Tom,
Glad you had a good trip, appologise for the dodgy 'caravan' parks, but you can find those all over the world. Also sorry that you did not find anything good enough in New Zealand to highlight ... me being a Kiwi and all.
Just thought I should counter a few points :):
Aussie Television:
Yep only 5 main channels and yes reception can be poor in some areas. Austar must be similar to Foxtel as that is what Sydney gets if you want to pay extra for satelight tv ... waste of money IMO. Interestingly when I was last in America I could not believe the quality of TV, ie. how old the programs were (I stayed in LA and Chicago), in fact it was highly amusing. I guess thus we get used to our own TV 'look and feel' maybe?
Radio and Music:
Hmmm, you have definitely got this one wrong! Though I have found when touring that you cannot get the major stations. Do not know why? Most of the young peoples stations in Sydney are completely influenced by American music, but I'm in my late 30's so like the stuff from the 80's, but I listen to global music from that time. Yeah there are lots of Aussie songs ... but just like you guys we like our own stuff ;-)
I have never heard of an Australian quantity law, but it could be true. Just like your farming substidies ...
Music in Cars:
Er, again you must have not spent much time in cities ... I would glady shoot those boom boom cars. There are no specific laws to ban them, but there should be (and in the States too) as how can somebody be driving properly when one of their senses has been cancelled out completely.
Modified Cars:
In Sydney you can do just about anything you like to a car ... and we have the accidents to prove this (not due to speed as speed in the wrong place). In NZ it is far, far tougher and I say rightly so as not everybody is a qualified engineer, etc.
Speeding:
Yes Australia is narrowmindedly focusing on speed is the only evil ... but I believe so are most politicians world over. How do we change this. Only some countries in Europe seem to have this right, ie. driver quality/responsibility is the thing to target. One thing we do not have over here which I believe America has is that driving is not taught in schools, that is a pity as it sounds like a good idea.
Interestingly many years ago my parents went to Hawaii, and came back with the impression that speed limits were strengently enforced, but nobody can be as bad as Victoria in Australia which has gone insane.
I would love to see more education and training and a banning of speed cameras AND more difficult vehicle safety inspections. Compared to NZ the safety inspections are too infrequent and too easy to pass.
I still struggle with the driving over here (being from NZ and trained to think and adjust my speed accordingly by my father ... and having a racing background) and thus usually cruise at about 20 over.
It's a very hard thing to change ... politicians don't think long term enough and don't want to become unpopular by making it suddenly hard to get a license. Fools I say ... give me the job :).
Should have to resit every 5 years and have a high level of avoidence skills.
In the end I don't think when you visit a country you get the true picture, although you stayed here for a while and longer than most 'trips'. I think you really need to work at a country to really understand it ... thus I am sure my short visits to the States have not given me the real picture, which regarding LA in particular is incredibly bad roads, bland and boring city that lacks culture ... pity the more colourful Mexican influence could not be encouraged. On the other hand I quite liked Chicago, but then I only saw about 1/1000th of it as I was on business training.
There are many things wrong with Australia, as there are with New Zealand but every now and then you are reminded of the good things ... that will do me :)
Best
Pete
Some comments about your Australian observations
Hi Pete,
Thanks for the comments!
You're right about not spending a lot of time in the cities. The majority of the time I spent in the country, so my impressions were from what rural Australia had to offer as far as radio, television, and some culture.
I should've written about NZ, but we stayed for such a short time, I didn't get a "feel" for the country except for all the tourist destinations. I didn't even have enough time to see much of the North Island. What I did see was spectacular, and the only down side were the hoards of loud Americans!
I don't believe there is a solution to the speed cameras in Oz. It costs money to educate the drivers, but it makes money to fine the drivers. To politicians, it's a win/win situation for speed cameras.
I was accused of sounding negative in my impressions about Australia, but I couldn't have had a better time. The few negative impressions are easily overwhelmed by all the great things we saw and did during our stay. It's a place I would truly consider living in if I could figure out how to swing it!
Tom[/i]
Thanks for the comments!
You're right about not spending a lot of time in the cities. The majority of the time I spent in the country, so my impressions were from what rural Australia had to offer as far as radio, television, and some culture.
