See - I'm not the only one....

[El Dopa]

oz has gotten worse in the last decade or two as it has degenerated into the fifty first state of the union.

Just a slight correction. Airstrip One has first dibs on being the 51st State. Oz'll have to be content with 52nd.

[heavenly.talker]

I don't see why I would have to be enamoured of Australia merely because of a superficial similarity in "pakeha" culture.

I was interested in this statement as I don't think Australia only embraces the pakeha quotient of New Zealand.

If you remember back to the 2000 olympics opening ceremony...there was a very powerful maori focus too :-)

Aussie welcomes all kiwis including our immigrants to their shores...why?

because kiwis (of all origins) have a reputation for hard work.

I think of them as a kissing cousin...we don't always get on but like to get together enough to hook up occasionally or stand together with blood ties in times of trouble. We assume that we have the same kind of values (wrongly or rightly) and because of this are often found grouped together on overseas experiences. If you are kiwi and there are a group of aussies its close enough and vise versa!

Personally I don't hold with the supporting two teams theory...All Blacks and anyone playing Australia. If New Zealand is not competing I will always cheers for the gold and green.

I would rather no other country for a neighbour.

[Timber020]

I worked and lived in Aus for a while, the racism got to me, parts of it reminded me so much of alabama and lousiana I was ready to order grits, biscuits and gravy for breakfast.
They often treated foreigners badly, as a kiwi its wasnt so bad but others I met and worked with had it hard. The arogance and ignorance was tough to deal with. I lost count the number of times I heard "Im not racist or anything but I hate (insert racial group here)."
I met some bloody good aussies, but its the ones that screwed you over that you remember.

[Pixie]

[QUOTE=Big Dave]

>>>Shame that most of it is merely one unattributed opinion.

What am I - a ham sandwich?


.

What??? With your sir name??

[Big Dave]

[QUOTE=Pixie]

What??? With your sir name??

Well seing we're painting with the broad brush, In the SANZAR of irony, yer African usually just don't get it, yer garden variety Kiwi will spot it given long enough, and the Aussie will dine out on it.

Pixies obviously have a better grasp of the concept than alanis morissette.