Seeing Jules47's avatar has again prompted me to look at the comparison between Straya and "the world".
Here are a couple of 'maps' showing the comparison.
The distance between Brisbane and Melbourne, 846 miles (1,362.06 kilometres) is almost as great as the distance between Paris and Lisbon, 894 miles (1,439.34 kilometres).
London to Rome is 510 miles (821.1 kilometres)
Sydney to Perth, 2,058 miles (3,313.38 kilometres) is almost the same as between Madrid and Moscow, 2,065 miles (3,324.65 kilometres).
Americans can compare Brisbane to Perth, 2,253 miles (3,638.6 kilometres) with San Francisco to Pittsburgh, 2,260 miles (3,638.6 kilometres)
So there ya have it ...
Cheers - John
Hendo said
09:48 AM Jan 18, 2014
No wonder the Internationals get confused with distance when over here. Met a Germany guy in a C/P in Byron Bay couple of years ago, on his departure he came across to say good bye and told me he was going to Cairns. When I asked him when he expected to get there he replied, "oh, about 4 o'clock" Had no idea that it would take him days.
GaryKelly said
10:08 AM Jan 18, 2014
That's good stuff, RL. I have a lot of friends in the US who know that Oz is big, but not quite how big.
dorian said
10:13 AM Jan 18, 2014
Hendo wrote:
No wonder the Internationals get confused with distance when over here. Met a Germany guy in a C/P in Byron Bay couple of years ago, on his departure he came across to say good bye and told me he was going to Cairns. When I asked him when he expected to get there he replied, "oh, about 4 o'clock" Had no idea that it would take him days.
You've obviously never been on an autobahn.
native pepper said
11:13 AM Jan 18, 2014
One of the problems is many world atlases and maps you see represent how yanks and Europeans see the world. It's a known fact maps made by yanks make the USA look much bigger in comparison to other countries and continents that it really is and they have habit of downsizing Aus considerably. Same goes for European map makers, they downsize Aus and even Africa. Bit like how Aus treats Tas, leaves it off many maps and depictions of Aus and rarely gets a mention in surveys opinion polls or even economic discussion.
No longer amazes me when foreigners ask questions about getting somewhere and expecting they can catch a bus, train, cab or walk there in a few minutes or hours. Remember arriving at a camp spot and noticing some Asian people standing at a corner with a school bus shelter in the middle of the bush. After about an hour one of them walked over and asked when the next bus would arrive. Seems they'd walked from the town after asking where to catch a bus to Mildura and were told walk out of town and when you come to a bus shelter wait there. They'd walked down a side road instead of the main road for almost 10 klms until they came across the bus shelter and waited most of the day, when we told them the shelter was just for a school bus and they were on the wrong road, they still tried to insist they only had to wait. Saw them walking back late in the afternoon and next morning when we drove through town, they were standing at the real bus stop, just had to laugh.
2foot6 said
11:18 AM Jan 18, 2014
Thanks for the comparison John,it shows a different aspect of Australia's land mass against other countries.It shows just how big we are and how small some countries are. cheers Peter.
brian said
11:45 AM Jan 18, 2014
They say that we Aussies are from down under, but that is simply a European perspective.
There is simply no scientific evidence that we are at the bottom.
All satellite imagery is oriented according to the view that we are at the bottom but it could just as easily be the other way round.
kandagal said
01:31 PM Jan 18, 2014
We used to get lots of O/S visitors (when we had a house in Qld). I used to inquire (as I planned day trips) where would you like to go? Lots replied Ayres Rock. Amazed when I told them how far that was.
JRH said
01:39 PM Jan 18, 2014
kandagal wrote:
We used to get lots of O/S visitors (when we had a house in Qld). I used to inquire (as I planned day trips) where would you like to go? Lots replied Ayres Rock. Amazed when I told them how far that was.
had a Relative come out from Britain and stay with the M.I.L. in Adelaide. When asked where he would like to go for a day trip he suggested The Great Barrier Reef.
milo said
04:28 PM Jan 18, 2014
that would be quite a day trip!
