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Will be leaving for Darwin week after next. I am very exited, love the multicultural tropical vibe. I do know most Aussies hate us with a passion. However I'm in high hopes that I won't have to go through that. This will be my first time ever on the Australian continent . Please I would like answers from Australian people only.
| Aussies hate Americans be prepared | 7 | |
| I'm going to love it | 6 | |
| I'm worrying about nothing | 8 |
I think you'll love it and you're certainly going to be there when the weather is fairly reasonable, it would've been difficult to arrive during the insanity of buildup to the Wet Season.
Most Australians don't hate Americans with a passion, if that's who "us" is, but we do find loudmouth know-it-alls who want the world world to be like the US very offputting and arrogant and many US citizens do give the rest of you a bad name.
By, the way, we're not all Crocodile Dundee or Kylie Minogue and I don't think kangaroos are hopping around in Darwin itself, but you'll probably see plenty on the outback roads up there.
If you keep your mouth shut and the volume down, don't make invidious comparisons all the time and mind your manners you'll do OK. At least you haven't asked how to learn the language: it's amazing how many people of the US don't know the difference between Austria and Australia!
What field of work are you in? That'll make a difference to who you'll be mixing with and are you male or female, white or black? Australia is definitely not free of sexism and racism, or homophobia for that matter, but we're a fairly tolerant accepting bunch except in small pockets of rednecks and other bigots, which do exist in the Northern Territory and outback.
And the mangrove species in the Northern Territory are genetically different from any species world wide. I will be taking living tissue samples and seeing the macrobiotic life that makes these amazing mangroves unique amongst the others on the planet. It's also home to one of the largest dry tropical savannahs on the planet further south. I am really very exited.
That does sound fascinating and also useful - good luck with it and also with the locals!
I hope that if you're working with Aboriginal people out in country your employers and/or co-workers give you some cultural training first: if not let me know on here and I could give you some guidance, as I lived and worked with traditional people in a remote community for a few years. They have deep and extensive knowledge of the flora and fauna of their country and are almost always happy to share it if they're approached in the right way.
Our guides will be walpiri in the south with the lady gouldian finches and I forgot the name of those near Darwin. We will be with people from the Queensland conservatory, the Sierra club, and the Australian version of the department of the interior.
I've had a lot of contact with the Walpiri people although I lived to the west of their country just over the WA border: my memory is that they're mainly tall, proud, warm & friendly if they like you, distant and unhelpful if not. In case no-one tells you, direct eye contact is considered rude. as is trying to hurry them: they've survived in this country for at least 40,000 years, they're not in a hurry even if you are and don't take kindly to loud, arrogant or pushy people. Ask clear questions and wait for the answers for as long as it takes. IF they seem to ignore a question or comment and gaze off into the distance, it almost always means you're trespassing on some secret knowledge they won't pass on, but are usually too polite to say so.
I hope your employers realise that they need to send mixed gender groups into Aboriginal communities, because men and women have distinct and often separate fields of knowledge?
You live in Western Australia. Wow dream of mine to run amuck and just do free and open research on any flora only found there. I believe Western Australia has a callistemon species who pollen is known to induce queen bees to procreate more. This will be amazing if proven fact with apiary populations dying worldwide. For those who do not know callistemon it is grown worldwide under the name bottlebrush.
Thank you for that information. Yes the group is around 25 mostly half and half gender wise. This is just wonderful to know. Thank you so very much.
I really would have not liked it in January, I here summer is hell there.
I love your input Ellena . You are well informed, helpful and nice. Very rare nowadays.
I et up a temporary email [email protected] my name is Vincent. I'd like to keep in contact. You are really an amazing person.
I'm male , mid thirties and I will be observing both bromeliads, epiphytes, and insect plant symbiosis. I'm literally excited and filled with that whole giddy schoolgirl vibe.
Aussies don't hate Americans.
Some of us love em...
You're gonna have a great time by the sounds of it ; )
everyone hates Americans, just to varying degrees. People in Iran, for example, really hate Americans but people in Australia hate Americans in the same way Canadians hate Americans.
The botanical research my employer and I do helps keep botanical gardens, crops, and invasive species from becoming problematic. For instance lantana a huge noxious weed in Australia is native to the Americas. There is insects that control it here but if we could find Australian species of insects that do the same and can survive in Australia's climate we could eliminate such pest plants. It's a delicate balance no one wants to release an insect that can kill a noxious weed but also destroy a nearly untouched ecosystem. We have already somewhat successfully released test vectors in Tennessee to help stop the empress tree from killing the native Appalachian ecosystem.
Australian flora just fascinates me, it has developed in isolation for millennia and has developed so many beneficial sembiotics with insects that are unheard of in the world. Next year I will be going to Socotra in Yemen a far flung archipelago in the Arabian Sea my focus there will be the dragons blood tree and its pollinators. Now that it's natural pollinators are being killed off it is evolving quickly to asexual reproduction. Plants are my passion.
In the drier south I wil also be observing lady gouldian finches and how their eating habits spread plant life to colonize new areas. They are beautiful birds. Going to be fun to see how their antics help the native grasses and endemic plants.
You're gonna love it and you're worrying about nothing. Just don't go swimming in the creeks and you'll be fine :)
Oh and you better learn to like VB :D
its one of the local beers
Sometimes Australians like to give Americans a hard time, but it's usually in a good natured way. You'll have a great time.
Watch out for crocs up north.
I heard about the salties those just sound like bad news all around. We have to watch for them in the mangrove areas we've been warned. And also box jellies and American beer is pretty much water lol . I think I'm going to love it there . I'll post plenty of images
I'm in botany the fact that the Northern Territory has some of the most amazing plant life and is one of the most bi diverse florisitc provinces on the planet has me giddy.
If you get a chance, stop by the University of Sydney station on the King River. The station manager should be able to carry you up river only a little way, where you can see ancient rock paintings galore. There was the largest colony of fruit bats up that way, too. Watch out for the crocs which were endangered when I was there, but probably not now. The largest we saw when I was driving boats for the scientists was around 22 feet; bigger than our boat! It only takes 2 or 3 days of repetitive actions (like getting water for coffee at the same time for a couple of mornings) for a croc to be waiting for you, on the next. No joke!
When I was there, I didn't find any anti-American vibes. Perhaps in the intervening years things have changed in that regards, but I hope not.