I should've written about NZ, but we stayed for such a short time, I didn't get a "feel" for the country except for all the tourist destinations. I didn't even have enough time to see much of the North Island. What I did see was spectacular, and the only down side were the hoards of loud Americans!
I don't believe there is a solution to the speed cameras in Oz. It costs money to educate the drivers, but it makes money to fine the drivers. To politicians, it's a win/win situation for speed cameras.
I was accused of sounding negative in my impressions about Australia, but I couldn't have had a better time. The few negative impressions are easily overwhelmed by all the great things we saw and did during our stay. It's a place I would truly consider living in if I could figure out how to swing it!
Tom[/i]
'63 330 America #5053
Hi,
I'm not in the habbit of defending Tom, in fact I try my hardest to post anti-tom messages whenever I can - but I think Pete, and perhaps others have got this "anti-australia" theme completely wrong. So I want to counter some of Pete's points based on the fact that I live here now - was born here - and also spent 15 of 18 years overseas somewhere that Pete describes as a place with "incredibly bad roads, bland and boring city that lacks culture ... "
So let's get to that first -hey.
Parts of Los-Angeles are a shithole. Mostly these places are found by people who leap off a plane thinking they know most of what they need to by looking at a map. There are exit's off freeways that should never be taken, areas where food should never be purchased and places that are best seen at 8AM in the morning- but never after 8PM.
Such things can be found in Australia as well, I'm sure that we can remember Kings Cross in the 80's, we mostly stay away from the back of Lygon Street at 2 in the morning and our patriotism was poorly demonstrated by the recent race riots in Cronulla. Those of us who have driven from Brisbane to Sydney via the coast dream of the day when the road might resemble the condition of California's Highway 1.
America is an easy target because of the likes of Jerry Springer and the American media's facination with the oddball minority within it's huge population. Frankly, we as Australians never seem to rationalise or recognise our own shortcomings. The phase "one-eyed carlton supporter" comes to mind when I read about how bad a place like Los-Angeles is.
LA is a car culture city and with the bad comes the great in my opinion. There are car swap meets beyond your wildest dreams and cars that you might see in books in Australia are driven to work. There are a selection of Car Museum's and in pretty much every month there is a major car event such as a concorse or gathering. The Mexican influence is everywhere - from the poverty to the million dollar houses by the beach. But why wouldn't it be, most of the US west coast was once a part of Mexico. The people there work hard, party hard and enjoy the best that California has to offer in the form of skiing/mountaineering/wine country and the beach. As far as diverstity, Sydney is as close as you will get - but due to quality it's still a distant second. And yes - I lived and worked in Sydney for a while as well.
I think as a traveling familyman, which for better or worse is what Tom did, he did a great job of giving his audience - from around the world - a fair and un-biased view of Life in Australia. If it were possible to see someone else do the same thing in say the U.K. we would of heard about the great pubs and the crappy weather, but also seen things we would never normally encounter such as punting up the themes or the Aston Martins parked around Hyde Park.
The best thing about Tom's little adventure was the car stuff he uncovered. It was done in a way that appeared off-handed, in that, "oh - in this corner of Sydney I just happened to find this shop by XXX guy, and look here's a one off motor from a XXX". In the Ferrari world that is pretty much a gold find. Tom was welcomed by all that he met and was given unprecedented access to things that we mortals would never have seen. I'm sure that if I fronted up to an Australian Ferrari club meeting tomorrow, and even joined the club- if they would have me -, it would take me years to see what Tom has seen in six months.
So what if he found the music to be dated, the TV quaint, the Speed cameras opressive and the caravan parks less than desired. Thank god he told some of us as we now can plan accordingly.
Tom - I look forward to your next visit, wether it be here or anywhere.
Regards,
Andrew.
I'm not in the habbit of defending Tom, in fact I try my hardest to post anti-tom messages whenever I can - but I think Pete, and perhaps others have got this "anti-australia" theme completely wrong. So I want to counter some of Pete's points based on the fact that I live here now - was born here - and also spent 15 of 18 years overseas somewhere that Pete describes as a place with "incredibly bad roads, bland and boring city that lacks culture ... "
So let's get to that first -hey.
