# I'm digging a hole to Australia. How cool is that?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 6, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377 "2006-07-06T15:40:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/21 "2006-07-06T22:14:29Z")
I hope you have a valid visa. The Immigration authorities may be waiting for you as you pop out of the hole.
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### Author:  [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/22 "2006-07-07T01:33:03Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#):
>
> Australia, now, that’s the ticket. Folks there speak your language, and have those great big cans of beer! Now that’s the ticket!
>
> Tris
I hate to burst your bubble, but
> **[Australian slang dictionary](https://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html)**
>
> Learn these Australian slang words and phrases and you'll feel at home on your first day Down Under.
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/23 "2006-07-07T01:39:57Z")
It’s the center of the Earth-Moon system that orbits the Sun. So at the center of the Earth you would feel some small tidal forces from the Sun and Moon, but pretty negligable.
I’d be more interested in your disproving (or **proving???** ) the Hollow Earth theories that are still around.
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/24 "2006-07-07T01:42:41Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#):
>
> Don’t forget to turn right at Albuquerque!
No, no, no - then you would end up in Pebble Beach, is that where you are going?
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/25 "2006-07-07T03:09:33Z")
> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> I’d be more interested in your disproving (or **proving???** ) the Hollow Earth theories that are still around.
Damn these interruptions!
I’ll tell you tomorrow, when I finally break through to Perth. I’ve been making good progress, I’ve dug a good hole a 18" deep, using a snow shovel. But some asshole keeps filling in the hole with empty Fosters cans.
I need a little break.
_pop_
_fizz_
_gulp_
_passes out on ground, due to increased gravity_
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/26 "2006-07-07T03:10:38Z")
> [@Poysyn](#):
>
> No, no, no - then you would end up in Pebble Beach, is that where you are going?
And the Carrot Festival, therein?
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### Author:  [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/27 "2006-07-07T03:21:01Z")
> [@Poysyn](#):
>
> No, no, no - then you would end up in Pebble Beach, is that where you are going?
No, no, no. It’s Pismo beach!
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### Author:  [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/28 "2006-07-07T03:59:27Z")
Just in case you veer a bit off course, I’ve popped a six pack of beers in the fridge for you too!
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/29 "2006-07-07T04:35:07Z")
So what you’re all saying is, we should hang an…uh… _down_ at Albuquerque?
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/30 "2006-07-07T05:06:40Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> Damn these interruptions!
>
> I’ll tell you tomorrow, when I finally break through to Perth. I’ve been making good progress, I’ve dug a good hole a 18" deep, using a snow shovel. But some asshole keeps filling in the hole with empty Fosters cans.
>
> I need a little break.
>
> _pop_
>
> _fizz_
>
> _gulp_
>
> _passes out on ground, due to increased gravity_
Ah, watch out for that gravity storm!
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### Author:  [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/31 "2006-07-07T06:00:49Z")
> [@Jake](#):
>
> Don’t forget the special disintergrator gun.
> [@Daffy Duck](#):
>
> Well, whaddya know? It dithintigrated!
[sub]Don’t look at me, someone _else_ started the Looney Tunes references![/sub]
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### Author:  [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/32 "2006-07-07T08:15:50Z")
> [@Sunspace](#):
>
> Of course, many of them may _be_ Chinese, hoping to get in on the Great Chinese Infrastructure Boom.If you dug straight down from where I live, you’d end up in the Indian Ocean. Nearest city? Perth, Austraila. I figure Australia is worth the detour. 🙂
If you did end up in the middle of the Indian ocean, would the water flood back down your hole and burst out in America?
And if you did end up in Perth, give it ten minutes and you’d wish the heat & pressure HAD killed you 🙂
mm
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### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/33 "2006-07-07T14:29:07Z")
> [@Cunctator](#):
>
> I hope you have a valid visa. The Immigration authorities may be waiting for you as you pop out of the hole.
Come, come, my dear fellow. We don’t want to scare poor **tdn** away.
Now then, **tdn** , I’d like to extend the hand of welcome to our fine country. We are a very easy-going people with a laid-back attitude, and no meddling laws or litigation like in the USA.
Just a couple of things though…
I see you’re planning on creating a hole. Do you have planning permission from the local municipal council? Have you checked if the land is zoned residential, light industrial, or “Hole”? Have you arranged public liability insurance? I assume you have conducted an Environmental Impact Study (EIS)? Have you contacted the Australian Taxation Office? Customs and Quarantine? Department of Immigration? Are there heritage concerns? You’ll to call Telstra to ascertain the location of any tepephone cables in the area you wish to excavate. There will be a fee for this, of course. An answer will be given within twenty-eight days. Ditto electicity utilities. Ditto water authority. Ditto sewage. Is there an Aboriginal land claim on the area? Workers you employ will require compulsory superannuation. You willl need to enter into an Australian Workplace Agreement with them.
Welcome. 😃
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### Author:  [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/34 "2006-07-07T14:36:32Z")
Okay, so you’ve got a tube protecting you from the side pressures. Wouldn’t atmospheric pressure start to get a little oppressive?
Come to think of it, what would the atmospheric pressure be in the middle of the tunnel dug straight through the earth?
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/35 "2006-07-07T14:45:15Z")
> [@cantara](#):
>
> Okay, so you’ve got a tube protecting you from the side pressures. Wouldn’t atmospheric pressure start to get a little oppressive?
Not in _my_ magic tube. But in someone else’s? Yeah, good question. One would think that the air would get a little – THICK.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-digging-a-hole-to-australia-how-cool-is-that/363377/36 "2006-07-07T15:05:36Z")
> [@mamboman](#):
>
> If you did end up in the middle of the Indian ocean, would the water flood back down your hole and burst out in America?
Unless the wall around the tube was very well heat-insulated, the Indian Ocean water would be superheated steam, i.e., a very spectacular geyser.
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