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How Aussie are you?

From the Suz’s Space blog, this is the How Aussie Are You Meme. I’ll leave the “No”s blank. I like that it’s got a nice mix of bush and urban stuff, and some culture in there too.

1. Heard a kookaburra in person. — yep.
2. Slept under the stars. — lain awake yes, slept no.
3. Seen a koala. — yep.
4. Visited Melbourne. — live there.
5. Watched a summer thunderstorm. — yep.
6. Worn a pair of thongs. — yep.
7. Been to Uluru (Ayers Rock)
8. Visited Cape York.
9. Held a snake.
10. Sang along with Khe San. — yep. It’s the defacto national anthem, after all. I also have a memory of being 18 in the back of someone’s car and raucously singing along to Working Class Man.
11. Drank VB. — yep, though I’ve gone off it; IMHO there are nicer brews.
12. Visited Sydney. — yep.
13. Have seen a shark. — only in an aquarium.
14. Have used Aussie (and NZ) slang naturally in a conversation. — you bet mate.
15. Had an actual conversation with an indigenous Australian (Aboriginal). — yep.
16. Eaten hot chips from the bag at the beach. — hot chips? Many times though I’m not sure about at the beach.
17. Walked/climbed over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. — yes, walked across.
18. Used an outside dunny, and checked under the seat before sitting down. — I don’t recall checking under the seat, to be honest.
19. Seen Chloe in Young & Jacksonโ€™s. — yep.
20. Slept on an overnight train or bus. — not since 1988 on the train to Brisbane with my sister, but yes.
21. Been to Sydneyโ€™s Mardi Gras
22. Have gone bush-bashing. — not even sure I know what this is.
23. Taken a sickie. — yes, but in the literal sense, actually sick!
24. Been to see a game of Aussie Rules football. — yep, though not in several years now I think about it.
25. Have seen wild camels.
26. Gone skinny dipping. — yes, at Cann River some years ago.
27. Done a Tim Tam Slam. — ho yes.
28. Ridden in a tram in Melbourne. — many times!
29. Been at an ANZAC day Dawn Service. — yep at the Shrine in Melbourne.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. — for sure.
31. Held a wombat.
32. Been on a roadtrip of 800km or more. — yes, though not often.
33. Seen the Great Australian Bight in person.
34. Had a really bad sunburn.
35. Visited an Aboriginal community.
36. Seen a redback spider. — yep.
37. Have watched Paul Hogan. — yep.
38. Seen Blue Poles in person. — yep.
39. Wandered barefoot in the bush/outback. — yep.
40. Eaten Vegemite. — yep.
41. Thrown a boomerang. — yep. I don’t recall if it came back.
42. Seen the Kimberleys.
43. Given a hitch-hiker a lift.
44. Been to Perth.
45. Have tried Lemon, Lime and Bitters. — yep. Not bad.
46. Tried playing a didgeridoo. — tried and failed!
47. Seen dinosaur footprints.
48. Eaten Tim Tams. — yep.
49. Been to Darwin.
50. Touched a kangaroo. — patted, I think, yes, years ago.
51. Visted the Great Barrier Reef.
52. Listened to Kevin Bloody Wilson. — years ago.
53. Killed a Cane Toad.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Have read and own books by Australian authors. — yep. The last one I read was the excellent Jasper Jones.
56. Visited Adelaide. — yep
57. Know the story behind โ€œEternityโ€. — yep.
58. Been camping. — yep
59. Visited Brisbane — yep, though not since 1988 (for Expo!)
60. Been in an outback pub. — If Marlo (population 340) counts.
61. Know what the term โ€œWaltzing Matildaโ€ actually means. — yep.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Listened to Slim Dusty — not deliberately.
64. Own five or more Australian movies or TV series. — yep.
65. Sang along to Down Under. — heh, yep. (Note: Court decision yesterday)
66. Have stopped specifically to look at an historic marker by the side of the road.
67. Eaten a 4’n’20 pie. — yep. I probably like meat pies rather too much.
68. Surfed at Bondi.
69. Watched the cricket on Boxing Day. — only on TV.
70. Visited Hobart. — yep.
71. Eaten kangaroo. — yep, in bolognaise and in chilli.
72. Seen a quokka. — only in a zoo.
73. Visited Canberra. — yep.
74. Visited rainforests. — yep.
75. Used a Victa lawnmower.
76. Travelled on a tram in Adelaide. — yep, both old and new.
77. Used a Hills hoist. — yep.
78. Visited Kata Tjuta
79. Used native Australian plants in cooking.
80. Visited the snow. — yep, we go every couple of years.
81. Chosen a side in Holden VS Ford. — nope. Who cares?
82. Visited the desert.
83. Been water skiing.
84. Read The Phantom.
85. Visited Parliament House. — yep.
86. Gone spotlighting or pig-shooting.
87. Crossed the Nullarbor.
88. Avoided swimming in areas because of crocodiles.
89. Listened to AC/DC. — yep.
90. Called someone a dag. — haha, yep. And been called one.
91. Voted in a Federal Election. — of course!
92. Have been swimming and stayed between the flags. — yep.
93. Had a possum in your roof. — yep.
94. Visited the outback. — yep.
95. Travelled over corrugated roads. — yep.
96. Hit a kangaroo while driving. — thankfully no, but seen plenty of them jumping around close to the car.
97. Been well outside any mobile phone coverage. — only on the Great Ocean Road.
98. Seen an emu. — only at a zoo.
99. Have woken to the smell of bushfires. — yeah. Not a pleasant thing.
100. Subscribed to RRR. — does PBS FM count?
101. Patted a pure-bred dingo.
102. Seen the Oils live. — how about lots of Paul Kelly?

