I mentioned to Xbox that it had been freezing here lately and that there would likely be a frost in the morning. He seemed surprised and said that you don’t tend to think of Australia and cold in the same sentence.
Now, what I want to know, is that true? Do people from other countries really assume that Australia is like a tourist pamphlet? You know, Bondi Beach and kangaroos hopping in front of setting suns?
(I am not being nasty here, I am honestly curious of your impressions of Australia in general. The stereotype if you will)
I think personally that America is too large to have a stereotype for me, but others might disagree.
Canada, I always think of masses of snow and Ice Hockey (I had a Canadian teacher once who loved ice hockey and lived in a snowy area. Go figure).
India – I think of crowded streets, food vendors and not great living conditions.
Britain – Rain. Dismal grey streets and buildings (I probably watch too much TV)
…etc etc. Do you see what I mean though? Some places seem to carry stereotypes with them and I am honestly curious to know what stereotypes live in your heads.
[Hopefully enough people from different countries decide to visit me today, or this post will need a fail sticker slapped on it]
Fess up!
Oh and just for Xbox, here are some photos of the [lack] of snow we got this morning. All the hills were covered, but unfortunately none settled for us.
You pose an interesting question Veronica. I never thought about it a lot, but after pondering, I realize that I have never thought of Australia as a place that can be cold and/or snowy. I’ve always pictured it as hot and desert like.
Wow, I am super un-enlightened, I suppose.
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No! You aren’t unenlightened at all! If I had to base my ideas of Australia on just the tourism things that I see about, I would think the same things.
Now for my shameful confession: All my stereotypes of Australia come from the movies Crocodile Dundee and Quigly Down Under, so crocodiles, eccentric country folk, silently but wise aboriginal tribs, lots of sun and dust.
Americans are fat gluttons, who love cheeseburgers and video games, if you’re looking for a stereotype. Sadly, it’s kinda true.
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Cool!
I’d consider myself fairly well versed on this kind of thing but I always assumed Winter in Australia amounted to a few chilly wet days.
You are right about Britain though.
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Oh, what a timely post!
We are planning a trip to New Zealand & have done research on weather. I was shocked to find that the temps were so cold in June/July! I DID have that “brochure” image of New Zealand & Australia. That is so funny…
I live in Texas & everyone always assumes we all have horses, live on ranches, drive trucks, wear cowboy boots. We do none of the above 🙂
Yup! I ttally think of it like a pamphlet. You got me its totally true. Dont you have a Joey in your back yard?
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What Jenni says: “crocodiles, eccentric country folk, silently but wise aboriginal tribes, lots of sun and dust.” Until I started reading another Australian blogger and she exclaimed it was cold and there was frost everywhere one day, I thought the same thing. Never occurred to me that there would be snow down under!
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I think of Australia as a kind of upside down Canada. Where you are getting the cold, we on the east coast have been sweltering. Your daytime is my nighttime.
We had a hard winter this time in Canada, but the summer is hot, and the humidity is killer. Today, it’s sunny and hot, but dry. I can live with that.
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That’s what I used to think, until I saw The Piano. I never would have imagined such a landscape. Of course that’s New Zealand. But I grew up in California and worked in the tourism field, so I experienced this firsthand. People would get mad if it was cold or if it rained, they really thought that California was always hot and sunny. And they thought everything was supposed to be on the beach (a 2 hour drive for us), and that they’d be tripping over celebrities. But the schools here aren’t very good about teaching anything about other countries. We might learn about your system of government or your natural resources, but it pretty much ends there.
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I definitely buy into all those stereotypes. I don’t know if I’m proud of that, or not, but I do.
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I love reading and seeing the pics that you post because it does help learn about you and your country… which is very beautiful! I live in northern Arizona at 7400ft elevation. Everyone thinks that it gets hot here like in southern Arizona – Phoenix, Tuscon. But it only gets to about 90 on the really hot days and we get lots of snow from about November til March or April. This year we had snow in May!
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Mmmfmmm… hang on… mmmmff..
OK. I just stuffed down another cheeseburger, side of fries and milkshake to answer your question.
