Real Questions About Australia

These questions were posted on an Australian Tourism Web site and the answers are the actual responses by the web site officials, who obviously have a sense of humor.

  • Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA)
    A: Depends how much you’ve been drinking.
  • Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? (UK.)
    A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.
  • Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney – can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
    A: Sure, it’s only three thousand miles, take lots of water.
  • Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Australia? (Sweden)
    A: So it’s true what they say about Swedes.
  • Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK)
    A: What did your last slave die of?
  • Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia? (USA)
    A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle-shaped continent south of //Europe//. Aus-tra-li-a is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not… oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross.
  • Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (USA)
    A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we’ll send the rest of the directions.
  • Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys’ Choir schedule? (USA)
    A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is…oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races.
  • Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
    A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.
  • Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)
    A: Rattlesnakes live in A-mer-i-ca which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled, and make good pets.
  • Q: Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
    A: Yes, gay nightclubs
  • Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? (France)
    A: Only at Christmas.
  • Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)
    A: Yes, but you’ll have to learn it first.

G’Day, mate!

Australian Love Song

Of course I love ya darling
your a bloody top notch bird
and when I say ur gorgeous
I mean every single word

So ya bum is on the big side
I dont mind a bit of flab
it means that when I’m ready
there’s somethin there to grab

So your belly isn’t flat no more
I tell ya, I dont care
so long as when I cuddle ya
I can get my arms around there

No sheila who is your age
has nice round perky breasts
they just gave into gravity
but I know ya did ya best

I’m tellin ya the truth now
I never tell ya lies
I think its very sexy
that you’ve got dimples on ya thighs

I swear on me nannas grave now
the moment that we met
I thought u was as good as I
was ever gonna get

No matter wot u look like
I’ll always love ya dear
now shut up while the footys on
and get me another beer!

The Boss’ Itinerary

To ensure that you have a good time on your trip to Australia, your team members have planned and developed a special itinerary to fill the time during your leisure hours. Agenda follows:

  • Day 1: The “10 Deadliest Snakes” Fall Tour
    You and a guest will be escorted through the outback and provided with the opportunity to handle and examine each of the world’s 10 most deadly snakes.
  • Day 2: The “Great White Encounter”
    You and your tour guide will take a small boat to the Great Barrier Reef, where you will be able to dive into the chum-laden water and experience the beauty of the Great White shark.
  • Day 3: The Aboriginal “Festival of Spears”
    You will be the honored guest of a small aboriginal village as they celebrate the subjugation of the aboriginal race by the white man, with free liquor and a special weapons exhibition.
  • Day 4: The “Crocodile Dundee” Petting Zoo
    You will be able to come up-close and personal with the occasionally harmless salt-water crocodiles of the Australian coast. Lucky audience members are asked to participate in a croc wrestling exhibition.
  • Day 5: “Those Marvelous Morays”
    This tour will once again return you to the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef, where you will be allowed to hand feed special finger-shaped sausages to the wild eels of Stubby Hand Reef.

We hope you will enjoy your trip!

Your loyal employees.

Killer Kangaroos?

Careless Code Recycling Causes Killer Kangas:
Mutant Marsupials Take Up Arms Against Australian Air Force

The reuse of some object-oriented code has caused tactical headaches for Australia’s armed forces. As virtual reality simulators assume larger roles in helicopter combat training, programmers have gone to great lengths to increase the realism of their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and – in the case of the Northern Territory’s Operation Phoenix- herds of kangaroos (since disturbed animals might well give away a helicopter’s position).

The head of the Defense Science & Technology Organization’s Land Operations/Simulation division reportedly instructed developers to model the local marsupials’ movements and reactions to helicopters. Being efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some code originally used to model infantry detachment reactions under the same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a soldier to a kangaroo, and increased the figures’ speed of movement.

Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting American pilots, the hotshot Aussies “buzzed” the virtual kangaroos in low flight during a simulation. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the visiting Americans nodded appreciatively… then did a double-take as the kangaroos reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of Stinger missiles at the hapless helicopter. (Apparently the programmers had forgotten to remove that part of the infantry coding.)

The lesson?

Objects are defined with certain attributes, and any new object defined in terms of an old one inherits all the attributes. The embarrassed programmers had learned to be careful when reusing object-oriented code, and the Yanks left with a newfound respect for Australian wildlife.

Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point onward have strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were meant to.

— From June 15, 1999 Defense Science and Technology Organization