Come and see the Real Thing

Embodying the popular conceptualization of Australian places or characteristics that make something uniquely Australian to visitors.

Can't you find it Footloose? You musn't be looking hard enough :-) Plenty of it around.

No, not the "real" Australia that I grew up in. Endless caravans of 4wders and graffiti artists have gotten into many of the places I once considered remote.
And the characteristics that made one uniquely Australian, appear to be in short supply.

Ahh - there's your problem Footloose. You're looking for things from yesteryear. Sorry mate but change happens - not necessarily for the best, but nontheless it does. So, if you're looking for your version of the real Australia perhaps it will be a bit thin on the ground. But there's still lots of good stuff out there. It's all real - just different to what you recall.

Moose, a fair answer. But what do you speak of these days when you tell people it's the best country in the world? Or has that changed, also.

I don't get to associate with OS visitors much and therefore I have no asnwer to your question. And I haven't been OS (apart from a cruise many years ago) so I can't categorically state that Australia is the best country in the world. I can state that I'm happy being here where we don't have internal wars, serious racial issues, horrible diseases, hunger, dictatorships, outrageous crime statistics, low life expectancy, overcrowding, poor standards of living etc etc. Maybe the old days are gone, but were they really better?

Perhaps the myth was...but the reality certainly wasn't...at least for many of us.
But I'd suggest that we do have serious racial issues, some of us have worse than 3rd world standards of living etc. We do have horrible diseases...and most are in Canberra....hunger? Pockets of it exist, although few die from it here. I'd say that our lifestyle, if you're not sick, old or black....is still enviable by many o/s countries.

Best country in the world ?
Hmmm, how may countries have you visited ? Every place on this planet has it's plus's and minus's, it's what you and the locals make of them that determins your satisfaction level. I like deserts, clean water and solitude, others may like fast cars, fast women and big cities. Each to there own I guess.

How many countries have I visited ? Or lived in ? I've visited many but only lived in 2.

Then consider yourself qualified :-))

OT Kiwi Kia but I had a peek into your Rig & Profile and checked out your photos.
That looks like the type of country I used to hunt chamois deer and pig in. Otago
near the Lindis pass perhaps? or north Canterbury? - it definitely looks south island.
I was based in Cheviot and did my 4WD work thereabouts in a series II, and up the Hurunui rvr
towards the lakes.
Interesting.

T.R.

OT T-Ribby,
Above Omarama, Foxton Beach, West Coast gold mines (Greymouth), Mt Pisa between Cromwell & Cardrona. Great 4wd areas, come over and try them :-))

R.

Hey Kiwi, so yer from down that a way eh ! Beaut country. Been down as far as Christchurch, West Coast, Arthers Pass, Marlbourgh Sounds. Brilliant....
Me, Im from the other side of the "Ditch". Kapiti Coast... Done most of my playin' Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Coromandel Peninsula.

Lionel.

Kiwi Kia. Been there done that, bagged hundreds of bunnies as well. Took part in the first & second great easter bunny shoots out of Alexandra. Spotting at night in some of that steep hill country real gripping stuff. Had the most fun on Bendigo station. You're right, it's a great area at any time. Go the Crusaders.

Looks like Lionel comes from the best parts of the north island - good country that, lots of 4WD bush bashing.
cheers
T.R

WA? I thought that place was full of backpackers and mining prices LOL

Over here, the ads seem to all be about the NT with clever stuff life adveNTure and eNTertaining.

Still plenty of wide open spaces in WA, and lots of roads you can away from the stream of "grey nomads".

Motherhen, I was in WA a year ago.
Perth is just a concete jungle :)
The roads were full of grey nomads
Few poeple smiled any more

Perth a concrete jungle ??? would have to contest that !!! I've been over a lot of this planet , and Perth would have to be one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen , but then if you've really been here then you would have to be winding us up to say something like that ..................