When I was a little kid, “moving to Australia” was a saying that meant that you were in SO much trouble that you’d better get reallllly far away where no one will ever find you. Then when I was nine, we were going to move there! To a foreign country! I imagined a place with no rights (I mean, they don’t have the sacred “Constitution,” so therefore it MUST be a horribly backward place… keep in mind I was nine…) and Redcoats on the beach marching in a straight line.
Then I heard, as if it would somehow allay my fears, that it was really settled by the British. Ah! The guys in the top hats and monacles saying, “Cheerio” all the time. No. English PRISONERS. Ruffians who will kill you for a loaf of bread!
Greaaaat. Redcoats AND hangings on the beach.
It wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. Honestly, I found the folks to be very nice to “the American.” I thought the uniform policy was a bit repressive, but when I came back to the States I had no clue how to dress, so it’s just as well the schools had them.
OH! And I have to say in *my* experience, it’s true Aussies drink a lot. Once my mother was HORRIFIED that my 8-year-old brother (this was after living in Aus. for a bit; he’s 4 years younger) had found my parents’ liquor cabinet and he and all his friends got smashed! It was the most amazing awful thing for my mom to have to call the other parents to pick up their boys. The parents all thought it was FUNNY! And said things like, “She’ll be right, mate!” about it!
In America, you would not believe the trouble she’d have gotten into with the police and everyone else!!! Here the boys went home for a good sleep and it was laughed about. My poor mother was beside herself LOL!
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I’m afraid most of us Americans share the same image of Australia. Arid outback, dingoes, kangaroos and crocs. Or beautiful beaches full of bouncing boobs. Most of us don’t know that Taz is an island. I only do because of you and your Mum (I almost said MOM).
I am so glad I know better, now.
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I find Americans really only know about their own country or countries that they tend to visit alot. I’m from Canada so that means very close to the States but almost every person I have ever met knows nothing about Canada, they all think it’s cold and there is lots of snow all the time. Well yes it’s like that up north close to Alsaka and in the far north, no place I have ever been. Where I lived in Nova Scotia it has the very same weather as New York always! As for hockey yes I love it but that means nothing ,not everyone there loves it in fact lots of people have never watched it, my parents both never liked it but I love it! I personally think almost any place you go is about the same as other places and each place does have things that might not be found somewhere else but there is always some other place on earth that is kinda like it. All places have beautiful spots ,some you just have to look harder to find them. Well that’s enough of my rambling,sorry. Hope you are having a good day!
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I’m with Jenni: I think of Australia as Sun, Dust, and Dry grass.
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LOL, I’d like to think that I know a bit about Oz. so yes, I know about the extreme weather.
It’s freezing here in South Africa too at the moment.
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I guess im one of those who was stereotyping , i know Australia had its Winters and Summer seasons but did figure it was still lovely beach weather all year round really (i mean in the Aussie soaps it never changes much).
Your view of Britain? Um imo is pretty close to the real thing
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I used to think of it that way, but then I actually looked at a map and saw how close to the Antarctic Australia is to it!
I do usually picture Oz as being like something from Home and Away though…
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Hmm, interesting question. I was all ready to jump in and say that I didn’t stereotype australia at all. Then I was a bit more honest with myself and thought back to before I’d been – yes, I thought it was all red desert and Bondi beach. You’re pretty much spot on about the UK though!
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I never thought of Australia getting snow, but I figured it probably had its bouts of cold/chilly weather.
I, too, live in Texas. The two or some times I’ve been to Europe, I was asked if I owned a horse and a gun. No and no!
cool pics..
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I went to school in America for six weeks and it was around the time that Crocodile Dundee came out (1988)So there were alot of questions about kangaroos in the street and knives and stuff. It was funny and cool all at once. The really weird thing was that the girls who I was sitting with thought my ability to speak english was amazing!
I had a pretty weird view of America though, school in particular. It was nothing like I imagines, although the cafeteria was just like you see in the movies.
The other thing that amazed me at the time was how many 15 year old girls were called Jennifer! There must have been some really famous Jennifer back in 1972 or something because, I swear, out of a group of ten girls, five of them were Jen, Jenny, Jennifer…
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I don’t know…I guess I always thought Australia was pretty hot and sunny – like Southern California. To me, it’s more weird that you are having winter while I’m DYING over here in the heat! It sounds like you have the same weather we have here (cold winters, HOT summers), just opposite.
