Australia Is Such an Overpriced Sh**hole - AAARGH

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by neelie

Cat man do - give it a rest mate.. your blood pressure must be bursting your veins.

Hardly, I am finding the replies from lagoon4us quite amusing and also a little bit sad.
No raised bloodpressure though, cant say the same for others

You are a 100% correct in every respect. You are just wasting your time responding to a sad minority of Aussies who can't read and think clearly.

Quite correct

Which brings me to the Australian education system (does such an animal exist?) , an entirely unsavory topic. We have become a nation of airheads. Aussies who disagree, please Google : Shelley Gare, "A Triumph of the Airheads", read the book and weep, as I did. As a nation we are "rooted". (Aussie slang here ..translation for our US readers.. "Rooted = screwed;....and be advised that "screwed" in this sense is not that past tense of inserting a mechanical fastener!)

Thanks for the tip, sounds like quite the read and a dose of reality for those living in their own little fantasy world

FYI - I'm one of your Joe Average "losers" who left Oz in 1989, still happily working all over the world and never looked back and hardly a loser by any measure. I took offense at your comment about some one like me being a loser Joe Average.

As you should

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Hardly, I am finding the replies from lagoon4us quite amusing and also a little bit sad.
No raised bloodpressure though, cant say the same for others


Quite correct



Thanks for the tip, sounds like quite the read and a dose of reality for those living in their own little fantasy world


As you should

Ok Cat Man Dill where did i say "LOSER" in any reply? READ the facts before you comment! You would get a little credibility then.

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by neelie

Cat man do - give it a rest mate.. your blood pressure must be bursting your veins. You are a 100% correct in every respect. You are just wasting your time responding to a sad minority of Aussies who can't read and think clearly.

Which brings me to the Australian education system (does such an animal exist?) , an entirely unsavory topic. We have become a nation of airheads. Aussies who disagree, please Google : Shelley Gare, "A Triumph of the Airheads", read the book and weep, as I did. As a nation we are "rooted". (Aussie slang here ..translation for our US readers.. "Rooted = screwed;....and be advised that "screwed" in this sense is not that past tense of inserting a mechanical fastener!)

Lagoon4us?.. And you aspire to a freaking Lagoon?.. says it all! Come on mate, don't embarrass Aussies, lift your game, get some standards and aspire to a proper sailing catamaran. FYI - I'm one of your Joe Average "losers" who left Oz in 1989, still happily working all over the world and never looked back and hardly a loser by any measure. I took offense at your comment about some one like me being a loser Joe Average.

So show me where i called anyone a LOSER? Seems you are very similar to Cat Man Dill in that you don't read postings you simply go for the argument, that's just dumb.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

Cat Man Dill

Oh my, resorting to childish name calling now, how old are you, five?

that's just dumb.

Whats dumb is resorting to childish name calling

READ the facts before you comment! You would get a little credibility then.

Perhaps you should try that yourself
remember this clanger you made?

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us
You are so delusional !!! You have lunch with a FIFO and determine because he has found a job overseas therefore LARGE numbers are leaving Australia. You are becoming quite desperate to win a POINT.

If you had READ the facts before you comment you would see I had provided the actual data earlier, but had failed to read.


emigration (that is, people leaving Australia) has increased steadily in recent years.A total of 86,277 people indicated that they left Australia permanently in 2009–10.

as you say, READ the facts before you comment! You would get a little credibility then.

[impi]

Hey cat man can't do .... Be nice now

[four winds]

This morning on the radio news was a report of a capsized refugee vessel. I heard this about an hour ago.

And overloaded boat with a couple of hundred people on board from Afghanistan, Pakistan and one other country I can't remember.

They were making way for Australia.

Report said 33 had been rescued and efforts to save others were ongoing.

[s/v Jedi]

Amazing thread....

Some people actually believe the government?! ...

Some insist on their right to insult the Thai King? why would you want to do that? also, first try to burn national flag in front of government, police and cameras in other countries to test their (see, their, not there), tolerance to insult. My brother lives in Thailand... very little people there wish to insult their King while many will go mad at you if you would do it.

Tolerance... is also allowing others a different opinion, point of view, laws or even political system. Cure yourself first. Why demand apologies from somebody here who uses his right of free expression while critisizing others of not allowing free expression? Why ever launch such personal attacks on posters here when you truly believe in free expression? Bravery of being out of range?

