# Misconceptions about Australia **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 19, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586 "2003-09-19T13:20:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/101 "2003-09-24T13:52:13Z")
More breaking news from Australia! Not only are 17 per cent of us gay, but we lead the world in [ecstasy use](http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,7351084%5E1702,00.html)! This place is becoming one great big disco! Which would explain, I guess, the way everyone was bumping about and gurning wildly in the office today. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/102 "2003-09-24T13:53:31Z")
Crap, wrong [link](http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/24/1064083044396.html). I blame the government. ---
**Author:** ![Zorro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ad7895/32.png) [@Zorro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zorro)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/103 "2003-09-24T14:04:21Z")
Two women are sitting in a pub in Yarralanga Creek, when a drunken bloke walks up to them. \_ Which one of you two Sheilas fancies a shag? The two girls look at each either looking a little uncertain for a couple of seconds and one of them says: \_ Weeeell, it’s not what I had in mind but you’ve talked me into it, you smooth-talking bastard! ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/104 "2003-09-25T18:51:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mhendo \* > \*\*No, no, no. > > It’s “Are you _awake_?” > > And if you’re a Tasmanian, it’s “Are you awake, mum?” > > 😃 \*\* A Tasmanian gal, Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, is about to marry the Danish crown prince, become crown princess and the next queen of Denmark. Should we be absolutely terrified? How do you guys hang on down there on the bottom of the Earth? Do some of you sometimes fall off? - Rune ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/105 "2003-09-25T19:40:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WinstonSmith \* > \*\*How do you guys hang on down there on the bottom of the Earth? Do some of you sometimes fall off? > > - Rune \*\* Hey, it’s not Australia that’s on the bottom. [Link](http://www.flourish.org/upsidedownmap/hobodyer-large.jpg) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/106 "2003-09-25T22:44:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lightnin’ \* > \*\*Every living animal and plant in Australia is lethally poisonous, and wants nothing more than for you to die an agonizing death. \*\* So is the ominous silence in response to this post to be taken as an affirmative? I’ve heard that funnel-web spiders can actually bite through shoe leather!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/107 "2003-09-26T12:11:42Z")
Don’t the drains all swirl in the opposite direction down there? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/108 "2003-09-26T12:13:37Z")
We can’t tell because we are busy washing in the opposite direction. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/109 "2003-09-26T12:46:41Z")
The water does flow funny down there. When Australia’s flush the toilet, instead of swirling one way, it spouts water upward. It’s call the Australian Bidet 😃 Shirley’s thoughts on Down Under: When every Aussie is finished cattle ranching, running over Caine Toads, drinking loads of beer, hunting kangaroo and croc’s, they are mining for opals or surfing. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/110 "2003-09-26T13:21:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shirley Ujest \* > \*\*When every Aussie is finished cattle ranching, running over Cane Toads, drinking loads of beer, hunting kangaroo and croc’s, they are mining for opals or surfing. \*\* This post reminds me: If you want to see a reeeeeeaaallly funny film about Australia, check out the documentary “Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.” It had me in stitches. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586/111 "2003-09-26T13:28:42Z")
**Mhendo** that is where I got the Caine Toad image from. I had a nice beer buzz whilst watching this at an art house fest. And, by the by, I heard a blurb on this some time back and it’s always niggled me. That lady who claimed her child was stolen by dingoes ( A Cry in the Dark) …I heard that they found remains of a human in the area that the baby was suppose to be near…any futher info on this? Did this woman ever get a better hair cut than the one Meryl Streep had in the movie? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-australia/202586.md?page=5)