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Australia is another passion of mine, and I want to share it. All of this can be found on another profile of mine here on this site- but the profile was created as an homage to Australia- better suited for the Member Pages:

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Many of my favorite things are Australian and it isn't even intentional (like VR members in Australia). Growing up in the 70s, I was (and still am) a big fan of The Little River Band. I have a lot of memories to those tunes- and they take me back to moments that honestly, were never mine. I remember being very, very young, and trying to figure out what those adult feelings meant. Same goes for Air Supply (Aussie/Brit combo). I loved the music, and somehow I was able to tap into maturity that I didn't own through those lyrics. Also a big fan of AC/DC, one of the greatest rock bands on the planet and probably the most successful band internationally from the country... I actually assumed they were American for a very long time when I was a kid.

Olivia Newton-John was big in the country and easy listening circuit in the 70s, I also thought she was American. I guess Americans are trained to think the best ones always are... then you get schooled ;) The first movie trip I remember taking as a child was a double feature in 1978: Grease and Superman, the first installment of each. It is a seriously treasured memory, and I remember all the boys were 'ga ga' over Olivia, and that pretty blonde girl was/is an Aussie. She went on to mark the 80s with some of the most popular of culture we all remember.

As I grew, I came to learn of all the wonderfully talented people that come from Australia. Many of my favorites are Aussies. Anthony Lapaglia, Eric Bana, Toni Collette, Hugh Jackman, Guy Pearce, Cate Blanchette, Heath Ledger, Alex O'Loughlin, Jack Thompson, Errol Flynn- the list just goes on and on. But those are a few I love most. There are more famous Aussie actors but I have a preference :) One of my favorite movies is Oyster Farmer. It stars Alex O'Loughlin in his first major film. Watching it really opened my eyes to how similar the life of an Australian oyster farmer is to that of a Louisiana shrimper. It was filmed in Hawkesbury River, and I would really love to see the place for myself one day. It was an Alex O'Loughlin interview that sent me to watch 'Let The Right One In'- one of the best vampire films, ever. He called it, 'Fucking Brilliant'. I had to see for myself :)

Australia has a bad-ass history, and it's comprised of people who know 'tough'. They've made a living from a terrain that should be impossible, they've discovered the most beautiful natural things there, and they love their home. It helps my love for the country- seeing so many things that remind me of who I am. My name is Heidi, I am from Southern California, I have lived in New Orleans for many years, and my favorite US State is Texas. Australia has aspects of each, so similar, that movies supposed to be set in the three aforementioned US places have been filmed in Australia instead. Heidi is short for Adalheid- or 'Adelaide', a major city in Australia.

My birthstone is the opal, mined in Australia. My favorite gem stone is the pink diamond, mined in Australia. People that know me well-enough realize my fascination with gems is not about showing off and having the best. It's an adoration for natural things created by the Earth over time. In the deepest, darkest places of the hardest continent in the world- we find the most amazing gems. There's nothing more fascinating to me than a stone of this nature found on our planet. Like earth-bound stars, they are the products of time.







All this, and I haven't even touched upon their very distinct wildlife. I couldn't mention it all- but I have some very interesting facts about the kangaroo. Did you know that a kangaroo's body has the ability to produce three different kinds of milk at one time? One for a gestational baby, one for a joey still in the pouch, and one old enough to be out of the pouch yet still nursing. In the roughest part of the Outback, a kangaroo can literally stop the gestation of a baby and restart it when the weather is better (rain coming). Steve Irwin did an amazing job in his lifetime bringing a spotlight to Australian wildlife and their importance.

The country is also and firstly home to one of the oldest indigenous tribal people on the earth, the Aborigines.



Like Alaska, There are places in Australia where you can view the polar lights. Called the 'aurora australis', or 'southern lights'- they can be viewed in parts of Tasmania, Macquarie Island, and Australia's neighbor country, New Zealand.

The wisdom of Errol Flynn

It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper.

I am not biased against the rich because they are rich, but the most lively people are those without money who would like to have some.

Someone, I don't know who- it might have even been me- said, 'Any man at the age of twenty-five who is not a Communist has no heart: any man who is still is at the age of thirty-five has no head.'

Man's indecency to man all over the world rules out the idea of humanity as an actuality. It is a dream of young idealists. In practice a misnomer.

I crave the indulgence of my senses but this is countered by an interior desire that is even keener than my senses to know the meaning of things.

I want faith; but I am faithless.

I enter a whorehouse with the same interest as I do the British museum or the Metropolitan - in the same spirit of curiosity. Here are the works of man, here is an art of man, here is the eternal pursuit of gold and pleasure. I couldn't be more sincere. This doesn't mean that if I go to La Scala in Milan to hear Carmen I want to get up on the stage and participate. I do not. Neither do I always participate in a fine representative national whorehouse - but I must see it as a spectacle, an offering, a symptom of a nation.

I portray myself as wicked, hoping I will not be regarded as wicked. But I may be wicked in the biblical sense.

I am on the side of the underdog except when I am on the side of the rich.

It is habit for me to discount myself before somebody else does it for me. Better to get in the first lick.

You can never trust a human being to behave as you would have expected in a given circumstance.

Has every oyster a different taste?

If they say I am inconsistent let them say it, for it is true, because inconsistency is a part of living.

I am convinced of the validity of contradiction. There are many worlds. Each is true, at its time, in its own fashion.

It is a mistake to think you can't be hurt if you don't care.

Flynn is not always in.

There is so much more to share about Australia. This is not the end all/be all Australian knowledge point on the web- I merely mention things worthy of note based upon my personal interests. Australia is a country with wonders, triumphs, and contributions to the world in many areas. I encourage anyone to dig a little deeper. I continue to do so myself. After all this I have shared- I share one final thing: I have never been to Australia :( It's a dream of mine and I have had missed opportunities. While stationed in Japan serving in the US Marines I tried my hardest to deploy to Australia with 'Operation Southern Frontier'. It's a continual mission for Marine Aircraft Group 12 in Iwakuni, Japan to Darwin. I wasn't able to go. I tried to take a vacation but was also not successful. Today- I plan for a 'one day' trip. And it will probably be the highlight of my life.