The Canadian Tourism Commission had a stall this morning at the main bus terminus in Sydney. The staff were preparing free pancakes, with the obligatory maple syrup, and they were going down a treat with the commuters on a rather mild winter’s morning.
There were gift bags too, with various travel magazines, information about skiing etc. But I’m not so sure about the slogan:
The standard reaction seemed to be “No it’s not. It’s a long way away”.
I was wondering about that. Then I saw you mention Sydney. 
But it’s SUMMER over there
Glad we could warm the frosty grip of the southern winter. 
Not too frosty this morning at 17C. That didn’t stop people scoffing the pancakes though.
Air Canada offers direct flights from Sydney to Vancouver and Toronto 
Am I the only one who saw “Sydney” and thought “Nova Scotia?” My, but I was confused to see that the tourism commission was hanging out in a place that was already part of Canada.
Maybe their funding was not great. 
I suppose it is possible to get further away from Australia, but it pretty well is on the other side of the world.
15 hours or so direct to Vancouver, then a further 4-5 hours to Toronto. Not exactly what I’d call “close”.
“The road to a friend’s house is never long.”
I’m astonished the Vancouver flight is ‘only’ 15 hours. I remember our flights to Denpasar, Bali being a 30 hour ordeal. Worth it, but Holy Crap! Must ask my wife about her flight to Melbourne for the festival…
Something like ‘well worth the journey’ might have been a better slogan, though.
I did, I thought I had a neighbor here on the Dope!
Meh. I used to fly Toronto-Honolulu-Sydney-Perth all at one go (well, with flight changes in the listed cities). IIRC, it was about 18 to 20 hours from the time I left Toronto to the time I arrived in Sydney, depending on how much time I had to kill in Honolulu. So 15 hours to Vancouver plus another 5 to Toronto isn’t much different. I guess it depends on one’s point-of-view and experience. I made the trip a number of times; after a while, it didn’t seem far at all. Those long flights were mind-numbingly boring, yes; but Australia didn’t seem that far away.
Nice to hear that the Canadians were sharing a bit of our cuisine with the Australians. See, we’re more than moose, mountains, and Mounties–we eat too!
Look, practically EVERYWHERE in the world is a long way from Australia. Most of Canada is a bit closer to Australia than, say, New York City is, and most of it’s a LOT closer than Europe.
Canada, like most countries, spends a certain amount of money encouraging foreigners to vist. Australia is a prosperous country and its citizens are famous for travelling the world. Why WOULDN’T Australia seem like a good place to advertise for tourists?
Canada is a beautiful country with a lot to see, but it probably ISN’T a place that’s been high on most Australians’ mental lists of places to travel to. Why not plant the idea among people in Sydney?
They should have served Poutine!