Parts of Los-Angeles are a shithole. Mostly these places are found by people who leap off a plane thinking they know most of what they need to by looking at a map. There are exit's off freeways that should never be taken, areas where food should never be purchased and places that are best seen at 8AM in the morning- but never after 8PM.
Such things can be found in Australia as well, I'm sure that we can remember Kings Cross in the 80's, we mostly stay away from the back of Lygon Street at 2 in the morning and our patriotism was poorly demonstrated by the recent race riots in Cronulla. Those of us who have driven from Brisbane to Sydney via the coast dream of the day when the road might resemble the condition of California's Highway 1.
America is an easy target because of the likes of Jerry Springer and the American media's facination with the oddball minority within it's huge population. Frankly, we as Australians never seem to rationalise or recognise our own shortcomings. The phase "one-eyed carlton supporter" comes to mind when I read about how bad a place like Los-Angeles is.
LA is a car culture city and with the bad comes the great in my opinion. There are car swap meets beyond your wildest dreams and cars that you might see in books in Australia are driven to work. There are a selection of Car Museum's and in pretty much every month there is a major car event such as a concorse or gathering. The Mexican influence is everywhere - from the poverty to the million dollar houses by the beach. But why wouldn't it be, most of the US west coast was once a part of Mexico. The people there work hard, party hard and enjoy the best that California has to offer in the form of skiing/mountaineering/wine country and the beach. As far as diverstity, Sydney is as close as you will get - but due to quality it's still a distant second. And yes - I lived and worked in Sydney for a while as well.
I think as a traveling familyman, which for better or worse is what Tom did, he did a great job of giving his audience - from around the world - a fair and un-biased view of Life in Australia. If it were possible to see someone else do the same thing in say the U.K. we would of heard about the great pubs and the crappy weather, but also seen things we would never normally encounter such as punting up the themes or the Aston Martins parked around Hyde Park.
The best thing about Tom's little adventure was the car stuff he uncovered. It was done in a way that appeared off-handed, in that, "oh - in this corner of Sydney I just happened to find this shop by XXX guy, and look here's a one off motor from a XXX". In the Ferrari world that is pretty much a gold find. Tom was welcomed by all that he met and was given unprecedented access to things that we mortals would never have seen. I'm sure that if I fronted up to an Australian Ferrari club meeting tomorrow, and even joined the club- if they would have me -, it would take me years to see what Tom has seen in six months.
So what if he found the music to be dated, the TV quaint, the Speed cameras opressive and the caravan parks less than desired. Thank god he told some of us as we now can plan accordingly.
Tom - I look forward to your next visit, wether it be here or anywhere.
Regards,
Andrew.
Andrew,
Good post. I just wanted to balance some of Tom's comments out that's all. Heck I'm the last one to defend Australia being a Kiwi ;-) ... and Kiwi's are brought up to be hard on themselves and their country (ie. sports people). Many times I hate living in Sydney and not sure if I would if my wife was not a Sydneysider ... but where else?
The bad roads I mentioned in regard to LA was a freeway that the 'tour' bus took. I have never ever driven on a road this bad in all my life, including gravel rutted roads (okay now I'm exaggerating ;) ). I was told by the tour guy that they never did the final coat or something. The bus was going up and down continually in a Mexican wave (appropriately).
I did managed to get to a great car muesum that was worth the 'forced' work training trip alone!
One thing that I did notice and that is where my bland comment comes from is that the most prominent colour of buildings and roads, etc. is white concrete ... IMO that city needs some colour paint thrown at it. When you fly into LA all you can see is white concrete everywhere. Very odd.
I never found the 'sh!t hole' areas thankfully ... well what I saw was no different to Sydney just 'in white concrete' ... :-)
Again please understand that I was only in LA for a few days everytime I went ... and yes once I did the tour bus thing (first visit). That is not the way to see the real city and meet the real people.
Pete
Good post. I just wanted to balance some of Tom's comments out that's all. Heck I'm the last one to defend Australia being a Kiwi ;-) ... and Kiwi's are brought up to be hard on themselves and their country (ie. sports people). Many times I hate living in Sydney and not sure if I would if my wife was not a Sydneysider ... but where else?
