Carol, you've been a regular here for quite a while now, and I'm courious. I know you live in Oz, are talented with a camera, and like the sea coast. But there are so many things I'm interested in down there. Do you ever go to the "out back"? Have you ever been to Uluru, Aires Rock? Have you ever been to Coober Pedy, eaten bush tucker, seen a wild roo, or cuddled a koala?

Come on, inquireing minds want to know! What's it like on the bottom side of the world? Does water really drain the wrong direction in the toilet? Are the stars backwards, so that the big dipper spills everything out? Do the rosters crow at night?

All kidding aside, I would love to hear more from you and more about where you live. Who knows, Kit and I just might show up on your doorstep someday, wanting the nickle tour! (right after we keep our date with Trish, and visit Helen, and buy Gala her promised hamburger)

-- Lon Frank (E-mail: lgal@exp.net), October 08, 2003

Answers

Hey, Lon! Don't forget we're goin' SURF fishin' too!

Carol, I second Lon's emotion. Tell us what you can. (Please?)

-- (sonofdust@bass.bluefish), October 09, 2003.

Okay Lon, you asked, so don't blame me if this puts you to sleep.

I live in the southern part of the State of South Australia. We have hot summers and cool winters (I wouldn't dare call them cold after reading about Tricia's).

Many of our wildlife are semi-nocturnal and tend to feed after dusk when it's a bit cooler. If you took a walk through the pine forest you might come across a few small grey 'roos and most probably some emus. We also have echidnas (like porcupine), wombats and of course possums, which seem to enjoy partying on my roof at night.

Koalas aren't as cuddly as they appear on postcards, but that's probably because they don't appreciate being dragged down out of the trees to amuse us humans. Given the chance they will bite, scratch or pee on you and who can blame them. They also make a noise similar to a wild pig, which is pretty funny coming from something that looks so cute.

How the heck have you heard of Coober Pedy. It's an opal mining town up north. Much of the accomodation is underground to escape the heat.

Let's see. On the nickle tour you would visit the Blue Lake which is in a volvanic crater and turns a brilliant blue every summer. Then a walk in the pine forest where it is so quiet you can imagine you are the last soul on earth. You would also go underground to see some limestone caves, try a bit of winetasting and take a trip down the coast. If you like crayfish (lobster?), you can buy it fresh from the crayboats in season.

This is all within an hour of my home so Kit could come in my car if you like. That way we can have the music loud and sing all the old 60's stuff till we're hoarse. You might prefer to travel with my hubby and talk about important boy stuff like fishing and beer.

And yes even poor "Orion" is standing on his head.

Oh and Rob we have miles of beach that you can drive a 4WD along to find a good spot for surf fishing.

Okay. Someone else's turn now.

-- Carol (c@oz.com), October 10, 2003.

MORE! Tell MORE! Like, what do people DO there.

-- helen (upside@down.princess?), October 10, 2003.

Oh to be a real princess so I could exercise royal perogative and head for down under and the priceless "nickel tour"!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.ent), October 10, 2003.

Fishing and beer and music? OOooooooooo!!!!! I'd fit in real good ;-)

What kinds of fish do they catch, Carol, do you know? Here we get a real variety depending on the time of year. Most of us like to try and catch Striped Bass, Bluefish, Weakfish (Saltwater Trout) and Flounder, but there are many other species too.

And I like 60's music too but didn't know you did. I always thought the Beatles were about the best band ever, and still think so. I can play and sing most of their songs. I like the Beach Boys and their harmony a lot too. How about you? What 60's music were you referring to?

-- (sonofdust@fish.music), October 11, 2003.

Please forgive my tardiness in replying, been a bit busy lately.

Helen, Aussies are pretty sport mad so they either play or watch cricket and tennis in summer and Aussie Rules (football) all winter. Because of the climate they are outdoor kind of people, you know, beach, BBQ, gardening, get together with friends. That's quite a generalisation though, ie., I've never played any sport and avoid socializing like the plague, but then I've been called "different" more than once in my life. It takes all kinds doesn't it.

