guidebook

If you were Western Australian you would understand the term "far east'
To WA people, SA is the middle East and Qld, Vic, Tas & NSW
the "Far East" grin
John H

"Frank Slootweg" wrote in message
...
Rolf Loehrer wrote:
Hi,
we are coming to Australia in July (from Germany).
Can somebody recommand a good guide (like"Lonely planet" for the far
east)?

What do you mean by "the far east"? The far east of Australia? If so,
what the heck do you mean by that? Or the far east, period? If so, which
country/countries in the far east?

In general, for Australia: Just get the Lonely Planet guide for
Australia and optionally the LP guides for the states you want to visit
or/and the LP Outback guide.

"Rolf Loehrer" wrote in :

Hi,
"far east" for us in Germany is Asia, "near east" are countries like
Israel, Syria, Egypt.Thanks for your tip.
Rolf Löhrer
"Frank Slootweg" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
John H wrote:
If you were Western Australian you would understand the term "far
east' To WA people, SA is the middle East and Qld, Vic, Tas & NSW
the "Far East" grin



snip other stuff

I know we are joking a bit at the moment, but just to clarify a few
things for those dropping by.

Geography tends to get a bit odd here, as Australia is more-or-less a
European nation physically located in opposite side of the world.

The phrase 'Far East' is not in use a lot in Australia. I suspect most
Australians when faced with the expression 'far east' would reply 'far
east of what?' (as indeed happened here). John H's suggestion that WA
people would regard "Qld, Vic, Tas & NSW" as the 'far east' is humourous
- West Australians are notoriously parochial - but I've never heard it
actually used.

What a European (and an American??) would call "Far East" we would call
"Asia". (interestingly, an Australian would not refer to India, Pakistan
etc. as "Asia").

We use the term "Middle East" to refer to the countries Rolf L called
"near east" - ie Arab countries, Israel etc. I gather this is fairly
common elsewhere.

I doubt we'd ever refer to the "Near East" at al.

However, the expression "Far North" is sometimes used domestically. In
particular it applies to Queensland (Cairns etc. semi-officially refer to
themselves as "FNQ"). It has something of the resonance that "Deep
South" has to an American.

The expression "Western World" to refer to the traditional developed
world is in popular (if no longer official) use, despite the fact it
makes no geographic sense.

The "North/South" divide sometimes used to denote the developed/under-
developed split is not in common use here, except in certain left-wing
circles, as it doesn't make much sense locally either.

I hope all this has informed at least as many people as it has bored.

Happy travels

Les in W.A.

"Rolf Loehrer" wrote in :

Hi,
"far east" for us in Germany is Asia, "near east" are countries like
Israel, Syria, Egypt.Thanks for your tip.
Rolf Löhrer
"Frank Slootweg" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
John H wrote:
If you were Western Australian you would understand the term "far
east' To WA people, SA is the middle East and Qld, Vic, Tas & NSW
the "Far East" grin



snip other stuff

I know we are joking a bit at the moment, but just to clarify a few
things for those dropping by.

Geography tends to get a bit odd here, as Australia is more-or-less a
European nation physically located in opposite side of the world.

The phrase 'Far East' is not in use a lot in Australia. I suspect most
Australians when faced with the expression 'far east' would reply 'far
east of what?' (as indeed happened here). John H's suggestion that WA
people would regard "Qld, Vic, Tas & NSW" as the 'far east' is humourous
- West Australians are notoriously parochial - but I've never heard it
actually used.

What a European (and an American??) would call "Far East" we would call
"Asia". (interestingly, an Australian would not refer to India, Pakistan
etc. as "Asia").

We use the term "Middle East" to refer to the countries Rolf L called
"near east" - ie Arab countries, Israel etc. I gather this is fairly
common elsewhere.

I doubt we'd ever refer to the "Near East" at al.

However, the expression "Far North" is sometimes used domestically. In
particular it applies to Queensland (Cairns etc. semi-officially refer to
themselves as "FNQ"). It has something of the resonance that "Deep
South" has to an American.

The expression "Western World" to refer to the traditional developed
world is in popular (if no longer official) use, despite the fact it
makes no geographic sense.

The "North/South" divide sometimes used to denote the developed/under-
developed split is not in common use here, except in certain left-wing
circles, as it doesn't make much sense locally either.

I hope all this has informed at least as many people as it has bored.

Happy travels

Les in W.A.

On 22 May 2005 09:26:28 +0800, Les Chandra
wrote:

"Rolf Loehrer" wrote in :

Hi,
"far east" for us in Germany is Asia, "near east" are countries like
Israel, Syria, Egypt.Thanks for your tip.
Rolf Löhrer
"Frank Slootweg" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
John H wrote:
If you were Western Australian you would understand the term "far
east' To WA people, SA is the middle East and Qld, Vic, Tas & NSW
the "Far East" grin



snip other stuff

I know we are joking a bit at the moment, but just to clarify a few
things for those dropping by.

Geography tends to get a bit odd here, as Australia is more-or-less a
European nation physically located in opposite side of the world.

The phrase 'Far East' is not in use a lot in Australia. I suspect most
Australians when faced with the expression 'far east' would reply 'far
east of what?' (as indeed happened here). John H's suggestion that WA
people would regard "Qld, Vic, Tas & NSW" as the 'far east' is humourous
- West Australians are notoriously parochial - but I've never heard it
actually used.