Convinced that it's bad everywhere? Come visit Panama to find you're wrong. The balance of power is shifting. New generations better learn to speak and write Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian. US war machine defeated by inability to finance it any longer is exactly how the Spanish Empire fell. What goes up must come down. Best US products from biggest producer (Apple) all made in China, Thailand, Brasil... not even assembled in the USA anymore. My new iPhone ordered from Apple store to be delivered at Miami address was fedex'd straight from the factory in China. Not even a warehouse anymore.

I'll just keep wearing my tin foil hat while buying stuff from affordable sources and tax free of course.

cheers,
Nick.

[impi]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Amazing thread....

Some people actually believe the government?! ...

Some insist on their right to insult the Thai King? why would you want to do that? also, first try to burn national flag in front of government, police and cameras in other countries to test their (see, their, not there), tolerance to insult. My brother lives in Thailand... very little people there wish to insult their King while many will go mad at you if you would do it.

Tolerance... is also allowing others a different opinion, point of view, laws or even political system. Cure yourself first. Why demand apologies from somebody here who uses his right of free expression while critisizing others of not allowing free expression? Why ever launch such personal attacks on posters here when you truly believe in free expression? Bravery of being out of range?

Convinced that it's bad everywhere? Come visit Panama to find you're wrong. The balance of power is shifting. New generations better learn to speak and write Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian. US war machine defeated by inability to finance it any longer is exactly how the Spanish Empire fell. What goes up must come down. Best US products from biggest producer (Apple) all made in China, Thailand, Brasil... not even assembled in the USA anymore. My new iPhone ordered from Apple store to be delivered at Miami address was fedex'd straight from the factory in China. Not even a warehouse anymore.

I'll just keep wearing my tin foil hat while buying stuff from affordable sources and tax free of course.

cheers,
Nick.

Good to hear about Panama .... Was speaking to a delivery skipper I know ... Was just held up at gunpoint in Panama .... Lost everything he had with him .... I'm heading that way after my Caribbean trip .... Hope it's safer then ... Fourth bad story I heard from different sources about Panama ...

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by impi

Good to hear about Panama .... Was speaking to a delivery skipper I know ... Was just held up at gunpoint in Panama .... Lost everything he had with him .... I'm heading that way after my Caribbean trip .... Hope it's safer then ... Fourth bad story I heard from different sources about Panama ...

Like everywhere else, don't carry valuables when you are wearing the "mark" and stay away from situations that allow these robberies (be street wise, there is crime in every country). When I walk around and see tourists advertising their money and jewelry, I find it amazing how few are getting robbed.

If you plan a visit, read http://www.panama-guide.com to kearn about the worst aspects and don't go out in Colon at night.

cheers,
Nick.

[impi]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Like everywhere else, don't carry valuables when you are wearing the "mark" and stay away from situations that allow these robberies (be street wise, there is crime in every country). When I walk around and see tourists advertising their money and jewelry, I find it amazing how few are getting robbed.

If you plan a visit, read http://www.panama-guide.com to kearn about the worst aspects and don't go out in Colon at night.

cheers,
Nick.

Nick,
Have you been there a while?
Is there much to see or is it just a transition post from east to west visa verss?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by impi

Nick,
Have you been there a while?
Is there much to see or is it just a transition post from east to west visa verss?

I have been here for 3 years or so. It's a great country. You won't manage to see all it has to offer in your lifetime even if you try hard. Nature and history alone... from vulcano's and mountain ranges to vast rainforest jungles to wild rivers to the real Carribean pirates, to endless Pacific beaches etc. etc. They recently recovered Henry Morgans cannons just around the corner and right now are all over Drake's ships to find his lead coffin just around the other corner. Where other countries conserve cannon n museums, they rot away along ruins here because there are so many that they don't know what to do with them.

And there are gangs in the cities too.

Look me up when you get here

Nick.

[impi]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I have been here for 3 years or so. It's a great country. You won't manage to see all it has to offer in your lifetime even if you try hard. Nature and history alone... from vulcano's and mountain ranges to vast rainforest jungles to wild rivers to the real Carribean pirates, to endless Pacific beaches etc. etc. They recently recovered Henry Morgans cannons just around the corner and right now are all over Drake's ships to find his lead coffin just around the other corner. Where other countries conserve cannon n museums, they rot away along ruins here because there are so many that they don't know what to do with them.

And there are gangs in the cities too.

