlier, I've driven that far just for a pancake. More than once.

I'll have to go see 'Japanese Story'. it sounds a good movie. Getting good reviews.

Love Michael Moore's films and books twoguns

I get to meet international travellers to Oz 6 days a week.

The ones who have just arrrived in the country have no idea of the distances and so you start to educate them. Get them to fly one direction if they're wanting to back track long distances to save them time and money (Virgin Blue is a blessing) but usually do a combination of 'small bus' tours which eventually gets them from point A to point B

Others who have been in Oz for a couple of months are pretty savvy to our distances and are more chilled

The nationality thing does come into it a lot. Germans are far more organised and really plan/book well ahead, which makes their trip less flexible. The Japanese, because of the shorter time they usually have to travel, fly everywhere and do short tours at a destination.

We Aussies usually do everything at the very last minute, with a few exceptions to the rule (maybe German ancestry)

Get to meet some who have bought cars or have hired, wanting information or to book ahead at a YHA hostel somewhere, or after general tourist information.

Have had a couple of serious cyclists in lately. It's amazing the number of people who do it that way. Hmmm, that's a wee bit too slow a pace for me, and too active. A guy yesterday was going to hire a bike and ride to the Yarra Valley to do the wineries, told him to train it to Lilydale with the bike:thumb

I love chatting to them all, it's great fun