Tricia I'm sure you would love Australia because you seem to have a positive attitude to travel and can always see the beauty in whats around you. I think you would especially like our Autumn, usually long, warm, still days.

Rob, I know they catch snapper (when their lucky), mullet, whiting, garfish and the odd small shark and stingray, but I'm not up on fish types.

Yes I enjoy the Beatles, if you know the Blue Album and the White Album they are full of great songs. What instrument do you play? Count yourself lucky you've never heard me sing. AWFUL. But I don't care, I just play it loud so I can't hear myself and jig around the house doing the cleaning. What a picture!

I have always wanted to listen to some Blues music, but haven't had the opportunity until recently. On a trip to the city I bought a double CD set of all different Blues singers. WOW. Take a bow U.S. You own the Blues. I've never bought a CD on spec before and liked so many songs straight off. I feel like I found a whole new world.

If Gayla is out there, photographing Central Australia would be a whole new challenge. The light is so different, very harsh. But the desert is red and the sky is vivid blue, so it can produe some stunning images.

Okay I've bored you all enough for now. How about telling me something of your home. Is it city or country, hot or tropical, and where is Lon seeing he dragged me out of my unsociable state to talk for this long?

-- Carol (c@oz.com), October 14, 2003.

Thanks for the reply, Carol.

We have various kinds of snappers here in the States too, though mostly in the warmer waters (like Florida). New Jersey Surf Fishing is good 10 out of 12 months, and if we have safe ice, I can ice fish on the Lake during Winter too.

New Jersey is a small highly-populated state. We have a large urban area bordering the city of New York, which spreads out into suburbs the farther you get away from the city. We have over 120 miles of beautiful coastline for recreation and the Jersey Shore is the state's largest tourist magnet. In the North and West of the state (where I am) we have Forests and a somewhat mountainous region (the famous Appalachian hiking trail runs through here). The middle and southern sections of the state still have lots of small farms; mostly dairy and corn. There is a large 'preserved' tract called the Pine Barrens which is mostly uninhabited pine forest.

New Jersey has always been the butt of jokes, yet people who actually come here are often pleasantly surprised. We have four seasons of weather, every kind of terrain except for desert, Canada is only a few hours drive to the North, and lots of folks go into New York City to work or play since they are our eastern neighbor.

The Statue of Liberty and NYC are two top places people visiting our area always want to see. I may be the only poster here who sometimes went to the Twin Towers (to eat at Windows on the World). I remember like it was yesterday seeing the smoke after the attack, and the smell when the wind changed that one day. People around here live with it everyday. EVERY time I hear a plane I look up... and am reminded of that day. At least once a week I go past a spot where I always used to see the Towers. Now I see nothing. It's a scar that will never heal. I'm just beginning to be able to talk about it. Sorry for bending your ear.

Oh well, where was I? New Jersey, yes. I guess I've said most of it. Oh, we have world class casinos too, in the coastal town called Atlantic City, and we are less than a days' drive from beautiful Niagra Falls. Marie and I talked about going there recently but we ended up going to our other neighboring State, Pennsylvania, instead. We stayed in a section called PA-Dutch country, known for its Amish people (a religious order that does not believe in using electricity, driving cars, etc)

Well, that'll give you some idea anyway.

-- (sonofdust@new.jersey), October 14, 2003.

Hi Rob. Thank you for the lovely picture of New Jersey (or is it New Joisey like they say on TV). I hadn't realized you were so far north, no wonder you have lakes that freeze over. We think we've had a cold night if the car windscreen has ice on it! I'm shall get my map of the US and Canada out tonight and mark where you all are. I will put a red mark for "Robbie Red Socks".

I'm so sorry for your sad memories. The tragedy was so great that it is impossible to come to terms with.

-- Carol (c@oz.com), October 16, 2003.

I'm 62 miles east of the time zone from Eastern to Central.

(Tricia - That's like, you know, something else in them Canadianiainainaianainan units of Celcius per hour you guys use up north.)

34.2 degrees north latitude, W084 degrees, 37 minutes.

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@home.ga), October 16, 2003.