Look me up when you get here

Nick.

That really sounds like the place I want to see ....

Will take you up on that one Nick ...

Thanks

[David_Old_Jersey]

Tourists not visiting Australia? Am sure that the downturn / meltdown is the primary present factor - but for the long term the market has changed.

Lots of folk now travel long haul (to places well short of Oz) and understand that 3 weeks let alone 2 is not really enough time to travel the extra extended distance to Oz..........or have simply been there, done that.......and might come back again, but it is a long way away and fundamentally not that different to elsewhere in the West.....and loads of other places to visit.

We used to have a mass Tourist Market over here (50's / 60's / 70's), and no one thought that would ever end - plenty of folk made absolute fortunes out of it, including ordinary Joes. But due to Govt incompetence (over regulation to raise standards, ahead of the market), lack of industry foresight / under investment and simply that folk discovered that Spain wasn't that foreign on the Costas.

Now we are a niche destination for premium visitors - so we are told - mostly folk come to visit their money.....

Few ever imagine that the good times will end - because it is unimaginable. But they always do.

My bet on Emigration is that a lot of those are former immigrants, now with an Aussie passport, who have invested back "home" (property / business / family) - may have left with an empty pocket, but not returning the same way . A perfectly rational choice, go home and live / earn well (and ahead of the pack) or stay another 30 years in Oz (or other Western country) and try and avoid retiring broke.

[sailorboy1]

Impressed (I guess) on how much effort some are spending on this "discussion".

How does this all factor into my possibe sailing plans?

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Amazing thread....

Some people actually believe the government?! ...

Some insist on their right to insult the Thai King? why would you want to do that? also, first try to burn national flag in front of government, police and cameras in other countries to test their (see, their, not there), tolerance to insult. My brother lives in Thailand... very little people there wish to insult their King while many will go mad at you if you would do it.

Tolerance... is also allowing others a different opinion, point of view, laws or even political system. Cure yourself first. Why demand apologies from somebody here who uses his right of free expression while critisizing others of not allowing free expression? Why ever launch such personal attacks on posters here when you truly believe in free expression? Bravery of being out of range?

Convinced that it's bad everywhere? Come visit Panama to find you're wrong. The balance of power is shifting. New generations better learn to speak and write Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian. US war machine defeated by inability to finance it any longer is exactly how the Spanish Empire fell. What goes up must come down. Best US products from biggest producer (Apple) all made in China, Thailand, Brasil... not even assembled in the USA anymore. My new iPhone ordered from Apple store to be delivered at Miami address was fedex'd straight from the factory in China. Not even a warehouse anymore.

I'll just keep wearing my tin foil hat while buying stuff from affordable sources and tax free of course.

cheers,
Nick.

Nick after 30 years living here in Gladstone (Australia) my wife and i have decided to go back to being liveaboards and 'early retire', to that end we are currently purchasing a Lagoon 44 in Maryland (frozen land) however back here in Gladstone we are busy clearing and disposing of 30yrs of collected crap.
I just sold a catamaran (32 ') to a guy down south and he is an ex boatbulder who dared to venture into the Chinese boat construction industry, his family invested a fortune there setting up the machinery and know how to construct aluminium speedboats.
They've lost the lot! In hindsight he said they could plainly see the plan from the outset, that is they could see that the chinese partners always intended to take it over and lock them out.
Recourse? NONE.
Lesson? Never deal with a country that has nil laws regarding Intellectual Property.

Certainly they can go back and fight however all deals there (according to him) are linked to the military and you can disappear at a whim.

China can do what China wants, it's not as though we have been disarmed it's more we have been dis-manufactured, that's not good! And the reson is or was - OUR GREED.
Here in Australia it started with Japanese then Taiwanese, Mexican and now Chinese manufacture....

Most steelwork on the multi zillion dollar projects being done here in my home town for process plants are manufactured in either India or China, us boilermakers are employed here to repair the very poor work and erect the steel.

40 Years ago I should never have bought that 3 dollar transistor radio from that new store called K-Mart for three dollars instead of 20 dollars for the Kriesler version. BUT it was so small and was no trouble to hang off my bikes handlebars by its innovative strap!!!!

Most of crime in these beautiful places we want to cruise to are the result of jealousy where they see our trinkets and want them, or DRUGS. You are absolutely correct in your warning, wear a ring and you may lose a finger.

Cheers Frank