What a European (and an American??) would call "Far East" we would call
"Asia". (interestingly, an Australian would not refer to India, Pakistan
etc. as "Asia").

We use the term "Middle East" to refer to the countries Rolf L called
"near east" - ie Arab countries, Israel etc. I gather this is fairly
common elsewhere.

I doubt we'd ever refer to the "Near East" at al.

However, the expression "Far North" is sometimes used domestically. In
particular it applies to Queensland (Cairns etc. semi-officially refer to
themselves as "FNQ"). It has something of the resonance that "Deep
South" has to an American.

The expression "Western World" to refer to the traditional developed
world is in popular (if no longer official) use, despite the fact it
makes no geographic sense.

The "North/South" divide sometimes used to denote the developed/under-
developed split is not in common use here, except in certain left-wing
circles, as it doesn't make much sense locally either.

I hope all this has informed at least as many people as it has bored.

Happy travels

Les in W.A.

Hi All

Just to confuse things further, in NSW the "Far West" is not
WA but much closer to home as the area west of the great
Dividing Range, and "beyond the Black Stump" is similar but
evokes dusty inland small towns. A little town called Coolah
actually claims to be the site of the Black Stump:-) We have
a charity dedicated to supporting kids from that district
http://www.royalfarwest.org.au which brings them to Sydney
for holidays or medical treatment.

When I was in the RAAF the area between Alice Springs and
Port Hedland (on the WA west coast) was known as the GAFA
when we overflew it. The Great Australian F... All.

When I visualise Asia on hearing that word it is split into:

Asia: China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Siberia, the 'stans
(Afghani, Kazakh, Uzbeki etc)

SE Asia: - what used to be Indo China, plus Malaysia and
Singapore.

The nearby island Nations: Indonesia/Phillipines/New
Guinea/East Timor.

The Sub-continent: India, Pakistan, Burma, Nepal etc; the
old English Raj.

I still relate to the term "Middle East" for the rest.

That's just me.


Cheers, Alan, Australia

On 22 May 2005 09:26:28 +0800, Les Chandra
wrote:

"Rolf Loehrer" wrote in :

Hi,
"far east" for us in Germany is Asia, "near east" are countries like
Israel, Syria, Egypt.Thanks for your tip.
Rolf Löhrer
"Frank Slootweg" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
John H wrote:
If you were Western Australian you would understand the term "far
east' To WA people, SA is the middle East and Qld, Vic, Tas & NSW
the "Far East" grin



snip other stuff

I know we are joking a bit at the moment, but just to clarify a few
things for those dropping by.

Geography tends to get a bit odd here, as Australia is more-or-less a
European nation physically located in opposite side of the world.

The phrase 'Far East' is not in use a lot in Australia. I suspect most
Australians when faced with the expression 'far east' would reply 'far
east of what?' (as indeed happened here). John H's suggestion that WA
people would regard "Qld, Vic, Tas & NSW" as the 'far east' is humourous
- West Australians are notoriously parochial - but I've never heard it
actually used.

What a European (and an American??) would call "Far East" we would call
"Asia". (interestingly, an Australian would not refer to India, Pakistan
etc. as "Asia").

We use the term "Middle East" to refer to the countries Rolf L called
"near east" - ie Arab countries, Israel etc. I gather this is fairly
common elsewhere.

I doubt we'd ever refer to the "Near East" at al.

However, the expression "Far North" is sometimes used domestically. In
particular it applies to Queensland (Cairns etc. semi-officially refer to
themselves as "FNQ"). It has something of the resonance that "Deep
South" has to an American.

The expression "Western World" to refer to the traditional developed
world is in popular (if no longer official) use, despite the fact it
makes no geographic sense.

The "North/South" divide sometimes used to denote the developed/under-
developed split is not in common use here, except in certain left-wing
circles, as it doesn't make much sense locally either.

I hope all this has informed at least as many people as it has bored.

Happy travels

Les in W.A.

Hi All

Just to confuse things further, in NSW the "Far West" is not
WA but much closer to home as the area west of the great
Dividing Range, and "beyond the Black Stump" is similar but
evokes dusty inland small towns. A little town called Coolah
actually claims to be the site of the Black Stump:-) We have
a charity dedicated to supporting kids from that district
http://www.royalfarwest.org.au which brings them to Sydney
for holidays or medical treatment.

When I was in the RAAF the area between Alice Springs and
Port Hedland (on the WA west coast) was known as the GAFA
when we overflew it. The Great Australian F... All.

When I visualise Asia on hearing that word it is split into:

Asia: China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Siberia, the 'stans
(Afghani, Kazakh, Uzbeki etc)

SE Asia: - what used to be Indo China, plus Malaysia and
Singapore.

The nearby island Nations: Indonesia/Phillipines/New
Guinea/East Timor.

The Sub-continent: India, Pakistan, Burma, Nepal etc; the
old English Raj.

I still relate to the term "Middle East" for the rest.

That's just me.


Cheers, Alan, Australia

Good summary.

I was disappointed to learn that "Far East" is not a regularly used WA term
for the NSW/QLD/Vic - I like the "Northern Island" and "Western Island"
usage of Tassie and Enzed respectively for the Australian mainland.