What a lovely technical answer Robert. I'm sure you will appreciate my system of mapping. The lat. & long. lines are 3deg. apart which is about a finger length. So your 1/3 a finger up and 1/6 a finger across which puts you left and up from Atlanta, Georgia. Somewhere round Marietta, Smyrna and Rockmart. Am I close? Please don't name the actual town as I don't believe people should put that much info about themselves on the 'net, but thank you for answering.

-- Carol (c@oz.com), October 17, 2003.

Lettuce see. Lettuce sea.

I work near Marietta, sometimes buying groceries there!

Drop off junk, recylcing stuff, and yard trash at the county center just north of Syrmna, and drive directly through Rockmart when Tom was at Jacksonville State for his band concerts!

Sounds like you nailed it!

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@home.ga), October 18, 2003.

Hmmmm, celcius per hour? Ooookay.

I live at 53degrees 38'North and 113degrees,37' south. No wonder I can never get anywhere on time at the half hour. I'm always 7 or 8 minutes late! :-)

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.ent), October 18, 2003.

Don't feel bad, Tricia. After reading these mathmatical posts I don't know where the hell I live.

poopie.

-- (sonofdust@latitude.attitude), October 18, 2003.

Carries the 6, divides by the square root of cubic zirconia measured in carrots, multiplies by the pi root of the negative beets per sellseeus per radial centimeter ......

-- Robert & Jean Cook (poopie@bermuda.triangle), October 18, 2003.

Carol -

At 173 degrees south, Miss Triss is so far south of the north equator she's back up heading your direction .....

From the other end of the polar bare.

-- Robert & Jean Cook (polarbears@117south.latitude), October 18, 2003.

Hmmmph. So it should be west not south :-( I plead exhaustion - I wrote that this morning after working my second night with very little sleep since thursday. So nyah. :-P

Of course you may have noticed how much more mature I act now that I've had a bit more sleep ;-)...

-- Tricia the Cancuk (jayels@teluspanet.net), October 19, 2003.

Mature? Uh, yes, that's right! And it must mean you're due for a birthday (I don't think you've had a birthday in months!)

(I still don't know where I am)

-- (sonofdust@willneverbe.mature), October 19, 2003.

Hi Tricia. Don't you let those guys needle you. I bet they're all snuggled up in bed while you're out working all night.

Unfortunately I don't have a map with just Canada on and the one I had to use doesn't show the smaller towns (boy Canada is big isn't it). My best guestimate is Edmonton or Ft. Saskatchewan, Alberta. I think you may have mentioned Edmonton in a post at some stage so can't take full credit if I'm right.

Being such a poorly educated soul I am finding this very interesting. For instance you and Rob can drive for less the a day and be in another Country and Robert lives in a State with towns named Rome and Athens, very Meditteranean! I wonder where Aunt Bee's desert is?

-- Carol (c@oz.com), October 19, 2003.

Carol, I think you already know I live in Houston, TX. Lon lives about two hours east of me, but I'm sure it seems like a whole different world over there.

Texas is easy to find. Just find the main part of Mexico and go north. (Many Mexicans are doing just that!)

Houston is the 4th largest city in the United States. The metropolitan area is nearing 5 million people. I don't like living here and will one day move for good. My family moved here when I was 15, then I married, bought a house, etc. What kept us here was my husband's job. (Until just recently... but that's a different story...)

The traffic is horrible, the weather is hot and humid, and the pollution is unbearable. Some people really enjoy large cities, but I'm not one of them.

Other parts of Texas are quite pretty. West Texas has some lovely mountains. South Texas has some lovely beaches. It's a HUGE state. If you travel down Interstate 10 from El Paso to Beaumont, it's 879 miles.

I think I'm the only one here who has been to all 50 of our states. I've seen quite a bit of this country (and 12 others). I would love to visit Australia one day.

Rob, I'm so glad you're finally able to talk about the September 11th tragedy. That's a positive step in the healing process.

I have lots of pictures I could share if I ever got the time... I'll leave you with a few that I have scanned:

This is early morning at Lake McDonald in Montana:

This is Yosemite Falls in California:

This is Yellowstone Falls in Wyoming:

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), October 19, 2003.

