Just curious - what is it that you like?

[Bender]

Having not answered the “What is it you love..” question, and having thought about it for a while, it’s a whole lot of things. Some of these are mine and some are other people’s. This is by no means a complete list, and not in any particular order:

• It’s big. Really big. It’s a continent with everything from desert to rainforest to snow to endless beaches. It can be beautiful, and it can be terrifying. North of where I am there are floods, and to the south there are huge fires. It can be very harsh and very stark.
• It’s a country with a small population. Most of it is empty space, with the majority of people living in a strip along the east coast. There’s a feeling of space you just don’t get elsewhere. An eight-hour trip to go camping for the weekend isn't out of the question or seen as excessive.
• There’s personal space, it’s easy to get away from it all, and there’s freedom to do pretty much (within reason) anything you want.
• Unlike somewhere like Singapore, it can be very quiet, and the night can be very dark.
• There’s an enormous variety of animal and plant life, some of which is unique to Australia. There’s nothing quite like the sound of kookaburras laughing, magpies singing or cockatoos screeching. It's not a myth that we get kangaroos in residential streets.
• We're a patriotic country, but not in an arrogant "We're the greatest nation of the world" kind of a way. More of a "I love and am proud of my country" kind of way. We're much more laid back about our patriotism... half of us don't even know our national anthem! Compared to many places, it’s safe and peaceful.
• When you live in Australia your next door neighbours can be from Tunisia, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Brazil, Spain, Malaysia... We take pride in living in a tolerant multicultural society, but we firmly believe that all Poms and Kiwis are fair game. The only thing better than beating the Poms at ANY sport is giving them shit for it.
• We actively dislike Americans, but watch their TV, eat their food and worship their idols.
• All of our internationally famous people don't live here. Our soap stars become pop singers and move to the UK.
• We don't actually use the words 'sheila' or 'shrimp', and the term "musical instrument" extends to wobbly bits of plywood, hand saws, gum leaves, combs and lumps of wood with beer bottle caps nailed to them (the last is called a lagerphone).
• The barbeque is a male-dominated arena. And the women do the salads. The first thing guaranteed to get eaten at kids parties is fairy bread. We spread salty black stuff that looks like congealed motor oil on bread and actually like it.
• Democracy means the freedom to draw caricatures of John Howard and Kevin Rudd. The press and media have quite a bit of freedom to challenge and ask questions of our leaders.
• We make strange films, sometimes about wayward road trips (across the outback preferably). Quite a few are crap.
• We can compress several words into one - ie 'g'day', 'd'reckn?' This allows for more space for profanities. Slick pick-up lines like 'Wanna shag?' and 'Carn, show us yer tits' can constitute male-to-female conversation.
• It’s not perfect. We know that, and we actually like some of the things that aren’t perfect.

Australia is a state of mind thing. Much of what people love about it is hard to describe, but easy to experience. Hope this helps.

[BoD]

You may well not say sheila, but plenty of your countrymen still do

[baloo]

I think we tend to do that when there are tourists around to amuse. A bit like saying "fairdinkum".

[BoD]

Nice try, but I have met Aussies (OK Queenslanders) who are quite at home saying 'Fairdinkum' and not just for tourists

[Dinosaur]

Blimey Bender, that's a long reply but very interesting.

[baloo]

(OK Queenslanders)

I rest my case

[BoD]

I love the way that Aussies love to abuse each other if there isn't a pom or a Kiwi about