My dear Aussie:
Have you ever thought of moving?? I hear France has the best medical treatment anywhere!!!!!!

I'd move there in a heartbeat.

mel

too deeply entrenched proffessionally & financially (mortgage),to move now. But my husband and I always talk about where we would like to go when we retire, for example New Zealand,Tasmania,maybe even Canada? Who knows. But this is very far off as I am just 34 now.

Sometimes I will complain about the cost of things and so forth. Pay me no mind, I am just having what we call a "dummy spit", or a whinge.

I've got to say Aussie that if I were in your position, I'd spit the dummy too!

Thank goodness things are a little different on the other side of the continent.
I pay $4 for Tiger balm at the Freo markets and have NEVER paid to see my specialist, EVER. (Thank heavens she works from a major hospital clinic as well as her own rooms)

Then Again I do tend to frighten people with my forthrightedness and inability to suffer fools, so maybe that has worked in my favour?? who knows.

I've lived city and bush and I'll take the bush EVERY time. Especially if it means being able to afford a mortgage and the ability to get tiger balm for $6 less!!

Noong

You must be in Perth then? I agree bush living is better. I just get a bit tired of the city now and again, and it's overly competative business. Ethics are fading fast in large organisations.But I am sure that is a consequence of globalisation.

Okay, maybe I'm stupid but what on earth does living in the bush actually mean.

Do you mean you live with the aboriginies???

See how uninformed we are here in the good old USA??

Mel

CHECK OUT TIGER BALM ON EBAY!!
here's the link!!!

http://search.ebay.com/TIGER-BALM_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8

Ok you can go live in Aboroginal communities in the "outback" if you want, but this is not advised for most.

Living in the bush would be the equivalent of living far from the city, in a quiet country town. There are many bush towns all over Australia. As a matter of fact Australia has very few cities in general. There is more bush than anything else. And some argue that the real Australia is not the cities such as Sydney,Melbourne,Perth.. But actually the bush.

Okay, now I'm intrigued. I remember when I saw the film Crocodile Dundee, that Paul Hogan had some kind of native friend who wore native costume.

Is this what an aborigine is? Do they still live in the outback?(Not to be confused with my local Outback Steakhouse by the way!!!

I think between Mel Gibson, Paul Hogan and all the other handsome hunks, Australia is alright by me.

Oh, do Aborigiines ever intermarry with the rest of you guys.
I'd love to hear about that!!

mel

Australia has been frequented by Europeans since the 1600's.
The aboriginals are believed to have been here for over 40,000 years.

There are still many tribal aboriginals as well as many that live in the big cities.
We Europeans are the visitors to their country and as oft happens with colonisation, it was assumed the best thing for the aboriginals was to assimilate to European ways.
Fortunately, alot of the aboriginals were able to live in this incredibly harsh land, simply, whereas the "whites" had more trouble adapting.
To this end it enabled aboriginals to retain their culture, and thank heavens for that!

Australia still has alot of economic and socio-economic issues to deal with in certain areas when it comes to the aboriginals. But hopefully change will come about at some point.

Colonisation of other countries is always difficult for the original inhabitants. Hopefully within Western cultures, the act of colonisation by force, may wane as we wise up.

After all, you Americans should know better than most. You fought for your independence after all!

Hope Alan is feeling better
Noong

Mel,
I just had a brainwave!! (they don't happen often ....lol)
Google Australian Aboriginals. It'll all be there.

Hi Noong:

I googled Australian Aboriginals and I knew immediately that I got the whole thing mixed up.

Want to know what I was referring to when I asked about aboriginies?

PYGMIES!!!!

That's right. I thought pygmies came from australia.

Imagine my surprise when I got the education of my life when I googled Australian Aboriginals.

I then googled pygmies and learned about them.

Well, look at me, almost 60 years old and finally learned to distinguish aboriginies from pygmies.

Mom would be proud of me!!!

And to think all those years ago I used to read the encyclopedias!!!!

melody