Thanks, Carol - and you're in the right area. We're west of Ft.Saskatchewan, and about 10 city blocks from Edmonton.

Gayla, I hate to be the one to pop the Texan bubble, but Texas isn't all that big. Alberta is almost the same size and we're only the fourth province in size, behind Quebec, Ontario and BC. We're also smaller than the North West Territories or Nunavut (Canadian territories which haven't yet achieved provincial status). So if Texas were Canadian, it'd have to be a lot bigger to keep it's status.

Here's a quote about Edmonton (we're in "greater Edmonton"):

"Edmonton is the largest metropolitan centre between Toronto and Vancouver, and Canada's fifth-largest city. Edmonton encompasses 670 square kilometres, making it one of the largest cities, by area, in North America — larger in area than Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. Edmonton's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is 9,537 square kilometres, an area slightly larger than the Mediterranean country of Cyprus! Edmonton is located near the geographic centre of the province of Alberta, a land mass nearly the same size as the state of Texas, almost two times larger than Germany and five times as large as England. Edmonton is near the geographic centre of Canada's western provinces, and the gateway to Canada's North (the main land route to the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Alaska).

Located on the 53rd latitude, Edmonton is a haven for summer and winter activities, with 17 hours of daylight in mid-summer and the magical aurora borealis (Northern Lights) in peak activity in mid-winter.

The millennium edition of Places Rated Almanac rated Edmonton ahead of 317 other major cities in North America, and as one of the top-three places to live in Canada. This was based on a study of North America's largest cities that surveyed at living costs, transportation,job outlook, education, climate, crime, the arts, health care and recreation."

Now if that doesn't draw Lon or J into the conversation, they must be really out of touch ;-D

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), October 19, 2003.

Ya notice all her rivers are falling down?

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@watersdownhill@upnorth.incanada), October 20, 2003.

Your photo's are beautiful Gayla. I especially like the lake in Montana and now I even know that's up near Canada. Have you ever thought of offering your pics to a stock firm? That's where a lot of mags. & travel firms get their advertising images from. You just get paid whenever someone uses one of yours. The guy that owned the photo of the "Windows Clouds" earned plenty.

You will be shocked to know that I never realised that Texas had coastline. I always thought it was somewhere in the middle of the US. I understand how you feel about the humidity. I love the heat, but can't stand humid weather. It just seems to drain the energy right out of you. If you could choose, which State would you like to call home?

Wow Tricia. 17 daylight hours in summer and the Northern Lights in winter. I could handle that, but the cold winters would finish me for sure. I spent the first three years of my life in England and nearly died of double pneumonia when I was two.

Lol Robert. I don't reckon there'd be too many salmon swimming up those streams.

Hey Poopie. Don't worry about lat. & long. On my map you've got the whole of New Jersey.

-- Carol (c@oz.com), October 21, 2003.

Really?

Oh, Ok. I feel better now (and I know where I am finally).

I think that there are only 2 rivers in North America that flow south to North; the one by Niagra Falls and the one that goes thru the Grand Canyon. All others flow north to south.

-- (sonofdust@north.south), October 21, 2003.

??

The one that goes throuh the Grand Canyon (Colorado) starts in Colorado, and it tries to end in the "sea" south of CA behind the Baja pennisula.

But CA and Los Angeles pumps so much water out that it is barely a trickle by the time it hits Mexico.

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@home.ga), October 21, 2003.

Guess that sorta means it flows "up" towards the mountains between LA and the Mojave Desert, and "up" into the atmosphere....

(My dad built the tunnels that the water over the mountains!

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@home.ga), October 21, 2003.

How can tunnels go over the Mountain? Don't tunnels go under things? Unless the flow was from up to down and then the water would be higher at the start as it went south and it would continue going South until it was really down (in the tunnel) and then it might be able to be pumped back up North. But if the tunnel was over the mountain then this would be reversed.

I think.

-- (sonofdust@up.down), October 21, 2003.

