Intagalaktika

Or London?!

Probably worth noting the obvious... the current government policies aren't being driven by some malicious, evil, underhand, misguided moral compass. Every budget decision they're making is underpinned by the difficult-to-stomach fact that there is no money in the pot and, because of the recession, little coming in. Much as I'm not a big fan of our present leaders (and I wasn't keen of the bunch before either. My political beliefs appear to be relatively party agnostic) I think it's unreasonable not to recognise that they're scraping around desperately for any pennies they can get their hands on and being forced to make some pretty ugly decisions because the the previous government massively overspent during boom years when they should have been saving.

Sure thing. I eagerly look forward to your 'the UK's finished / gone to the dogs' comments, supported with... er, nothing.

Well I'm in London now so help me out please. If the police won't venture into 'these areas' (presumably because they're so dangerous?) I certainly don't want to stumble into one by accident. Why so coy to give details? BTW, undoubtedly there's areas in the city which aren't all that nice, as with any major city, but your suggestion that there's police no-go areas comes across as somewhat Daily Mail sensationalist

Wasn't aware race was a factor. Incidently, I knew of an illegal immigrant to the UK once, back in my uni days. He was a (white) Kiwi who'd overstayed his visa by about 4 years.

Look where?!

Which areas?

What's the best way to measure how 'good' an education system is? Or how could we compare the UK system versus the Aussie one?

Incorrect. My wife is Indian and we eat at real Indian food restaurants all the time. As NSP states, there's plenty of the bland Bangladeshi restaurants around too, especially outside the big cities, so my guess is that in your ignorance you went to one of those. I'm guessing you were also disappointed that Pret a Manger didn't serve French food and the Slug and Lettuce was lacking the good old fashioned atmosphere of a real pub on your last visit to the UK?

Sorry, I've only got a list of Sydney companies that use SAP as their secondary ERP system. Kicking myself now, knew I should I should have kept the list of those using it as their main one.

PS Apologies that seems harsh but any magical solutions, pills, crash diets, whatever are just a waste of your hard earned money and lining you up for disappointment. It's basic maths, less calories in + more calories out, committed to over a reasonable amount of time = long term weight loss

Wishing is always a good option. Alternatively I find crossing my fingers sometimes helps. Or I just shut my eyes and hope really hard. But I've always got the best results from eating less and exercising more.

Yes, enjoy your adventure whatever you decide to do. A backpacking trip is a rite of passage

There's a big pineapple on the sunshine coast, which according to their website (yes, it has a website) is 'Australia's most famous Iconic Queensland tourist attraction and landmark.' Don't go there. And don't go to any of the other big things created as some form of distraction along the Bruce Highway. The fact that anyone ever felt the need to build these things should set alarm bells ringing as to how there is to see and do. Unless you just want to drink your way up the coast, in which case I can suggest a few bars. In all honesty, I'd strongly suggest going inland to the red centre, and then up to Kakadu, across to the Daintree and Cape Tribulation then south to see the Great Barrier Reef, and exit swiftly through Cairns. It will be a much more interesting, beautiful, memorable trip than hitting the coastal road.

I love the seasons, I'm just not sure which one to expect next anymore. If last year was anything to go by we'll have winter for a few more weeks, followed by summer, then spring, then summer again, a couple of weeks of autumn, a brief hurricane season, then winter.