Australia: Fact or Fiction?


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Just now, Fuzz said:

Ken, KB (Kent Brewery operated by Tooth & Co) is a Sydney brand. I remember my father used to drink KB in the 80s. Along with Reschs Pilsener and Draught, they were the most popular beers in NSW, but KB Lager is now made in very small amounts by CUB.

Most popular beers in Australia (no particular order); Carlton Draught, Victoria Bitter (VB), XXXX, Coopers Pale Ale, Crown Lager, Tooheys New, Carlton Mid-Strength .

Lager was once the most popular style of beer, but with the rise of microbreweries, ales have taken over.

fuzz, thanks for that. i knew it was from somewhere that had absolutely no drinkable beer. don't forget XXXX Gold. a massive seller, although apparently not in every market. but where it is, seems to lead the pack in sales. coopers used to be the closest thing we had to a craft beer. not so much now! 

from wikipedia - Carlton Draught is the most popular Australian beer, drunk by 17% of the country's beer drinkers, followed by Victoria Bitter (12%), XXXX Gold (12%), Coopers Pale Ale (11%) and Crown Lager (8%). More than three-quarters (76%) of Australia's beer drinkers are men. 

amazing to think XXXX Gold exceeds XXXX. would not have believed that could ever be possible. 

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There's no water in Fosters, mainly because water has more taste.

There is one fact/fiction. Some think that the shape of the machine gun casing of the Australian tank WWII era «AC-1 Sentinel», was create for opression the psyche of the enemy      

Well, this got me googling "platypus venom" which is certainly not something I was expecting to be doing anytime soon...

Just now, Fuzz said:

Lager has always been more popular than bitter. XXXX Gold (lager) is not as hoppy and less alcoholic than XXXX (bitter).

fuzz, not arguing that. but when Gold kicked off, it was seen as a nit of a niche experiment. it took off in ways i have no doubt that castlemaine never saw coming. and i doubt that back when it was launched, you'd have found a single Qlder who thought it would do so well. 

i have no doubt that one of the main selling features is lower alcohol which appeals when driving. 

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I recall Fosters as akin to most USA brewed swill.  When I used to drink beer I was on a Modelo binge for 25 years.  A bartender once told me it was my preference for cane sugar brews as opposed to corn sugar?  I have no experience with Vegamite but can attest that Nutella is NOT a suitable substitute for peanut butter.

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2 hours ago, joey rockets said:

I recall Fosters as akin to most USA brewed swill.  When I used to drink beer I was on a Modelo binge for 25 years.  A bartender once told me it was my preference for cane sugar brews as opposed to corn sugar?  I have no experience with Vegamite but can attest that Nutella is NOT a suitable substitute for peanut butter.

i cannot remember seeing a can of fosters here for decades. your description of it is apt. 

and vegemite is only a suitable substitute for whatever cleans garage floors. 

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3 hours ago, CaptainQuintero said:

  XXXX used to be quite popular back in the late 90's in the UK, saw it everywhere but I can't remember the last time I saw it, must be going back a decade or so now

  I think most fosters (here at least) is brewed in Stoke on Trent, never even seen Australia

when i moved to London mid 80s, was living at London House. walked in and discovered they had their own bar and the beer they served was XXXX. i think i shed a tear. 

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3 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

when i moved to London mid 80s, was living at London House. walked in and discovered they had their own bar and the beer they served was XXXX. i think i shed a tear. 

  If you came and saw it again I think you'd still shed a tear, I think a pint is around a tenner a pop in central London now. 

  Price may vary according to how far the staff have seen you coming:

https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/bars/the-most-expensive-beers-in-london-from-the-rake-to-the-ritz-a3926631.html

 

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26 minutes ago, CaptainQuintero said:

  If you came and saw it again I think you'd still shed a tear, I think a pint is around a tenner a pop in central London now. 

  Price may vary according to how far the staff have seen you coming:

https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/bars/the-most-expensive-beers-in-london-from-the-rake-to-the-ritz-a3926631.html

 

i saw that one pub charged an aussie cricket journo A$90,000 plus for a single beer. or thereabouts. on his credit card. what writer, jk rowling aside, has 90K clear on the card? and why on earth did he not check? 

