"Spring is here the grass is ris,

I wonder where the boidies is,

they say the boid is on the wing,

but that to me is quite absoid,

I think the wing is on the boid".

author: anonymous.

Well in my part of the country Spring is truly burgeoning, flowers coming up thick and fast, my baby cherry tree - just eight months old - is covered in delightful pink blossom, the irises (the flag and the bearded) are in bud, the pelagoniums are flowering, the baby camellias and rhodedendron are still too small to behave like their fully fledged older family members but are trying very hard to do so- one bud at a time. The sticky weed is again encroaching onto the garden in a most rampant manner; but being a glass half full type of a girl all I can say at least it is easy to remove! The wretched blackberries are also trying to take over leadership stakes in their bid to see of they can cover at least 25% of the ground and unfortunately they are a lot harder and way more painful to remove

So with Spring being here I can safely say that Summer is on the way at last. It has been a long, cold winter; but soon it will be time to dust off your waist lines, defoliate your furry bits and get out your swimmers, bathing suits, bathers, cossies, togs, bikinis, dick stickers, budgie smugglers, or sluggos to name just a few of the many names Aussies love to give their swimware! All these names - it makes me wonder whether other countries have a such a diverse range of names for just one piece of swim apparel.

We are, in the main, an irreverent lot and quite proud of the fact! we love the beach, the sun and the sand, fishing, surfing, swimming, surf board riding, deep sea diving, jet skiing, yachting, boating, snorkling, wind surfing or maybe just meandering along the sand looking at the ocean. I am sure to have left out some water sports that mr/mrs aussie would indulge in! - basically it could be any sport that involves the sea and the sun; with preferably both the climate and marine life obliging us at one and the same time.

Last year the Australian Tourism Board put out an incredibly expensive ad inviting tourists to come and enjoy our country, but having used words to the effect of "well, where the bloody hell are you?" they were somewhat surprised that their/our unique aussie humour turned people off rather than enticing them to visit our shores. So while I am sorry for those of you who were put off by this ad and took yourselves to say e.g. Paris; maybe sometime in the future you could come visit and enjoy our downunder hospitality. Just let us know in time for us to chuck a few more prawns on the barbie and get some tinnies out for you.

This year's tourism ad is different, somewhat obtuse and leaves us all wondering what it is the ad makers are trying to say - in fact in my case (& I don't believe I am that stupid!) I even asked my better half what on earth do you think it is they are trying to tell us and the rest of the world, this time around!

This is because while the 2007 ad bombed big time in the tourism stakes, the 2008 ad. effort may suffer also as it is romantically unrealistic. The film maker Baz Luhrmann, has cast his truly creative eye across the world wide spectrum of misery - and after the Tourism Board's previous year's failure to capture the tourism dollars with a taste of Australian humour; caste in the profane mould - he (Baz Luhrmann ) has aimed at the pure, genuine misery of the overworked, stress-riddled person over there to come over here for a blissful, stress-free albeit travelling (in the truest sense!) holiday. Seems a great idea to entice the world-weary, time-poor target market to visit the very outback of the land, located at the bottom of the world but at what cost . Why not target somewhere more easily accessible to the average tourist. Like Mission Beach, Cairns, Port Douglas, Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmania and the rest of our larger, beautiful cities. All great jumping off places to get to who knows where - but in the main initially affordable!

Now when shown to the rest of the world this ad may capture interest from those people who have access to serious money while for others they would go out eagerly to price the trip and then, after they have picked themselves up off the floor, dusted off their bank books, elect to go to a fun tourist spot in their own country.

This is not to say that Australia is not fun - I can vouch for the fact that it really is the best place to live - but to show an ad that requires international, domestic and charter flights, the use of 4w drives and tour guides to find exactly the place the ad promotes is somewhat unrealistic and would be fearfully expensive to the average holidaymaker. It would be seriously great to go to these places but what I am saying here is you would need to do your sums first.

However despite whatever the Australian Tourism Board ad chooses to depict it's a fantastic place to visit and live, the weather's great and the people quite friendly so as Bob Dyer of "Pick a Box"fame would say in the good old days "Come on down".

copyright: a.a.gallagher 2008.

Note: I might add that the viewing of this ad on television - for me - occurred before the shorts of the film "Australia" arrived onto our screens, which then caused to re-think the ad because the question would be then; what if you live over seas and will never see this movie? which then leads to no. 2 question would you be able to understand the ephemeral points that the ad makers are pushing?

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FYI An Update: from The WA Newspaper - Traveller Section. 

http://www.watoday.com.au/

                            Budgie-smugglers banned at theme park

Hairy hunks who love skimpy swimming trunks beware! A British theme park wants you to cover up and think about getting a wax job.

Alton Towers, which boasts rollercoaster rides, hotels and a waterpark, has banned male visitors from wearing tiny swimming trunks and is considering a waxing service for hirsute men.

The park said it banned the tight and tiny trunks on the grounds that they are "not deemed public or family friendly."

"We are also looking into offering complimentary male waxing, which will ensure we preserve the dignity of all our guests," Sales and Marketing Director Morwenna Angove said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

Earlier this year Alton Towers introduced a ban on children wearing high-heeled shoes after it discovered that some of its younger visitors were using them to overcome the height restrictions for rides.

The park also teamed up with a bra manufacturer in June to test the durability and lift support of bras on rides such as "Rita - Queen of Speed" and "Spinball Whizzer," after noticing a number of "gravity-defying wardrobe malfunctions."

These guys are so cheeky they nearly ended up in big trouble via the courts but luckily the right to free speech won out - particularly lucky for them!

My guess is that Beer Drinkers really enjoy the Summer!