How can you tell this pic' was taken in Australia?

[MTGuru]

But where are the 8 tiny Roo's ?

And they're all named Skippy.

More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:
"Now Skippy, now Skippy, now Skippy and Skippy!
On Skippy, on Skippy, on Skippy and Skippy!"

[Pammy]

Have they got tiny corks hanging from their hats that don't really show up very well in a tiny picture?

[Lambchop]

The bare tile floor. Anywhere else they'd put a rug over it, for heavens sake.

That's on purpose, so they can hear the funnelweb spiders coming for them by the little clicking their exoskeletons make on the floor.

Heh! Before settling on Mrs. Santa's beard, I did examine the picture closely to see if that spot on the floor WAS a funnelweb spider . . .

Before this is over, I trust someone will explain about the tiny corks . . .

[Ceili_whistle_man]

What a very witty lot you folk are….
A few little explanations for you all,
It’s not Mrs Santa on the left, that’s Santa’s helper, Colleen, every other year it’s usually Colin, but as the helper is female she didn’t want to be Colin so she became Colleen instead. The name Colin came about after a bit of merry making many Christmases ago, we were all sat around with the younger kids and getting them to shout out ‘Callin’ Santa’ in the hope that Santa would appear. Santa’s helper came rushing in saying ‘Who’s calling for me?’, then was asked ‘Who are you, are you Santa?’ The reply was ‘No, I’m Colin (calling) Santa, who wants me?’
So it has developed into a tradition here that Santa’s helper is called ‘Colin’.
This year with it being Colleen it makes it sound a bit more like 'calling'.
So, no lambchop, not Mrs Santa and not Florida, no palm tree either and although I still call them flip-flops, here in Oz they’re known as thongs.
No dingoes this far South, so the babies are safe mutepoint.
Denny’s right about photoshop avanutria, I had to flip the pic so you Northern hemisphere dwellers could view the thing properly...
....but how did you know my computer was upside down avanturia?
(edited to explain the pic) The screen is upside down, you can just make out the 'BENQ' brand name on the upper edge, the black bit at the top is the stand and what the screen is supposed to be sat on, at the minute it is just leaning up against the shelf of the computer desk. Does anyone know how to invert/reverse the screen display so that I can put the monitor the correct way up?

Gregrdidge, the eight (not so tiny) roo’s were out on the front lawn (or what’s left of it after the big dry).
No funnel webs down this way either Nano, we have redbacks and the nasty, nasty white tip spider. The white tip spider injects a horrible flesh eating bacteria into the bite area, it is a horrible infection that can last for years slowly eating away, with no cure.
Pammy, the tiny corks used to be hung all around the rim of your hat on a short piece of string and when the your head was moved the corks would swing around a little making the flies shoo away from your face. We don’t use corks anymore, we make do with the ‘Australian salute’.
The dead give away is that Santa is wearing a pair of ‘double pluggers’ on his feet.

[Lambchop]

The dead give away is that Santa is wearing a pair of ‘double pluggers’ on his feet.

Where? And what are double pluggers? He's wearing flip-flops. Over that, he's wearing those fake-boot costume gaiters.

[Ceili_whistle_man]

Double pluggers are thongs (flip flops) were the straps that run over the foot to the back part of the thong are fixed through the thong and held in place by the end of the strap which is plug shaped.
There is a bit of a saying here, 'Never insult a man by buying him a pair of single pluggers'.

[Lambchop]

I did not know that! I believe I have seen double-plugged flip-flops here, but never paid it much mind.

A fascinating topic, though. For those of you who can't quite grasp the concept . . . here's an excellent visual aid of a "single plugger." EXPLANATION HERE



To see the double-plugged variety, click HERE.

[Denny]

I rather think that you've got yerself a screwed single plugger there deary...

[chas]

But where are the 8 tiny Roo's ?

And they're all named Skippy.

More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:
"Now Skippy, now Skippy, now Skippy and Skippy!
On Skippy, on Skippy, on Skippy and Skippy!"

Yeah, and the elves are all called Bruce, and their pets are all named Eric.

[Nanohedron]

No funnel webs down this way either Nano, we have redbacks and the nasty, nasty white tip spider. The white tip spider injects a horrible flesh eating bacteria into the bite area, it is a horrible infection that can last for years slowly eating away, with no cure.

Good press! Helps keep away the riffraff, I can imagine. The Minnesotan climate ensures that our arachnids are on the not-too-noteworthy side, so we advertise the lutefisk. You do what you can.

[mutepointe]

I saw a nature show once about the dangerous animals of Australia. The hour long show started out with Jellyfish and other animals that caused a painful sting and ended with animals that could just look at you and you were going to die a most painful agonizing death and no cure or antidote was in sight.

[Lambchop]

I saw a nature show once about the dangerous animals of Australia. The hour long show started out with Jellyfish and other animals that caused a painful sting and ended with animals that could just look at you and you were going to die a most painful agonizing death and no cure or antidote was in sight.

I saw one about their poisonous snake catchers. It was horrifying. They showed people discovering one of the most venomous creatures on earth beneath, say, the baby's crib or in little Johnny's Lego's, and, standing there in flip-flops with toes dangling appetizingly two feet from the menace, these people would calmly pick up the phone and dial -- they KNEW THE PHONE NUMBER already -- the snake dudes -- "Yes, he's in the powder room right now, resting quietly. Should I give him a sandwich while we're waiting?" And the snake men would trundle on over -- no rush! -- to casually scoop up the creature and tote it off to an improved lifestyle in some snake spa.

If we had something that ghastly here, we'd have a spray to take care of it.

[Ceili_whistle_man]

I've been bitten on the finger by a redback spider, it didn't feel like much when it happened but three or four minutes after realising I had been bitten it felt like someone was holding a red hot poker against my finger. Apart from the excruciating local pain, I had no other side effects.
I was also bitten by a whitetip spider, two weeks ago, and apart from a bit of local redness and soreness and two hard lumps appearing under my skin, I had no other reaction to the bite.
Most of the poisonous spiders would rather run away from humans, it's when they are disturbed unexpectedly that they bite. The exception to the rule is the funnel web spider which protects it's territory with aggresive behaviour.
It will not back away but advance to you, hey, they may even beat you up and take your wallet if you are unlucky enough to not see them coming.

[avanutria]

...we have redbacks and the nasty, nasty white tip spider. The white tip spider injects a horrible flesh eating bacteria into the bite area, it is a horrible infection that can last for years slowly eating away, with no cure.

I was also bitten by a whitetip spider, two weeks ago, and apart from a bit of local redness and soreness and two hard lumps appearing under my skin, I had no other reaction to the bite.

Either the first is an exaggeration or the second is an understatement...

[dwest]

Redbacks are closely related to the black widow of NA. Human males were the usual victim here until we got indoor plumbing, Minnesota probably still has a problem. The white-tailed spider is fairly innocuous and a good spider hunter and unfairly persecuted.