Down Under - Australia

[starry eyes]

Is it true thast in Aus everything is backwards to the uk, like the toilet flushes the opposite way and things like that. i heard that that is part of the reason why it is called Down Under? I have been to Aus several times but dont know the true answer!!!

[NORMANTHEDOG]

yes its true,the bath empties the other way as well

[ThisSpace]

Yep, I did it with the bath when I was there five years ago. Has to be done really! Bringing out the schoolboy experimentation again!

[SteveD]

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but it travels from right to left.

[heathfield]

People travel 'Down North' and 'Up South'.
Aussies point out that movies of a sunset always show the sun moving from left to right as it decends. That way they know the shot was taken in the northern hemisphere. In Oz, it moves right to left as it goes down.

[heathfield]

I should have add this link to their views of The World

[henneth]

Australian pig tails are curled the opposite way, probably.

[jno]

never heard the Up South thing; despite the joke map (which you can indeed buy there), Australians' mental map has the North Pole at the top, same as everyone else's. But the sun does go right to left and the seasons are reversed too. If you're buying a house, 'north-facing' is good, not bad.

[Gef]

Nope. True the Sun does travel the opposite way across the sky but everything else is just the same. It's called down under because it is compared to the UK.