And yes, don’t kangaroos roam the street and carry little babies (like human babies) in their pouches; aren’t kangaroos the little “nannies” of Australia? Tee hee – just kidding!
YES, I do think of Australia as sunny, beautiful with kangaroos everywhere. Rationally I know it isn’t like that but I only have what I see in the movies to deal with.
When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was about a kid who was having a REALLY bad day, and he kept saying, “I think I’ll move to Australia.” Though that just says he wanted to get as far away as possible…
Canada is also a HUGE country, though you’re right – a large part of it is really cold for most of the year… it does get brutally hot too though. And then there’s Vancouver, which is similar to CA and doesn’t have huge weather extremes.
Britain – I’ve only been there for about 6 weeks total, and it did rain a lot, but it wasn’t gray and dismal all the time really. I liked the weather there.
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I know it snows in Australia, but ONLY because of a long-running correspondence that sadly ended years ago with an Aussie (from a cross-stitch newsgroup).
Oh, and Shortman’s plans to move there someday.
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When I think of Australia, I think of Dot In the Pouch…did you ever see that movie? I don’t think it was very big over here but it was my favorite when I was a kid. So I don’t think I hold the stereotypes too closely, but like Tara, I have a hard time believing that it’s WINTER for you right now when it’s SWELTERING here. And that whole Christmas-in-summertime thing blows my mind too. Overall I wonder how many of our general stereotypes about places have to do with our inability to grasp what it’s like to live in that other climate…hm…
Very interesting debate!
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As a Pom now living in the SW of WA I still think the winters are much milder here where I live than the UK but I deliberately didn’t go to Tas or any of the inland ares in the Southern half of Oz when we made the big move. I knew they got COLD winters lol! However I’m finding that each year I feel the cold more and can only assume that my blood is getting thinner with each passing Summer. Christmas I find very difficult as 40C just doesn’t work for me, it’s the only time I get nostalgic for the UK. But, hey, it’s only for two days out of each year, other than that, I wouldn’t go back if you paid me! For those who haven’t been to the UK, the sun does shine occasionally and it even gets hot sometimes but much of the time it is grey, dismal and chilly and, despite drought warnings, it rains quite a lot!
our house was covered in ice last night.
*goes off to find more blankets*
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South Australia is listed as the driest state in the driest continent (Australia), but last week there were small falls of snow in the Adelaide Hills, from Crafers through to Mount Barker. None in Adelaide, but the air was plenty frosty in the pre-dawn hours when I was walking to work.
I actually knew you had cold weather. Go me, I smart. I also knew that your summer/winter schedules were opposite of what we have here in the states. Just don’t ask me any math questions.
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Cold, freezing, windy in Melbourne.
No roos charging down Bourke St at lunchtime but I think I could dig up a roo steak for tea 😉 😛
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*snort* tiff’s comment about all girls born in 1972 being Jennifer. YEP. There are a TON of us.
And as far as stereotyping? YES, exactly what Jenni said. And hello… the Outback. Where people go and die of the heat. Does the Outback get snow?
I was reading a budget travel magazine the other day and they have a contest. If you write the winning essay…you can win a trip to Tasmania! One city is Hobart. If I had half a clue what to write for an essay, I’d take a stab at it. But alas, I do not.
Now I’m off to scarf down a burger and fries, and a large coke. ha ha ha…
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I have to admit that when I think of Australia, snow is NOT the first thing that comes to mind. And you’re right about the Canadian stereotypes. Hockey, snow, moose, and Mounties in red jackets. No snow around here in my part of Canada today, though. As I write this it’s a cool 18C – though it’s usually 30C at this time of year. People in other places seem to be unaware that we actually have Summertime here. 🙂
Oi Oi OI !!! dismal….. grey streets ?
You have been watching eastenders !! we are only like this 362 days of the year !! the other 3 we are celebrating beating you aussies at the cricket !! haha i wish !!
i used to think Australia was like bondi beach… then we were lucky enough to go there, it is tiny !! (bondi not australia) also sydney had its biggest hail storm the day we went to the blue mountains !! ( it was freezing there !!
All the best with your nan, I have not commented, but have been reading, you are in our prayers !
all the best Gareth
Yep, I have always thought of Australia just as you had described it. BTW I am in the US.
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