Monday, April 09, 2012

Travelogue: Australia – Cognitive Dissonance

I know that I have mentioned that the land mass of Australia is about the same size and shape as the contiguous US, and have given the example of Canberra being approximately where Tallahassee, Florida is; Atlanta, Georgia is therefore a good stand-in for Sydney; and Melbourne is somewhere in the vicinity of the Florida Keys…

But that really causes me some issue when I hear things like I just heard on the news. There are cyclones (hurricanes) off the northern coast, causing concerns. Oh, yeah, and we had snow in the southern alps of Victoria. What!?

Southern Victoria? Snow? In the KEYS?

Oh, wait a minute! That’s right… the entire equivalence breaks down when you realize that Minnesota is NOT a tropical state! Florida rarely gets snow and apart from “Mount Dora” has no mountains! I have to keep reminding myself down here: South Means Cold – North Means Warm! (It works with the whole drive-on-the-left topsy-turvy nature of this place!)

Wherever you are this morning I hope you’re having a lovely day!

Don Bergquist – 09 April 2012 – Canberra, ACT, Australia

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