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3 hours ago, joey rockets said:

I recall Fosters as akin to most USA brewed swill.  When I used to drink beer I was on a Modelo binge for 25 years.  A bartender once told me it was my preference for cane sugar brews as opposed to corn sugar?  I have no experience with Vegamite but can attest that Nutella is NOT a suitable substitute for peanut butter.

Try a Nutella and Peanut Butter sandwich.... though, I am not responsible for you getting diabetes afterward.

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Here's one thing my cousin asked about: Bushfires. Do they happen every year? And how bad do they get?

Bushfires in Australia are more than just an event that happens every year. They are an essential factor in the ecology of Australia, and many of our flora and fauna have adapted (eucalyptus leaves are actually highly flammable). Bushfire season is typically August (last month of winter) to Mar (first month of autumn), depending on weather conditions. During this time, we can have bans placed on all open flames, eg no barbecuing using solid fuels, only LPG/Propane. The Catastrophic/Code Red level in our fire index was added after the Victorian Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, that claimed 180 lives, destroyed over 2000 homes and burned 450,000 hectares.

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We can have thousands of bushfires going on across the country during the season, but thanks to our fire services, most are contained and the damage limited. However, it is easy for bushfires to get out of control and destroy huge swaths of land, putting many lives at risk. Some of the largest bushfires in the last 50 years:

  • 1974/75 NSW Bushfire season - 4,500,000 ha
  • 1984/85 NSW Bushfire season - 3,500,000 ha
  • 2003 Tenterden WA bushfire - 2,110,000 ha
  • 2003 Eastern Victoria Alpine bushfire - 1,300,000 ha
  • 2006/07 The Great Divides bushfire - 1,048,000 ha

Back burning is done during the cooler months to reduce the amount of fuel available and create break zones, but many question whether it has much affect, or argue that it disrupts biodiversity. Then we have idiots who actually go out and light fires. Just recently 2 brothers were jailed for lighting fire in the Hunter Valley 2017. One worked for the fire service, and convinced his younger to light the fires, just so he could fight them and get paid.

Right now, it is early in the bushfire season, but already we have had several high risk bushfires in QLD and NSW. This is the current hot spot indicator over the last 24 hrs.

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14 minutes ago, CampDelta369 said:

I liked me some VB when I visited QLD in ‘96. It was in most pubs and refreshing,  Does anyone know what Fosters is brewed from. I heard it was Cassowary Testicles?

There's no water in Fosters, mainly because water has more taste.

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Going from Rob's post "I am missing home" comes another fact or fiction: Is everything in Australia venomous, dangerous, or otherwise hazardous to your health?

The short answer is, no. The chances of coming across one of our deadly creatures is remote, depending on where you live. Yes, we have an extraordinarily large amount of deadly creatures, but if you stay out of their territory and leave them alone, they normally don't bother you. A croc is not going to be hunting you down while you are sitting in Maccas for a Big Mac. Now, if you go swimming in a river that is known to have crocs, you just became a Big Mac. Ditto goes for a shark... but some bull sharks have been found swimming up freshwater rivers from the coast.

Snakes will be found everywhere, even in the inner suburbs of the cities. Unless you provoke them (step on them, try to catch or back it up into a corner, etc), they will not bite. Even aggressive snakes like the eastern brown or coastal taipan, are more than likely to leave you if you leave it alone, unless you do something stupid. If your house backs onto bushland, a nature reserve or park, chances are you will get a snake or two, you may never notice them. I get the occasional red bellied black snake passing through my garden in the spring and summer months, and I'm about 3km (about 2 mi) from the nearest park.

Spiders. Ugh. They are freakin' everywhere. In the garden, in the shed, in the garage, in the car, in the house, in your toilet. Just everywhere. Good thing, only a few of them are really nasty. Going down the scale, here's the list of the nastiest buggers:

  1. Sydney Funnel Web
  2. Every other funnel web (there about 40 subspecies, but only 6 are considered dangerous)
  3. Redback spider
  4. Mouse spider

Though white tailed spiders have a rep for releasing a necrotising venom, there is not proof. What makes them a real pain is that they are a hunting spider. They build no web to catch their prey, but instead go wandering for their next meal. And now here is the good thing, they like to eat other spiders! A white tailled is more interested in that tasty black house spider or redback, than in you. I have even had one cheeky bugger walk across my arm while I was sitting at my desk (she did not survive her nightly walk, though).

