What is it they say, old is now new…
What’s up (England) is now down (Australia)
And what was black is now white…
Confused yet???
If you ‘thought’ you recognized this, think Black and London…
Yep, the London taxis are now populating Australia… Only difference is they’re painting them white, but everything else is the same (well, except they’re adding AC down under).
Edit- And apparently the drivers are NOT happy with them… Low power/lousy mileage diesel, lousy brakes, and don’t go much faster than 70KPH, designed for ‘city’ use, they don’t do well out in the ‘country’ around Perth…
You wonder how much R&D has been applied to those taxis over the years
… except that Perth’s “London cabs” are made in China by Geely – the only car company to ever have a car banned from sale in Oz because it failed ALL the safety tests.
They only LOOK like a true London cab.
Sheesh, I think my toaster is bigger than that. Reminds me of my 1stest car ever (VW 1966 Beetle). Probably fits as much inside as well.
From what I remember (watching Road Warrior), Australia is much more like America when it comes to travel and vehicles – long distances and big displacement motors. They don’t follow the European model of small-vehicle, short-distance, and small high-revving motors.
To expand on that a little:
Oz has ~22.5 million people in a land area only slightly smaller than the contiguous 48 states of the US with ~319 million people. (source: CIA World Factbook)
This means we have fewer, and smaller, towns, and a whole lot of nothing between them. Travel distances are huge – some people travel hundreds of kilometres for their (and their kids’) weekend sporting events.
We aren’t immune to the meddling of the enviro-weenies, so smaller capacity engines have increasing market penetration.
You are right, though, that most (non-city dwelling) Australians prefer larger cars with larger engines.
Sendarious, given the wide distances and few population centers, you would think that rail travel would be very popular there. I think there is a transcontinental rail line but are they any others ?
Anyone else read the book by Bill Bryson ‘A SUNBURNT COUNTRY’? Great read for learning more about Australia with some laugh out loud commentary as well.
We have one transcontinental East-West line, Perth to Sydney.
We have one transcontinental North-South line, Darwin to Adelaide.
There are shorter inter-city links on the East coast.
I think you are forgetting something though – 22 million people is a VERY small tax-base to cover the ENORMOUS costs of public rail construction on the necessary scale. Not to mention that passenger rail almost NEVER makes money, requiring on-going subsidy.
Also, the political climate (mostly Leftist, no matter who is in power) would almost certainly preclude even the possibility of private rail, although the mining companies in the north of Western Australia do transport minerals to port on their own tracks and trains. No passengers allowed though, as far as I am aware.
Sendarius- You’re absolutely right… And there are a ‘number’ of interesting little tidbits involved with the current rail system…
The last time I was here, I was talking to some folks at a fire run, they’d come over 1200Km for a two day event, and thought NOTHING of it! It was ‘only’ a 12 hour drive…