You'll have to include 3 smilies in that lost post, it's the only way the old fella can communicate

Ok!

annnnd

NOW he'll get it!

Good!!
-waits patiently-

haha, that's like the bat symbol to evade

now that shits funny!

Question:
I saw in another thread, and some others in the past, about many Aussie's contempt for New Zealanders. Being an info junkie I had to know more.
Is it like a friendly rivalry between the two countries, or do the two really despise each other, or do Aussies not like kiwis while they try their hardest to befriend Australia, like a young boy tries to impress an older brother.
Do the governments get along amicably?
How far are apart are the two?
How do the two countries differ culturally? Are the accents that different. I've heard both and "think" I can tell a difference but what the hell do I know.
To people living there, there are probably A LOT of little things that the casual observer would never notice, just how many people think Canada and the US are the same, whereas the people living here view the two as night and day in many respects.
I remember asking about the differences between the Scandanavian countries awhile ago and it was pretty interesting to read what its inhabitants had to say.

OK I am done with my nerdery for now.

Ok I broke your post up and I'll respond in kind.

1. It is more of a friendly rivalry on our side, but some "kiwis" do have the little man syndrome. They try gallantly to beat us in anything to reclaim some pride. Truth be told there are probably more Kiwis in Bondi than locals haha. The joke is they come here and live off the doll (welfare) because they don't have to get visas or greencards to work here.

2. Rather well although we rarely deal with them in trade. Most of our dealings are with Asia, the USA and some parts of Europe.

3. Having never been I cant be 100% sure but im certain it's a 3 hour flight from Sydney to Auckland. Google for Km distance

4. In some ways we are similar and in many ways we are completely different. Both very laid back people but the Kiwi work ethic is non existent in comparison to Aussies. The accents are poles apart and we take the piss out of them constantly about it. Get a kiwi to say "six" and Im sure you can use your imagination to think of how they'd pronounce it. We only get confused for one another by North Americans haha. We both have indigenous people (Aus = Aboriginals, NZ = Maori). We both enjoy similar sports but we when we compete against each other it is a fierce rivalry.

Anything else your nerdyness needs to know?

Bondi dear.. i rather enjoy your new avatar

Yeah, those bastards should pay me, or at least hook me up with free merch!

and why thank you dear

Haha... free stuff would be nice!

If there's anything better than free stuff, it's more free stuff

Bondi dont take this as personal question , in my tracking of wheat prices , I have come across a story that states the corp there called AWB was stripped of there Wheat Marketing Monopoly cause of there 300 Million dollar kickbacks to the Regime of the tobbled Saddam Hussein ? Why were they giving that guy kickbacks ? any idea ?

nope, that about covers it.
sorta reminds me of Newfies(people from Newfoundland, waaaaay out on the east coast) and us Wetern Canadians. Although we're all from the same country sometimes ya gotta wonder.


haha, in canada we use that stuff to wax the tape on our hockey sticks.

Oh don't even get me started on the difference between the states in Australia. We can be poles apart in so many ways, including sport! e.g 1. In New South Wales (Sydney) we barely watch what you would know as Aussie Rules, we watch Rugby Leage (A similar but different game to Rugby Union. Whereas in Victoria (melbourne) Aussie Rules is religion and they barely know about Rugby League!!!


Are you serious??? Is there anything it cant do???

My dad loves Aussie Rules football or whatever it is that you call it... I've only sat down to watch it once and was confused as heck, but I should give it another try sometime.

Oh.. and Bondi... you and I haven't been on at the same time in a couple of days

I was reading a book called Rowing to Alaska, which I can't recommend enough, written by an Aussie and he explains how the 2 different leagues(or unions if you will) evolved. Interesting stuff.

It is confusing as fuck for me too... it's not as popular in my state as it is in the Southern States...

Yeah the whole time difference sure does suck sometimes! Let me know when you'll be on via myspace?



I'll have to read that book, sounds like a good read. I am reading a book right now about a guy who plays for my team (The Bulldogs) named Hazem El Masri. He's a lebanese Muslim who migrated to Australia when he was 11 from war torn Lebanon. He'd only ever played soccer until he was about 13 or 14 and now he is on the brink of becoming the greatest point scorer in league history!

I think I've heard of him...or at least heard you mention him before.

Yeah Rowing to Alaska is an awesome book. If you enjoyed Fight Club and American Beauty, I think you'd like this. It's in the same vein....a guy who goes against the status quo of what's expected of people. He's an Aussie who was born in a coal mining town and the last thing he wanted to become is a coal miner. So this book is a series of short stories about some of the crazy adventures he had during his life. From working in a bank in Australia and his life there, to rowing to Alaska, to panning for gold in Costa Rica, to operating a fishing boat in Nicaragua...with lots of booze, fighting, and women mixed in. Sorry to sound like amazon.com but it was one of the best reads I've had in the last couple years and it's all non-fiction.

Well I'll have to obtain a copy post haste by the sounds of it!

Didn't wanna be a coal miner? Just like this guy...

laughed my ass off at that one!
*cough*

I think I'm getting the black lung pop

Ok so my thread has been quiet for a while so I'll pop in with an update;

Last week I was dreadfully ill. I had a stomach virus of some sort and unfortunately there were very few "legal" drugs I could take to help me out. I was off work for 5 days and as a result of being ill and not eating I lost 5kg in those 5 days. That may not sound alot but I only usually weigh about 75kg so I lost a fair percentage of weight, mostly from my arms and chest.