Perhaps a bit too severe, but it was an observation with a smiley after it. Perhaps I was contrasting it with the Perth of yesteryear, where you couldn't get lost on the Freeway off a freeway off a freeway :))

Yes it is but besides perth and the southwest which make up very little of WA the real thing is out there. Trust me ive worked there where you can drive round for weeks hardly coming accros tracks let alone other people

Once spent four 'n half months prospecting north of Laverton in WA. Never saw a human being out there once.

Only time I spoke with anyone was when I went into Laverton for fuel 'n food.

There's millions of square kms of WA in which you can literally vanish without a trace.

Footloose - ,,,,,,,,,"caravans of 4WDers everywhere,,,,,,,,,,'

So what do you do? Walk?

Bilbo

Well yes, Perth is a concrete jungle and people pass by without a smile - only go there if we really have to. Like last week - a specialist appointment in South Perth (now that is not too bad, the area south of the river). Worked till lunch time, drove to Perth in time for late afternoon appointment and straight back that evening. That was more than enough city for this year. But compared to the big cities like Melbourne, it is a nice country town. Country towns are still quite friendly, the south west and wheat belt have plenty of areas to get away from it all - and as Davoe and Bilbo have said - there is plenty of vastness out there to get away from everyone. Wonderful.

All that vastness
Nearly got run over on the GJT...2 vehicles behind me ...but I didn't see anyone until I got out to savour the remote locality (to take a nature break actually)
30 people at Well 33 on the CSR
2 parties on the Kidson the day after me. Nearly ran into a grader on the west end!
80 mile beach ...like sardines in a can
Great Northern....end to end traffic coming north for holidays.
Hmm......

well Footy if your gonna kick around the tourist areas with the hourds youve gotta expect company. I can show you some of Australias best beaches and theres plenty of room either side of you. can also show you tracks where finding others would be the hard part.
You dont see me boxed in at that waterhole do you- actually i saw no one in the 2 days i drove the track - Even camped on it

Davoe, well when ya travel 3K km to get there, ya don't have much choice :)) Anyway on my map WA is getting to be pretty much like the NT. Off limits or tresspasses will be persecuted :) So many mines its hard not to run over one. Yes there are places without people, but as an ignorant east coaster it's difficult to work out if it's really isolated, or if the bus just hasn't arrived :))

Gee Footy, you certainly know how to set yerself up fer a hiding,,,,,,,,,,,

You go on about wanting wilderness, wide open spaces etc and yet you seem to go to "tourist places" - CSR, 80 Mile Beach etc. These places have more traffic than Collins St in Melbourne during the rush hour. Even my beach 180 meters from my front door has less people on it than 80 Mile beach and I live just 40kms south of Fremantle. Do you really know where wilderness is? Cos it's no longer on the CSR - apparently. Drifting OT fer a while, I dunno why people do the CSR, I know a hundred more remote places that are far more appealing.

So in giving WA a verbal bashing about being a minesite, unfriendly and having no out of the way places, you choose to bring up major tourist spots as examples. Brilliant logic!!

Helpful hint? Buy a map.

Another helpful hint? Study that map.

But yer a typical "Eastern Stater". Jealous. It's high time us Sandgropers got that "Secession Chainsaw" out again and sliced it down the border between SA, NT and the WA border.Then push like buggery. We've got the lot. A full house, a royal flush with aces, four of a kind. Minerals, metals, gas, oil, wheat, cattle, sheep, WATER, very few people and almost no Cane Toads!

,,,,,,,,,,"but as an ignorant east coaster" - you said it not me,,,,,,,," it's difficult to work out if it's really isolated, or if the bus just hasn't arrived :))",,,,,,,,,

I know someone whose bus hasn't arrived,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Stay home if ya don't like it over here. Just don't slag it.

Bilbo

Bilbo, you certainly know how to hurt a guy LOL
No wonder you spend your time away from people. You just have to have a go.
I crossed the CSR, didnt travel on it at all.
80 mile beach was overnighter, not a destination.
And if you call the Kidson Track a "tourist place" then I suspect that you've never been near there.
I call it as I see it, if you can't handle it then it's obvious what bus you're on.
I said I wasn't an expert on WA, wheras you appear to be an expert on everything.