JRH said
04:39 PM Jan 18, 2014
milo wrote:
that would be quite a day trip!
Low flying comes to mind. Needless to say he did not go that day but was put on a plane a week later.
03_troopy said
05:07 PM Jan 18, 2014
when you think about it, driving from Newcastle NSW to Broken Hill, is like driving from London to Edinburgh and back, and I've done that in a day.
Joe50 said
09:25 PM Jan 18, 2014
brian wrote:
They say that we Aussies are from down under, but that is simply a European perspective.
There is simply no scientific evidence that we are at the bottom.
All satellite imagery is oriented according to the view that we are at the bottom but it could just as easily be the other way round.
Exactly! At a trivia night a while back the question was asked: "In which direction does the Earth rotate - clockwise or anti-clockwise?"
When I asked from which perspective (looking at the Earth from above the North or South Pole), all I got was a blank stare.
Joe
The dog lady said
12:05 AM Jan 19, 2014
JRH wrote:
kandagal wrote:
We used to get lots of O/S visitors (when we had a house in Qld). I used to inquire (as I planned day trips) where would you like to go? Lots replied Ayres Rock. Amazed when I told them how far that was.
had a Relative come out from Britain and stay with the M.I.L. in Adelaide. When asked where he would like to go for a day trip he suggested The Great Barrier Reef.
My relly got quite irate when we refused to take him from Adelaide to Cooper Pedy for an afternoon's drive
jules47 said
07:53 AM Jan 19, 2014
There was a French (I think) couple flew into Darwin and purchased a motorhome to drive round Australia. They got to Sydney, sold it and flew home - said they had no idea how big this country was, and how long the distance between towns! And they hadn't even been to West Australia!
I must say that sometimes it is worrying to see travellers (especially backpackers in unreliable vehicles) setting off from a campsite late in the day, to travel at night because it is cooler - much rather be hot and alive than cool and hit a roo or camel at night.
GaryKelly said
08:40 AM Jan 19, 2014
Apart from the danger of colliding with roos and camels, what the hell is there to see at night?
jules47 said
09:17 AM Jan 19, 2014
Min Min Lights???? UFO's? Bloody big headlights in the rear vision mirror as a road train comes bearing down on you!!!!!
Nelly said
09:32 AM Jan 19, 2014
Knew some people that went to England and asked how far was it from London to drive to a castle that they were interested in seeing. The Brit said it would take at least 2 hours and you wouldn't make it by lunchtime. The aussie fellow has to drive nearly that far to his local town. Australia is certainly a big and beautiful place. Did anyone hear that certain people are trying to change Australia
Day into citizen day or some other name?
Cloak said
01:40 PM Jan 19, 2014
I haven't heard that one yet Nelly.
I reckon it should stay as Australia Day.
Anyone have a problem with that should make stickers of what they want and put them on their own car.
The dog lady said
05:09 PM Jan 19, 2014
jules47 wrote:
There was a French (I think) couple flew into Darwin and purchased a motorhome to drive round Australia. They got to Sydney, sold it and flew home - said they had no idea how big this country was, and how long the distance between towns! And they hadn't even been to West Australia!
I must say that sometimes it is worrying to see travellers (especially backpackers in unreliable vehicles) setting off from a campsite late in the day, to travel at night because it is cooler - much rather be hot and alive than cool and hit a roo or camel at night.
