This page will be mostly Australian, but with a few New Zealanders thrown in for good luck. Mostly, it'll be links to point you in the direction of Australian journals, but I'll also just throw in stuff about Australia or NZ, as backdrop.

Older stuff at the bottom.

July 19, 2001

Old link but still worth a look; the 2000 Winners of the Australian Internet Awards. I'm less than impressed with their main site, the frames are hideous, they obscure rather than enhance the content, which is my usual big problem with frames.

July 18, 2001

Been remembering to read the Oz newpapers online, they're good sites to go to if you want a close to insiders view of what makes the news there. I tend to blog the ones I want to comment on.

Sydney Morning Herald

The Age (Melbourne)

The News (Australia wide, but covers the main rags in Adelaide)

A comprehensive list of what Australian newspapers have an online presence is nicely provided by the National Library of Australia. I'm a big fan of taxpayers dollars being used for this!

July 17, 2001

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/010716/80/by9xb.html

"While 107 people clog each square kilometre of Indonesia, in the archipelago's neighbour to the south, Australians could easily build a giant castle each as there are just 2.3 of them for every square kilometre."

When I first got to the USA, and NJ in particular, I couldn't believe the sheer numbers of people and cars and built up areas. I know there are areas in the USA that have a small population density, but I move from the one of the most sparsely populated countries to one of the top 10 most densely populated States in the USA. Culture shock for sure. People locally think the town we're in is country, it's not densely populated. There's 30,000 people in an area the same size as the town I grew up in. A town with 3000 people. Where I'm from is a reason the USA "heartland" holds little appeal other than that of tourist visitor. The few times I've lived away from water, it's been uncomfortable. We Australians live mostly round the edges of our country, it shapes us.

Nov 30, 2000

Very few Americans would know (and until recently not many Australians would recall it either) that the images beamed to Earth of Mr. Armstrong's first great walk on the moon was brought to us via the dish at Parkes.

I'm quite impressed by this, and want to see this movie. Read the entry in IE, cause it's got a nitfty little atmospheric sound file that doesn't work in NN.

Nov 4, 2000

"I propped myself up on my elbows for a while and watched the people around me. Girls in groups of two and three in brightly coloured bikini's. Two boys beside me with matching tans and bums in tight speedo pants, rubbing lotion into each other and cooing. Parents dipping their childrens feet in the water to pull them up again. "

I would have sliced this , particularly Australian, but it's from March this year. A trip to Coogee beach, been there, enjoyed that.

Nov 2, 2000

I am Australian too, and this resonates. I've got my spellchecker trained, now for the rest of the world.