As for slagging anything, thats only your perception. Bit defensive are we ? Must come from the isolation LOL
Now if you take the time to read, instead of just jumping in at the deep end, you'll find that I wasn't slagging off at all..merely pointing out that like the rest of Australia, it's changed.

Don't start again, Footy,,,,,,,,,,you got murdered last time.

Bilbo

Who started what Mr Bilbo? Not me. You waded in and got bogged as usual.

And if I got murdered last time it was only because I didn't expect it to be a personal slanging match...but I have since rectified that perception.

Kidson tracks well written up in numerous national magazines - that makes it a tourist destination. the mere fact you have heard of it from the east shows that.
I wouldnt expect to go to frazer Island and have the place to myself

I get paid to work in places in WA where you don't come across another soul for days at a time. And the scenery is great and I get paid to bash around in a fourby and I get stuck occasionally and.....and.....

This is where the real Australia is still like it was always. I'm retiring in 5 weeks and I'm going out to see a whole lot more of it.

I was thinking the 'real Australia' as we romanticise it, would be found in Central Australia - but will it be safe, with the darts flying across the country between Footloose and Bilbo?

Motherhen, I apologise for giving the wrong impression. I'm really a nice guy till someone gets up my nose. I have met very few people that I can't get along with, but for some reason several are on EO.
Part of the problem is that the heading was "Come and see the real thing", which of course is a WA promo, and then I said hey there's too many changes/people. So Bilbo jumped in and had a go, to protect his WA. If he'd have read on a bit , he would have realized that I love the place, just hate the things that don't appeal to me. And that goes for any state, especially my own.
Unlike Bilbo I recognize that I'm hardly an expert, even after visiting for 20 years. I've seen it change. We've all seen changes, and my post was meant to reflect this, not to be an exercise in either Footloose or Bilbo bashing.

Oh well Footloose, it seems safe to travel now.

Early night? You must both be exhausted after the long post last night.

hi motherhen

Bought a few mags recently re caravans of course. Don't usually buy them but got 3 for price of 1.

Gazza the thinker has been using them as his toilet stop education ever since i got them.

End result!!!!!!! Been researching on the net re bushtrackers .
not just any bushtracker but the biggest one he can lay his hands on. (Funny how our perfectly good van has been alright up until now)

I guess the end product of the toilet reading (pardon the pun) is that he wants to go see all those offbeat places that all of the above people have been avidly discussing.

Loves his own privacy and his outdoor toilet seat and shovel ): Ally

Hi Ally - IF you let him read this reply -

Gazza, there was a 24' BT on eBay not long ago. I don't know if it sold. It appeared to have been used on site for accommodation and had done only 2,000 kms. A bit big for my taste in travel - a good home though. He was also selling his tow vehicle, a Cheyenne Ute.

Meanwhile a few 18 footers have come up for sale recently; more recent and with more features than ours - they usually last about 2 day before being snapped up! Although my Rooster would like one around 20' I find the 18' ideal with plenty of space for living and storage, yet easy to tow and manouvre in the bush (we have been caught when the track just stops!). We will be more limited with the extra length now we have the F250 anyway, but know we have way more than enough power to get out of trouble if we land in it - not to mention all the recovery gear he is collecting after reading a few 4WD mags. Dangerous things, these magazines!

When my husband first saw a BT, and looked at the chassis - it was a BT or nothing - never again travel with the wind-up. Now our daughter, partner and littlies find the little old wind up van great for holidays and weekends away (not taking it on the very rough roads we did).

Our elected representatives in Canberra seem keen to promote that idea....but have we really changed? Is that just an urban myth these days ?
We seem happier to pay fees to see National Parks than we are to apply for a permit to travel through other places...what does that tell us ?

Drive down any road and you won't find too many examples of laid back attitudes any more.

About 8 years ago I thought most of the West Coast was just so typically Australian. The people I met were so nice it was difficult to believe that I came from the same planet. I suffered culture shock when I arrived home on the east coast.

Now it seems to be almost like most other places in Oz...a slave to the almighty $ and time management.