Anyway....

This weekend is a long weekend for those of us in Sydney, it is the Queens Birthday Weekend, ironically nowehere near her actual birthday but I do not think anyone inside Australia gives a fuck! I'll be celebrating by combining two of my favourite hobbies, drinking and watching sports

sorry to hear of your illness , glad your back to feeling well .. and enjoy your holiday !!!

Thanks, I plan to kill any remaining bad bacteria (and probably a whole bunch of good bacteria) over the weekend

i hear you there bondi, someone at work wrote up labor day holiday on a blackboard i had to laugh i don't care what they want to call it all i know is i won't be there

well enjoy the drunken time . everybody deserves one now and again or maybe even everyday !!

those kind of illnesses are the worst!
remember, alcohol can be a great weight gainer so you'd better drink extra!

It's funny, I was looking at the calendar the other day and saw Queen's Birthday (Aus) and I was thinking, what the hell?! Why don't we celebrate that(as in have another long weekend)? Lucky Aussies!
I guess we had Victoria Day in May, but I sternly believe we should celebrate all of the Royal Family birthdays...as long as it maens a day off.

You can celebrate all the Royals birthdays if you take them off our bloody hands!!

interesting point view !!!

Yeah I think the oliday differs across the states. We have Labor Day in October for the Grand Final weekend but we don't get "Ekka Day"



Yeah it wasn't fun thats for damn sure. I am already on my regime of pizza and beer to regain the weight haha!

We should celebrate Prince Charles, Harry and William too!

I am glad to hear you are on the beer and pizza road to recovery.

As prescribed by this man

hello, everybody!

well hello surprised to see you in a place like this !!!

call 1-800-DOCTORB

The B stands for bargain!

Hiiiii miss chickie!

sometimes I visit people's 411s and I write something funny.

Other times I don't.

Is that like the commercial for candy bars ,, " sometimes I feel like a nut sometimes I dont ?"

Intentional or not, that was funny

Ok so it is looking increasingly likely that I will be visiting North America sometime next year. My question to all of you that live in that part of the world is this;

Where should I go???

I have a few places I'll definitely be visiting but apart from LA and Vegas, where should bondi visit in North America???

What time of year?
What do you want to do?
What do you want to see?
LA and Vegas? So are you talking strictly a western visit?

really depends on what ya want to see and do and the time of yr ... fill in the blanks and we will see what we can do . sorry chickie didnt mean to echo what you said ...

Bondi, I've got some ideas, but it depends on what you like to do. If you like to see lots of history, like the deveopment of the United States, then you'd want the East Coast. If you want scenary, it depends if you want scenary that requires work, ie., hiking, etc. If you like architecture, there's big cities. if you like historical architecture there's old smaller cities.

One thing is for certain, if you like to eat good food, there's Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.



Why not? You do that to everyone else.

Ok to answer all questions it would more than likely be your summer, which unless I am mistaken is like June, July, August? More than likely July.

At this stage I am completely open as to where to go but LA and LV are places I will definitely be visiting, it just so happens they are close by. I'll also be tagging on a week to Mexico either at the start or the end of the trip.

To be brutally honest I don't care much for American history, I have seen it all before in documentaries and films. Architecture is nice but I prefer stuff built hundreds of years ago over buildings built in the past 200 years.

I like food, I like drinking, I like having a good time and mixing with the locals. I'd like to visit places that would be nothing like home. I don't mind working for scenery, I also like adventure. Rafting etc?

Also, I wanna year people say y'all! haha.

Bob where is Chicago on the map? I wouldn't mind seeing the Bulls in action

Rafting down the colorado RIver , drinking in Chicago , food Chicago and LV ,, be ware in Califonia were ya drink and eat , ya might walk into the limp wristed part of town , there are tons of rivers to raft in Missouri , one things for sure in any US city other then Vegas when your gambling drinking and eating is going to be $$$ , in Vegas if ya gamble ya drink for free .. Its the cheapest entertainment capital the USA has to offer ..

Denver is a nice place to visit , Niagra falls is a nice place if ya like big waterfalls , NAshville if ya like country music , Branson Missouri if ya like shows and diiner theater , , but if your looking for beaches and cheap drinks do the Mexico a extra few days its a hell of a lot cheaper then anywere in the USA . Good luck

Just cause

Thanks mate. i guess I'm still not sure what i want to do. Niagra Falls sounds good, I do like natural wonders. I'll probably do the whole Grand Canyon thing.

So it's expensive to eat and drink there huh?

What would be the approx. on:

Pint (or however you serve them) of local beer=
Steak (Like T-Bone, Scotch Fillet etc) dinner at a restaraunt=
Hooker=

12 oz. beer anywere from 2-6 american dollars

a god steak at any of the steak houses in CHicago is going to be $35 ^ Ive spent 200 on meal for 2 .
hooker - on the south side $20 on the miracle mile $500


I think youd like any of the places mentioned I know your not into Coutnry music but Nashville was alot of fun ...

I never realised how cheap steak is in Australia. In the UK you had to sell a kidney to get a steak and it's not that far off in the states. At a steakhouse if you pay Aus$25 for a steak you are getting a fucking good cut and a good size portion!

Beer sounds reasonable I will not drink light beer though, even if they do spell it LITE