Ryan Davis

Feel free to move this topic wherever. I live in America and have talked to people from Austrailia and it seems so bad-*** to live there. They say there are no organized gangs, no epidemics, everyone is very chill and it's like one huge California.

Is this true. I'm also into joining the military but I was wondering if anyone could give me some info or websites about Austrailia and it's service and how it's like.

Thanks.

zuff

hmm.. i don't think that's anywhere near the reality!

But then again i've been told that you have to dodge the kangaroos through the middle on George st (Main st in Sydney).

soz... don't know any sites. Try a google search.

apsilon

aaarrrrrr.... I just had this long post typed out, reached for the mouse and accidently clicked "reset form".

I'll add more detail later but if you have any particular areas of interest let me know and I'll find some info to point you to. One possible starting point is www.australia.gov.au

Organised gangs? Yes, but not on the scale of the US.
Epidemics? What type? Probably doesn't matter as I can't think of any that we have?
Relaxed? Yep. We have a very multicultural population. We do of course have all of the same problems that any western developed nation has.

Joining whose military? Ours? I imagine you'd have to live here and become a citizen first. Keep in mind our military is small compared to US. You have more people in your forces than we have in the entire country. www.defence.gov.au might be a place to start.

apsilon

Shh, Zuff. Don't tell them about the roos, or the drop bears.

ELL.21

We have 350Z's over here, i think that is a very important factor

nang3

those f'n dropbears are a menace !!! luckily the roo i ride to work is fast enough to dodge the cheeky cobbers..

zuff

I tell you i'm gonna vote for the next polli who brings out a policy to cull those crocodiles in Sydney harbour.

Found one sleeping in my tent when I got back from work.... bloody bugger!

apsilon

Don't forget the snakes. We had a brown snake strike at a friend last weekend who mistook it for a stick (easy enough to do when your riding a mountain bike at speed down a trail).

Come to think of it, pretty much everything here is poisonous or otherwise dangerous. Something that should be mentioned to visitors.

scathing

On a more serious note, from my understanding the lifestyle is closest to California (given the weather and the "beach culture" that comes from having the overwhelming majority of your population living on the coast).

The pace here is slow compared to the big metropolitan centers I visited in the US (which was SF, LA, and Vegas). I found Americans to be a pretty friendly bunch, so there's not much difference in the approachability of people.

You don't get the same kind of organized gangs that you do in the US. There is organised crime and there are gangs, but if you put the toughest gangs in Australia into south central LA, they'd probably crap their pants.

Most of the Americans I speak to who visit here love it. They all think that while there's a decent work ethic down here, its not as dog-eat-dog as in the US and the priorities here are about having a good life, rather than just a successful career.

zuff

Wonder if they have surf rage over in CA?

Bad enough we have box jellyfish up in QLD we gotta contend with the new "this is my wave" mentality...

But yeh, I guess with less people to share the surf it's gotta be better than CA.