"The people are what makes it real", fair enough. But do we still have those qualities that we've trumpeted on the world stage for years...equality..a fair go....mateship...etc etc etc ?
Or have we changed ?

And if we're such a diverse mob with such a huge difference in views on things, what glues us all together? Is it not the "romantic" notion or fantasy of things that we hold to be uniquely Australian ?

'..what glues us all together? Is it not the "romantic" notion or fantasy of things that we hold to be uniquely Australian'

Absolutely Footloose that is what glues us together. All I would suggest is that what truly makes us uniquely Australian in reality, might be different from the popular (romantic?) vision.

Have we changed? I would say yes, and we need to in order to grow and develop. It is a good question to ask if the concepts of equality, mateship, a fair go, etc are still there. I would hope so. But coupled with changing concepts of who we are and our place in the world.

We always have a good laugh at foreign tourists who come here with a wierd view of what Australia is actually like. Sometimes I wonder if we are not guilty of the same misconceptions ourselves as it relates to our national identity and culture.

Interesting discussion though.

Matt.

"Sometimes I wonder if we are not guilty of the same misconceptions ourselves as it relates to our national identity and culture. "
I suspect that you have hit the nail on the head.
An excellent reply, thank you.

A Great Answer Matt.
We Have changed, but when the hits the fan, we still tend to see the best side of people. Tourists who were in areas where distasters have struck who pitch in and help. My Daughter has just arrived home after 4 years OS, via South east Asia. She was in the part of Thailand that was hit by the tidal wave. She passed on comments from locals how were amazed that Australian that were in the area at the time, go in & helped however they could while other tourists from Western Europe just wanted to get back onto the beach, in some cases while bodies were still bring recovered.
I live in the Blue Mountains, and in times of fires, we have people come out of the wood work to help. The only qualifier I will put on this is that they seem to be my age or older, so maybe we are changing.
Vince

Now there's a country I havent been to, Tasmania :))

Met a few from there on the roads here...the most dangerous touros around.
But I'm sure the locals are great.
One even explained the scar on shoulder joke to me, I'd never heard of it before.:))

haha footy,
I've had that one played on me before except is was "I'll show you where the dog bit me!!"

,,,,,,,,,"Now there's a country I havent been to, Tasmania :))

Don't go Footy, you'll ruin it, singlehanded!

Bilbo

Bilbo, I suggest that you leave humour to those with a sense of humour.

Footy,

You wouldn't know the difference between "humour" and "tumour".

Like I said, you got murdered last time,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Bilbo

Bilbo, do I detect a certain whiff of burnt clutch here ?
Try the reverse gear, you'll feel much better .

Grumpy Old Men - live on a PC near you hahahahahaha

So do you think that we're throwing the baby out with the bathwater ?
I'm not disagreeing, merely asking. One of the great things about this counytry, as far as I can see, is that we can all disagree with each other without fearing a knock on the door in the middle of the night.

Correction, I should not have said it no longer exists I should have said the Real Australia is dying. Yes one of the great things about this country is we can disagree with each other and don't get the knock on the door. But for how much longer will we have the freedom to disagree. Someone stands up and says we are one nation and should act that way and if you don't like it pack your bags and get out and she is branded a white supremacist. Some preschools [ one that my wife worked at ] have band Santa and Nativity scenes as they may offend. Every day there is another nail driven into the coffin of the real Australia and the majority of those saying it has got to stop are over 50, sadly they will one day not be here to say stop and then it will be to late.

All part of the globalization process I guess. Once again its all the way with the almighty dollar. Offer me money and I'll vote any way you want. We get the Govt we deserve, I guess. And with our hip pocket cargo cult mentality, it's easy to forget that we spend most of our lives on our knees being politically correct, whatever that means.

I retract what I said about you

. . . and I just splurted coffee on my keyboard! :o)

Hope your keyboard freezes up

I followed your link and read with more disgust than interest. With people such as The Publican living here know wonder I think the real Australia is in dying. I can only hope he has moved to the USA or worse.

Maybe he moved to Virginia?