Blue ringed octopus, irukandji, stonefish, rounds out the other deadly nasties. You get hit by one of these, you're just plain unlucky.

But in reality, you're more likely to die from a bee sting, than any of the creatures mentioned above.

 

In saying all this, we also have quokkas and sugar glider possums.

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2 hours ago, nKostyan said:

I remembered reading as a child that rabbits (an invasive animal) are a serious problem in Australia. How is it now?

Still a problem. We tried rabbit proof fences that extended for thousands of kilometres in 3 different states (WA, QLD & NSW). Myxamatosis was next, but the rabbits developed a natural resistancey. Then came the calicivirus, which proved quite successful. Only problem, there is no cure, so domestic rabbits in areas where the virus is have to be euthanised if they contract it. Calicivirus actually broke out from the control areas and spread across Australia. A new pathogen has been approved which is even more lethal. Dmoestic rabbits need to be vaccinated against it.

However, rabbit numbers are still high. Much like the emu war, we're just holding our own against the rabbits.

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Still a problem. We tried rabbit proof fences that extended for thousands of kilometres in 3 different states (WA, QLD & NSW). Myxamatosis was next, but the rabbits developed a natural resistancey. Then came the calicivirus, which proved quite successful. Only problem, there is no cure, so domestic rabbits in areas where the virus is have to be euthanised if they contract it. Calicivirus actually broke out from the control areas and spread across Australia. A new pathogen has been approved which is even more lethal. Dmoestic rabbits need to be vaccinated against it.

However, rabbit numbers are still high. Much like the emu war, we're just holding our own against the rabbits.

Hell, so you can get a rabbits zombie Apocalypse

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36 minutes ago, Hammer Smokin' said:

I believe I heard on BBC News yesterday that somewhere in Aussieland Cannabis was legalized?

wasn't taking much notice but i think it was canberra. one suspects that the federal govt might intervene. mind you, all the drugs in the world could not save that place. 

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14 hours ago, Hammer Smokin' said:

I believe I heard on BBC News yesterday that somewhere in Aussieland Cannabis was legalized?

13 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

wasn't taking much notice but i think it was canberra. one suspects that the federal govt might intervene. mind you, all the drugs in the world could not save that place. 

Yep, ACT has legalised cannabis for personal use (50g) and you can have 2 plants. In WA, they decriminalised cannabis in 2004. So you could be fined for having cannabis (30g), but no criminal penalty recorded.

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What I hope to see is a relaxing on tobacco smoking rules as they are relaxing on indoor smoking rules for cannabis.

We have indoor cannabis smoking lounges here in Canada...that are completely breaking the indoor smoking laws...but like everything cannabis related, it is a free for all, and there isn't any control on it.

I hope to see a cigar lounge try to follow suit....

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/20/2019 at 12:21 AM, CaptainQuintero said:

  If you came and saw it again I think you'd still shed a tear, I think a pint is around a tenner a pop in central London now. 

  Price may vary according to how far the staff have seen you coming:

https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/bars/the-most-expensive-beers-in-london-from-the-rake-to-the-ritz-a3926631.html

 

Was drinking in central London two weeks ago, £2.90 a pint. Cheaper than the 7 pubs in my village.

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12 hours ago, KING BROWN said:

We-pronounce-it-Stray-Yah.jpg

i've seen the dingo eating the shark photo before. no snakes involved. and i am pretty sure it was from fraser island - healthy dingo population there, often seen on the beach. there is no road that close to the water. actually, no bitumen roads at all. someone has linked the two pics (and i have a suspicion that they are likely to be two male browns fighting about who gets to mate, rather than the mating). 

also, no chance that the dingo caught the shark. likely caught and killed by fishermen and the dingo is taking advantage. 

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