Odd facts...

Here is an assortment off odd facts that I've come across.

• Voting is mandatory in Australia. All citizens are required on the upcoming federal elections for Prime Minister.
  
• Kangaroos meat is a common pet food here. They dice up the lower quality roos and sell it in large bags at the grocery store. Eric the cat here at Holland house loves kangaroo meat. They also raise some roos for human consumption. Trish has promised to cook up some kangaroo for dinner soon.
  
• Don't use the work "fanny" down here. It does not mean the same thing as it does in the States. And if you are a woman named Fanny, good luck visiting down here. You will get some strange reactions. No, I'm not going to tell you what it means. I need to keep this site somewhat clean.
  
• I'm glad to learn that Australians hate the "Shrimp on the barbee" phrase as much as I do. It seems to be a great source of embarrassment for them now.
  
• Many of the shops in the pedestrian malls downtown have criers on microphones and speakers. As you walk by there is some well dressed woman standing out front speaking into a mike to no one in particular telling all that pass in their crisp Ozzy accent all about the products contained within. It's rather unnerving. I suspect it is just a matter of time before that starts happening in the States.
  
• The state government here has decided to patrol for sharks at the swimming beaches this year by chopper. The flying shark patrol will be armed with rifles and a shoot to kill policy. They are also going to try out underway firecrackers that they can toss in the water near the sharks to scare them back into deep water. Having tourists eaten by sharks like what happened last year is bad for tourism.
  
• Hamburgers here in Oz come with a fried egg on them.