Yeah, great, Daza,,,,,,,,,,,

But what if the wife finds out,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Bilbo

Bugger !!! I agree with you :)))) Must be a beard thing.

Maybe we should get of our Arses turn the Computer of, and go outside and
see if the real AUSTRALIA IS STILL HERE.

HAD A LOOK ITS ALL AOKAY.

Cheers Daza.

If you genuinely feel that way and aren't just a hypocitical, middle class prat, why haven't you jumped on your bike and gone 'home'.

Put up or shut up. You're either a man of principal or not. Full stop.

V8

This is my home. The same as it is the home of those whose families lived here before the white man.
Read my response below to Kevern.

R.

Viv, that's what I always thought it was. But just looking at some of the responses, it seems that those must be old fashioned notions that somehow got thrown out of the window when we joined the rest of the ratrace.
I hope I'm wrong.
I really really hope I'm wrong.

Thanks for that response, Craig. I'll bet few of them were CEO's :)) It's easy in these times to overlook the number of ordinary people in this country who step up to the plate when it's needed; often at great expense and inconvenience or danger to themselves.

"I'll bet few of them were CEO's"..... I wouldn't be too sure, I recognised a couple out there, a past chairman of Bonlac for starters. Now Greeny's.........I didn't see too many of them though ;-)
Cheers Craig.............

Craig, I was in the volunteer business for a long time, and I never saw one. My experience was that those with the least to give, be it in time or resources, usually gave the most.

Totally agree, but I might not find it so easy to draw that line if I were black I guess. What do we need ? A Bill of Rights or similar, to guarentee that from this day forward everyone moves in the same direction with the same opportunities ?
Hmm...tough one.

Oh Kevern, I think you've misread the intention of my response.

To say that the real Australia has somehow died is more a comment of our own age then a comment on the state of the country.

Australia is defiantely different to what it was 30 years ago. Back then, when some of some of us were young, free, full of dreams and ambitions, Australia (and life) was the bees knees. Now that those people are getting on in life, and their freedom has been exchanged for work / kids / grandkids. The dreams have have hit reality and ambitions have been either fullfiled or dissolved.

Back then, staying up till early morning hours, drinking $2 wine with your mates was great and you hoped it would never end. Now we're very happy to hit the pillow at sunset and wake at sunrise to spend time with the grandkids. You see, things change and they are no less REAL now then they were 30 or 200 years ago. They are just different. If anyone thinks the real australia has died in their life time then imagine how the previous inhabitants felt when white man came. Things change, attitudes change, and most of all we change. It is not any less REAL then before though.

Joh Laws' "keepin, the dream alive" has as much credibility as indigenous elders saying "keepin' the dreamtime alive." It is nothing more then a longing for a romanticised, idealistic notion of a time that never existed. Things were just as real then as they are now.

So my (ironic) comment - "The real Australia died in 1788" was to show that any changes within ones own lifetime, are nothing compared to the coming of white man to this country. Australia is no less real now then it was 200 years ago, let alone 30.

Clear as mud?
R.

p.s. The real australia is - coming to a beachside riot with a BBQ on the back of a ute and handing out snags in a bun with BBQ sauce. That was just beatiful.

Point well made, thanks for the reply.

I can relate to that.
Think of the poor young blokes. Take a girl to the pictures, put your arm around her and get hit with a sexual assault suite.
Smile at that cute gal at the office and get hit with a harrassment suite.
Doesn't have to be proved, it sticks.
Is it any wonder that they're confused, and can't understand what their role in society is anymore ?
Those policy makers and advisors have a lot to answer for !

I have to agree about Broome. As i child, i remember it as a sleepy little town - colourful, with it's mixture of races and pearling history. A few years ago, while in the Plibara, i wanted to go back to Broome - what a disappointment. Now it is worse that sitting in the middle of Northbridge. Crowded, with noisy people who seem to congregate there to party - couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Motherhen, Broome 10 years ago was my favourite spot. We had a great time there. But we could get a camping spot without waiting, there was only 1 resort, and you got chucked out if you weren't relaxed.
These days I suspect that I'd just be swapping one hell-hole for another :))