Met a cyclist from Europe in Rollingstone in October who planned to cycle from Cairns to Darwin in December! He said he knew it could get hot so would carry 2 litres of drinking water instead of his usual 1! But to be fair, there are a lot of little "named" dots on our maps that mislead travellers into thinking there are towns. The cyclist was amazed when I pointed out that some of these places were basically the ruin of a single dwelling. I hope he didn't pursue his plan, haven't heard in the news of a foolish tourist's death so I guess he didn't go
the ginger nomad said
08:47 PM Jan 19, 2014
Hey Jules, I sat on a stump out the front of the Hamilton Hotel (1987 when it was still a pub ) watched theMin Min lights for about 3 hours until I realised it was the reflection of the moon on a road sign! I promise I hadn't had a drink,oh well maybe 8 or 9.
jules47 said
09:01 PM Jan 19, 2014
the ginger nomad wrote:
Hey Jules, I sat on a stump out the front of the Hamilton Hotel (1987 when it was still a pub ) watched theMin Min lights for about 3 hours until I realised it was the reflection of the moon on a road sign! I promise I hadn't had a drink,oh well maybe 8 or 9.
Hahahaa - when we went to Boulia, lady in the info centre told us about a young bloke who had camped out near where the lights usually appeared for three weeks, was going to stay till he saw them!!!!
Off topic - but did you know that in 2011 the International Sperm Bank stopped accepting donations from redheads????????
the ginger nomad said
09:20 PM Jan 19, 2014
what's wrong with redheads? this might set my blood boiling,you know us redheads have bad tempers!!!!
jules47 said
09:26 PM Jan 19, 2014
Don't get yer knickers in a knot - nothing wrong with a ranga!!!!!!!!
-- Edited by jules47 on Sunday 19th of January 2014 09:26:49 PM
the ginger nomad said
09:28 PM Jan 19, 2014
What are knickers?Lol
John
Ps aint life grand!
jules47 said
09:40 PM Jan 19, 2014
Oh, yeah - life is indeed grand - best time of my life - right now!!!!!
Olley46 said
12:12 AM Jan 20, 2014
Did you hear about the two read headed sailors that went out with Ginger Rodgers. Off topic sorry
Lance C
The Phantom said
11:24 PM Jan 20, 2014
If you consider that China is as half as big again as Australia, you get a bit of an idea of the size of that country. Australia - 6,000,000 odd square kms, China - 9,500,000 square kms.
The Phantom
rockylizard said
08:08 AM Jan 21, 2014
Gday...
There's always something on Google
Cheers - John
The dog lady said
06:28 PM Jan 21, 2014
Isn't Google wonderful! Found this about land area of various countries:
Here's a listing of the twenty largest countries in the world by area, in both square kilometers and square miles.
Russia: 17,075,200 km2 (6,591,027 mi2)
Canada: 9,984,670 km2 (3,854,082 mi2)
United States: 9,631,418 km2 (3,717,727 mi2)
China: 9,596,960 km2 (3,704,426 mi2)
Brazil: 8,511,965 km2 (3,285,618 mi2)
Australia: 7,686,850 km2 (2,967,124 mi2)
India: 3,287,590 km2 (1,269,009 mi2)
Argentina: 2,766,890 km2 (1,068,019 mi2)
Kazakhstan: 2,717,300 km2 (1,048,877 mi2)
Algeria: 2,381,740 km2 (919,352 mi2)
Congo, Democratic Republic of the: 2,345,410 km2 (905,328 mi2)
Mexico: 1,972,550 km2 (761,404 mi2)*
Saudi Arabia: 1,960,582 km2 (756,785 mi2)
Indonesia: 1,919,440 km2 (740,904 mi2)
Sudan: 1,886,068 km2 (728,215 mi2)
Libya: 1,759,540 km2 (679,182 mi2)
Iran: 1,648,000 km2 (636,128 mi2)
Mongolia: 1,564,116 km2 (603,749 mi2)
Peru: 1,285,220 km2 (496,095 mi2)
Chad: 1,284,000 km2 (495,624 mi2)
Never would have thought Canada was bigger than China.
Gday...
Seeing Jules47's avatar has again prompted me to look at the comparison between Straya and "the world".
Here are a couple of 'maps' showing the comparison.
The distance between Brisbane and Melbourne, 846 miles (1,362.06 kilometres) is almost as great as the distance between Paris and Lisbon, 894 miles (1,439.34 kilometres).