The bad roads I mentioned in regard to LA was a freeway that the 'tour' bus took. I have never ever driven on a road this bad in all my life, including gravel rutted roads (okay now I'm exaggerating ;) ). I was told by the tour guy that they never did the final coat or something. The bus was going up and down continually in a Mexican wave (appropriately).
I did managed to get to a great car muesum that was worth the 'forced' work training trip alone!
One thing that I did notice and that is where my bland comment comes from is that the most prominent colour of buildings and roads, etc. is white concrete ... IMO that city needs some colour paint thrown at it. When you fly into LA all you can see is white concrete everywhere. Very odd.
I never found the 'sh!t hole' areas thankfully ... well what I saw was no different to Sydney just 'in white concrete' ... :-)
Again please understand that I was only in LA for a few days everytime I went ... and yes once I did the tour bus thing (first visit). That is not the way to see the real city and meet the real people.
Pete
Hi Pete,
Yes I soapboxed a bit, and went on far too much. I think you get my drift that I didn't think Tom's observations needed counterbalancing. He's the first one to bag on about his surroundings and what's not right in the world of car's/location or politics so I found his comments on things like the dunny's and pig semen quite amusing. Trust me - he has all that and more on Monterey/New York and umpteen other places he has seen.
I think the bus phenomenenon (sp?) you experienced on the roads was the result of the wheelbase of the bus not matching the concrete expansion joints. That coupled with the generally spongy suspension on most things over there creates quite the boat ride. It didn't happen on the Ferrari or the Porsche but the Lincoln sure did wallow. But that's another story.
We painted our Manhattan Beach house dark brown...I think the white is for the heat, but it's a dry heat, so they say..
LAter.
Yes I soapboxed a bit, and went on far too much. I think you get my drift that I didn't think Tom's observations needed counterbalancing. He's the first one to bag on about his surroundings and what's not right in the world of car's/location or politics so I found his comments on things like the dunny's and pig semen quite amusing. Trust me - he has all that and more on Monterey/New York and umpteen other places he has seen.
I think the bus phenomenenon (sp?) you experienced on the roads was the result of the wheelbase of the bus not matching the concrete expansion joints. That coupled with the generally spongy suspension on most things over there creates quite the boat ride. It didn't happen on the Ferrari or the Porsche but the Lincoln sure did wallow. But that's another story.
We painted our Manhattan Beach house dark brown...I think the white is for the heat, but it's a dry heat, so they say..
LAter.
Hi Guys,
I don't blame Pete for defending Australia (even though he's a Kiwi!). I found myself defending NYC to a Queenslander when she made a comment about not understanding why anyone would want to live there. I may have left NYC for a quieter life, but I'll still defend my home turf!
When you think of the few negative things I found in Oz over the course of our 6 month stay, they were rare and minor. The only problem now is I can't get the Bunnings Warehouse Jingle out of my head!
Tom
I don't blame Pete for defending Australia (even though he's a Kiwi!). I found myself defending NYC to a Queenslander when she made a comment about not understanding why anyone would want to live there. I may have left NYC for a quieter life, but I'll still defend my home turf!
When you think of the few negative things I found in Oz over the course of our 6 month stay, they were rare and minor. The only problem now is I can't get the Bunnings Warehouse Jingle out of my head!
Tom
'63 330 America #5053
Very true. Tom put me in touch with a Ferrari guy who lives 10miles up the road from me in Sydney and who in 10minutes could tell me more about one the history of my cars than I have been able to uncover in the past 6years of ownership. All hail Tom!!abrent wrote:
The best thing about Tom's little adventure was the car stuff he uncovered. It was done in a way that appeared off-handed, in that, "oh - in this corner of Sydney I just happened to find this shop by XXX guy, and look here's a one off motor from a XXX". In the Ferrari world that is pretty much a gold find. Tom was welcomed by all that he met and was given unprecedented access to things that we mortals would never have seen. I'm sure that if I fronted up to an Australian Ferrari club meeting tomorrow, and even joined the club- if they would have me -, it would take me years to see what Tom has seen in six months
Greg
246GTS #07772
365GT4bb #17915
246GTS #07772
365GT4bb #17915