Wellllllllllllllllll, it's actually the other way around backwards.

The tunnel goes up and over the mountain, but the mountain goes north and south while the water in the tunnel goes from to east and west, except that the river goes from north to south parallel to the mountains.

But the tunnel is really round, so the water goes straight - up and down while it goes straight, that is.

Unless it's in a pump, then it goes up in the bottom, and around and around, then out sideways in a different direction, except higher.

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@home.ga), October 22, 2003.

Oh, ok. That's much clearer now. Thanks for the explanation. (I knew there had to be a pump in there somewhere :-)

-- (sonofdust@over.under), October 22, 2003.

Ummmm, Rob, the reason the Hudson Bay company got so much land is that the king of England at the time (one of the Georges, I think) promised them all the land surrounding the rivers that flowed into Hudson Bay. It's a huge amount of land, and most of the rivers that flow into the bay flow north at least some of the time (they meander alot - like my thoughts). And I'm sure there are more than two rivers that empty into the Arctic Ocean... they'd all be flowing north, too. Maybe you should re-check your atlas.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), October 22, 2003.

One of the Georges?

Like, man, is that accurate, or what?

(Heck It's better than the old who, to prevent a war between Spain and Portugal, divided the Atlantic Ocean in two (without a map of South America handy - since it hadn't been explored yet!) and gave everything east of his line to Portugal, and everything west of the line to Spain.

So Spain got ALL of South America (gold and land and silver abd\\nd people Did I mention gold and silver too?) and Central America and the Southwest US.

Portugal got the tip of Brazil. And millions of acres of swampy Amazon forest under water half the year!

(Sorry Carol - Australia didn't exist yet.)

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@home.ga), October 25, 2003.

So, did ya know the name of that pope, Robert??? One of the Johns perhaps ;-D

And the hubris of the european to take ownership of parts of the world unexplored by european, but already settled land still amazes me. I just wonder how they got pushed out of the equatorial areas in the first place.

Has there ever been a case of lower technology winning out over higher technology? Perhaps in Vietnam? Although the Viet Cong had reasonably good technology, I don't think it quite equalled the US's did it?

You may have caught on to the fact that history was not my forte in school.... :-) I think I majored in fun :-D

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), October 25, 2003.

Funny thing about that war - The US troops (NOT South Vietnamese troops!) had won every battle (yep- including the tet Offensive - won on TV only), but finally and irrevokably lost when they and the Air Force were pulled out of the country from Washington.

The North Vietnamese (regular Army battalions and regiments, complete with tanks and trucks and cannon!) beat the SV Army handily once the US was pulled out. The irregular VC were a factor (debilitating and irritating, but not decisive)throughout the war in the South, but were not present in the final battles.

I'm thinking you'd have to go all the way back to the Mongols conquering what was left of the Roman Empire from horseback to see lower technology win. And in those battles, both wore swords, spears, and bow-n-arrows.

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@home.ga), October 25, 2003.

Lol Robert. It's lucky "Australia didn't exist yet", we got to learn from everyone else's mistakes and got it right. Just kidding here.

I'm not buying into the history argument. As you would of guessed by now, I'm woefully uneducated (left school at 15yrs of age). That is probably why I am enjoying learning about the topside of the planet from you all. Cheers.

-- Carol (c@oz.com), October 26, 2003.

Well, my opiniion has long been that, when England "exported" its troublemakers and ruffians and lawbreakers to the far reaches of the world (which includes US, Canada, South Africa, NZ/OZ, and Bermuda and Gilbralter and Malta, it's staid and proper and prim and "conservative" left=overs remained behind and stagnated.

Only where they were challenged and kicked around (India, Malaysia, Singpore, Sctland, Ireland and the like) were the "British" forced to maintain their "cutting edge" of thought and action. And, as events now show, maybe not even that well.

The risk-takers and the explores are good for society - but where are these risk-takers to go now, now that society has no "frontier" to go "raise hell" and be independent from repressive and "that's not he way we always used to do it" thoughts?

-- Robert & Jean Cook (Cooks@home.ga), October 26, 2003.