I make that 58 full points and 10 half-points, so 68 out of 102 overall.

Anybody else care to have a go? Blog it and leave a comment.

By Daniel Bowen

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.

25 replies on “How Aussie are you?”

You are a true blue Aussie, Daniel.
A great list, well thought out. However, does number 84, “Read The Phantom” refer to the American comic? If so, not sure how this fits in???

50 for me. (At most, as some probably deserve only half marks.) Plus I’ve never had cause to go anywhere near Sydney, which alone rules out a bunch of the above.

I was thinking the same thing about The Phantom. The drive-in was also a very American invention too, though undoubtedly more popular here than most – less car-oriented – countries.

Where I come from bush-bashing was where you take an old car off the road and drive through the scrub. Usually in a way that is generally considered unsafe. Kids learn to drive when their dads give them old clunkers to drive around the rural block, (or by sneaking it into a local forestry). These cars were referred to as bush-bashers. But given the way slang changes depending on geographical area, who knows if its the same everywhere.

My bush-basher had its doors welded shut, the seats held in with fencing wire, and there was no windscreen.

I thought there was a strong Australian connection with The Phantom, but a look at the Wikipedia page for it indicates it’s not particularly strong. However it does note that the local Frew publication of the comic is the longest running series of comic books in the world with the character, and also that Paul Hogan used to parody the character — maybe that’s helped lead to an urban myth that The Phantom is Australian.

By Post Author

Hot chips come wrapped in butcher’s paper, not a bag (unless you’re not feeling like a guts and they put the cup in a bag). Your description of bush-bashing is spot on, craig (for someone who grew up in southern inland queensland, at least).

But yeah, 88 out of 102 here. Strewth.

Thats a stoopid list. So your white trash hillbilly in Roma or Longreach who has never been to Melbourne, is un-Australian now ?

Well I added it up and I get 78 1/2. Not sure about question 88 though. What is the right answer for question 88 ?

The only city in Australia I have been to is Sydney. I was only a few months old and I have been to Ballarat Zoo and saw Australian animals.

I got 62, not bad for a kiwi that has been here only 7 years. nBeen plenty of palces though in that time. Love it here.

86 – more Aussie than I thought I was, considering I couldn’t give a fat rats’ clacker about Holdens or Fords; have never walked/climbed the Bridge and hope I never kill a kangaroo!

If you’re not a Ford or Holden person, you’re definitely un-Australian- you may not like it Daniel, but the large family car is truly an Australian icon, whether it is the Kingswood (you’re not taking the Kingswood!), the Commodore, or, the greatest car lineage in human history, one which has endured 50 years, the Falcon!! As you may guess, my allegiance is to Henry’s Blue Oval!! The Falcon is a truly Australian designed car, made for our durable conditions! Nothing screams Australiana more than a 1970s XB Falcon coupe tearing down the streets, ala Mad Max!!

Let’s see, I can play Khe Sanh on guitar (first song I learnt), been to Sydney, Canberra, and Adelaide, love VB- the man’s drink, love Kevin Bloody Wilson, been to the Ettamogah Pub, seen Acca Dacca in concert, had kangaroos jump near me, can’t stand Vegemite (but used to fill it in tubes, does that count?) ! How about watching a Grand Final Marathon?

I tell you what’s definitely un-Australian- remember how all of you were so excited that our first female Prime Minister would ditch Steve Conroy and the internet filter- uh oh:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/filtering-legislation-on-the-way/story-e6frgakx-1225889109550

And in case you think it’s only Conroy supporting it:

“New Prime Minister Julia Gillard backs the filtering plan. She made her support known to ABC radio today, saying she understood public concerns over the scheme but that Senator Conroy was working to find a resolution that would be in the “right shape”.

D’oh! There goes that one!!!!

Without going and looking for sources, it seems to me that the importance of Falcon vs Commodore has diminished in the last few years.

Yes, very disappointed Gillard hasn’t changed the govt policy on the filter. Next question is what the opposition’s policy is.

By Post Author

Hello, stumbled across this, saw the questioning of the Aussie connection to The Phantom and thought I’d confirm what Daniel says about Frew Publications. My Pa was a printer for Frew in Sydney from the 50s until retirement in the 80s, and I received a great many issues of The Phantom for the last decade of that period. My understanding is that it was a very popular comic series here in Australia … and perhaps that is why it is deemed “true blue”.

I scored 67, which isn’t bad for someone who hasn’t travelled all that much.

I had to laugh at #18. *Used* an outside dunny? Hell, I *live* in a house with an outside dunny! And I never bother checking under the seat.

‘Bout 78 for me – with two or three half pointers. Does it count when you do those things overseas? Still yet to go to central Australia or far North Australia (well, beyond the Daintree, anyway). And I would have scored less if 11 and 40 were appended with “…and enjoyed it” – never again. Scored on every animal related question except the dinosaur footprints.

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