London to Rome is 510 miles (821.1 kilometres)
Sydney to Perth, 2,058 miles (3,313.38 kilometres) is almost the same as between Madrid and Moscow, 2,065 miles (3,324.65 kilometres).
Americans can compare Brisbane to Perth, 2,253 miles (3,638.6 kilometres) with San Francisco to Pittsburgh, 2,260 miles (3,638.6 kilometres)
So there ya have it ...
Cheers - John
You've obviously never been on an autobahn.
No longer amazes me when foreigners ask questions about getting somewhere and expecting they can catch a bus, train, cab or walk there in a few minutes or hours. Remember arriving at a camp spot and noticing some Asian people standing at a corner with a school bus shelter in the middle of the bush. After about an hour one of them walked over and asked when the next bus would arrive. Seems they'd walked from the town after asking where to catch a bus to Mildura and were told walk out of town and when you come to a bus shelter wait there. They'd walked down a side road instead of the main road for almost 10 klms until they came across the bus shelter and waited most of the day, when we told them the shelter was just for a school bus and they were on the wrong road, they still tried to insist they only had to wait. Saw them walking back late in the afternoon and next morning when we drove through town, they were standing at the real bus stop, just had to laugh.
Thanks for the comparison John,it shows a different aspect of Australia's land mass against other countries.It shows just how big we are and how small some countries are. cheers Peter.
They say that we Aussies are from down under, but that is simply a European perspective.
There is simply no scientific evidence that we are at the bottom.
All satellite imagery is oriented according to the view that we are at the bottom but it could just as easily be the other way round.
had a Relative come out from Britain and stay with the M.I.L. in Adelaide. When asked where he would like to go for a day trip he suggested The Great Barrier Reef.
Low flying comes to mind. Needless to say he did not go that day but was put on a plane a week later.
Exactly! At a trivia night a while back the question was asked: "In which direction does the Earth rotate - clockwise or anti-clockwise?"
When I asked from which perspective (looking at the Earth from above the North or South Pole), all I got was a blank stare.
Joe
My relly got quite irate when we refused to take him from Adelaide to Cooper Pedy for an afternoon's drive
I must say that sometimes it is worrying to see travellers (especially backpackers in unreliable vehicles) setting off from a campsite late in the day, to travel at night because it is cooler - much rather be hot and alive than cool and hit a roo or camel at night.
Day into citizen day or some other name?
I reckon it should stay as Australia Day.
Anyone have a problem with that should make stickers of what they want and put them on their own car.
Met a cyclist from Europe in Rollingstone in October who planned to cycle from Cairns to Darwin in December! He said he knew it could get hot so would carry 2 litres of drinking water instead of his usual 1! But to be fair, there are a lot of little "named" dots on our maps that mislead travellers into thinking there are towns. The cyclist was amazed when I pointed out that some of these places were basically the ruin of a single dwelling. I hope he didn't pursue his plan, haven't heard in the news of a foolish tourist's death so I guess he didn't go
Hahahaa - when we went to Boulia, lady in the info centre told us about a young bloke who had camped out near where the lights usually appeared for three weeks, was going to stay till he saw them!!!!
Off topic - but did you know that in 2011 the International Sperm Bank stopped accepting donations from redheads????????
Don't get yer knickers in a knot - nothing wrong with a ranga!!!!!!!!
-- Edited by jules47 on Sunday 19th of January 2014 09:26:49 PM
John
Ps aint life grand!
Did you hear about the two read headed sailors that went out with Ginger Rodgers.
Off topic sorry
Lance C
If you consider that China is as half as big again as Australia, you get a bit of an idea of the size of that country. Australia - 6,000,000 odd square kms, China - 9,500,000 square kms.
The Phantom
Gday...
There's always something on Google
Cheers - John
Isn't Google wonderful! Found this about land area of various countries:
Here's a listing of the twenty largest countries in the world by area, in both square kilometers and square miles.
Never would have thought Canada was bigger than China.