The Amazing World of Australian Roadsigns

So Australia strikes again at LEZ!

This time we would like to illuminate you about one of the most striking aspects of the Land Down Under, especially when visiting the country as a tourist. We are not referring to beautiful Sydney with its Harbour Bridge and Opera House, neither are we talking about Ayers Rock in the centre of the country nor the beautiful fauna found at the Great Barrier Reef. Today we’ll be dealing with Australian road signs!

As in any developed country, signs of notice, stop, caution, danger, obedience, emergency, safety and many others may be found in Australian roads. In any case, the most popular ones are those regarding caution and danger.  Most of them are diamond shaped, with a black picture or message on a yellow background.

And here it comes the interesting part. While in Spain drivers must be aware of “cows” or “deers” (at most), Australians were eager to show the wide variety their fauna has to offer. Hence, they designed funny caution and danger road signs with pictures of various Australian animals on them:

Dumb Ways to Die

Dumb Ways to Die is a song by Australian band Tangerine Kitty. The Melbourne Metro created this awesome animated video-clip as a reminder that getting hit by a train is the dumbest way to die.

DUMB - Ignoring the signal at a pedestrian level crossing
SMART - It's just common sense to obey signals at level crossings. Trains move faster than you think... so be smart, obey the signals, look both ways and double check before crossing.

You can find more dumb ways to die here

Set fire to your hair 
Poke a stick at a grizzly bear 
Eat medicines that’s out of date 
Use your private parts as piranha bait 

Dumb ways to die, so many dumb ways to die

Somebody that I Used to Know

     By dictionary definition, a cover is “something that covers or is laid, placed, or spread over or upon something else”. Regarding music, a cover version or cover song is a new performance or recording of a previously commercially released song, the “authentic” version.

     A cover version can have a radically different style, be recorded in another language or even be a “mere” instrumental version of the original.

     One of the latest and most popular songs which has been covered to the maximum is the theme “Somebody I Used to Know” by the Belgian-Australian musician Gotye featuring the New Zealand singer Kimbra. The album, “Making Mirrors” was released in Australia in August 2011, however the song became really popular in Spain during the first half or this year 2012.

Deadly Animals

    Aren’t they adorable?

When thinking about Australia, most people visualize marvellous beaches ready to be surfed, the extraordinary colourful Great Barrier Reef, funny jumping kangaroos or cute cuddly koalas. Nothing could be further from what Australia’s fauna has to offer…

Australia has quite an interesting number of deathly animals beyond Dingoes or Tasmanian Devils. Below there is a small sample of three of Australia’s most dangerous species and the consequences of their stings and bites. In spite of that, the Land Down Under is a wonderful country absolutely worth visiting!