I'm fairly close to the sunshine coast but not close enough to know what the veg*n scene is like... shouldn't be TOO bad though.

I saw RoTK in Gold Class on Boxing Day, that's seeing it in style... LOL It was fun pointing at all the poor suckers waiting in line...

Just got back from a fantastic week on the Sunshine Coast - relaxing, reading, midnight ocean swimming and an interesting day at Australia Zoo - yeah I saw the infamous baby dangling near croc show!

Have to start work tomorrow :(

And giving up smoking tomorrow :(

This week is probably going to suck.

i will be studying abroad in australia starting in february. i will be attending the university of the sunshine coast. anyone know any good health food stores/veg restaurants in the area? email me: wamon@vt.edu or reply

i'm emailing you right now :up:

i just found out that my sister got a job @ australia zoo! :up:

also my best friend's siter used to work there too or maybe she still does .....

Wow, please please tell us more when you can, I would like to know how that
was in real life, your saying you actually saw Steve Irwin and the croc antics?

Yes, my brother, his gf and my bf went there as we were staying on the Sunshine Coast for a holiday. It was one of the busiest days they have had (we didn't know there was a buddist ceremony for his son that day). They have a big croc show at 12:30 and there were so many people we had to stand, we had an excellent view though. He did the usual thing where he fed the croc and talked about the dangers, then Terri brings the baby out and he holds it while he gave the croc a bit of meat. In person, it looks a lot less bad than the angle shown on television, his body was shielding the baby from the croc at all times and we honestly never thought the kid was in any danger. He then 'walked' the baby down to the waters edge - the croc was a long way from him at this time, NOT like it looks on the news. The croc was on land, very slow and as soon as the croc started to go into the water he removed the baby and gave her to Terri.

It was not as bad as it appeared on TV. But over lunch we were laughing and saying this will get a Michael Jackson commentary!

Thanks Descentia,
This helps us all get a clearer and more candid insight and for convenience of all, here is the
current Steve Irwin croc thread on this very issue of debating baby dangling mishaps.
http://veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=13754&page=1&pp=40

People are getting very upset about it aren't they? From my point of view, it may have been silly to not expect a public outcry. But the guy has worked with these animals all his life and I would have no qualms letting him hold a baby of mine like that. I would be more worried letting a child go home in the cars of some of the people in the crowd! MUCH more danger.

With_open_eyes: Cool for your sister, what an excellent job. :)

BTW, what was the dog in the avatar liberated from on 3/10/03???

With_open_eyes: Cool for your sister, what an excellent job. :)

BTW, what was the dog in the avatar liberated from on 3/10/03???

s/he was a former guard dog at a chinchilla fur furm (spain) who was liberated back in november last year along with 40 CHINCHILLAS, 1 RABBIT and 1 FERRET. they are all freeeeee now! s/he might be a pyrenees (spelling) "OconfusedOne" informed me ...

there are more photos here (http://www.directaction.info/liberations/Spain_chinchilla_raid/index.htm) if you wanna check them out!

hey,

I will be in Australia on March 20th (International Meatout Day) this year and was wondering if any of you in Australia would like to meet up in a big city there and do a Meatout event together? Hand out vegan food and literature and the such. Please reply to this or email me at wamon@vt.edu and let me know. I'd say emailing me is better because it takes a while to scroll through these forums and find where I posted. I'm really interested in doing it over there. I will be close to Brisbane, but if you'd rather it be in another city let me know and I can try to travel there.

hey everyone! this affects us all so please check it out >>>

How could the USA-Aus Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Australia is currently negotiating affect you?

Please read, take action (1 minute of your time) and forward widely!

- MORE EXPENSIVE MEDICINES, for me, you, your parents, grandparents and kids. Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) allows Australians to enjoy some of the cheapest medicines in the world. The US Pharmaceutical industry would like to see it dismantled in order to increase their profits. While the Federal Government has said they will not trade away our PBS, they cannot be trusted as the pharmaceutical industry in the USA is very powerful and has the ear of the president.

- ATTACKS ON AUSTRALIA’S DEMOCRACY. The US Government wants to give US corporations the right to sue the Australian Government or any other level of government over any of our environmental and health laws, which reduce corporate profits. This has already been done in its free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, and Australia has allowed this rule in our recently signed FTA with Singapore. This clause will jeopardise the health and environment of the Australian people.

- GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS. The USA is the world’s largest producer of genetically modified foods. Because of the power of agribusiness in the USA, they have no labelling laws requiring foods with GM ingredients to be labelled. The US government wants our labelling laws, which give consumers a choice to be rolled back, so we won’t know what we are eating.

- LESS AUSTRALIAN CONTENT ON TV AND FILMS. The USA is challenging Australian Content Rules in film, television and music as barriers to trade.

- MORE PRIVATISATIONS OF ESSENTIAL SERVICES. The USA wants to remove all restrictions on “trade and investment” in services. This would allow US corporations to come in and purchase the few essential services still in public hands, such as our water, postal services, health and education sectors.

ALL OF THIS COULD HAPPEN! Australia is in a weak bargaining position and our government is unable/unwilling to stand up to the USA. The negotiations are being done in secret, and the agreement only requires cabinet ratification, it doesn’t even have to go through parliament to be accepted. We must take action now to stop this destructive agreement, which could completely change the face of Australian society.

What can you do?

- Go to NOFTA (http://www.nofta.org) and register your vote against the FTA (IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE!) – please only vote once!
- Go to www.tradewatchoz.org for more information and form letters you can send to key politicians.
- Send a short letter/email (that’s all that’s needed!) to the Prime Minister (http://www.pm.gov.au/email.cfm), the Trade Minister Mark Vaile (http://www.trademinister.gov.au/), the shadow trade minister Stephen Conroy (http://www.alp.org.au/people/people.html?seat=senate^vic^Conroy^Stephen) or your member of Parliament. You can use the points listed above. Be sure to include your full name and address.
- Speak to family and friends about this issue, it has gotten very little and superficial coverage in the media, and the government is trying to keep all the details secret.
- Get involved in the campaign!

PS – Modelling by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that a FTA would actually shrink the Australian economy by 0.03% per year and increase imports from the USA by $5.25 billion. This is without factoring in the societal and environmental impacts listed above.

www.nofta.org
nofta campaign is endorsed by Global Trade Watch (http://www.tradewatchoz.org/), Friends of the Earth (http://www.foe.org.au/) and AID Watch (http://www.aidwatch.org.au/)

p.s. i made it so easy, i found all the contact detail links so all you have to do is click on them and write! :)
love sarah

Thanks WOE, that was great! I am already troubled be the amount of influence and control that the US government and it's corporations have over my Government, Australian trade and Australians in general.

Why don't you Aussies kick all your leaders out who don't have sense enough to think for Australia? The US doesn't have to influence the world if your leaders don't allow it. I am from the US, and I just don't understand why you put up with it. The almighty dollar shouldn't be able to buy another country. Put a stop to it. (Not trying to start something.)

Why don't you Aussies kick all your leaders out who don't have sense enough to think for Australia?....

Don't worry we're working on it :yes:

Kurm!!! Come back!!

TAG - you're welcome! ;) ohh and check out the animal action thread, i just posted a new thread about bear hunting in romania :( :( :(

yeah, we're trying life2k :up:

VB just isn't the same without you kurm! :(

Thanks WOE :)

The problem with that, life, is that a lot of Australian voters are very conservative. :(

We'll keep trying to kick the b#$tards out!

BTW: I have not been here long, but enjoy Kurms posts and hope he comes back. :(

Kurm was one of the first people who really talked to me when I was a newbie. he will be missed :(

I know!! I miss him!!
I made a fish joke in the photo album (in tha pic of the fish with the other in its mouth).. But it just didn't feel the same :no:

awwwwwwww :(

Happy Australia day everyone!!
Did any one watch the Australian of the Year awards last night? I was, but turned it off in digust after Steve Waugh one. Sure, I like him enough but really - he hits balls and gets a lot of money for it. Did you see the other nomionees? One woman treats burns victims (like the many people flown over from Bali), and actually invented artificial skin! Not fair.

well, you know, it's all about sport . . .

where is kurm?

has he gone for good?

why?

i miss australia so much and i only just returned from there

im coming over to australia next month...yays. Looking forward to nice weather and nice food !

Natalie, where will you be?

iceflower, yeah, it's pretty shocking, and I think most people agree that it was wrong.