Nova Scotia Comes Alive in 2011!

Australian High Commissioner Pushes the “Pansy Button”

In my years of traveling I have never met more seasoned and hardy travelers than the Aussies and their Kiwi brothers from New Zealand. I was told that this is because they live way down in the South Seas and have to come a long way to see Europe and North America. Over the years I’ve met them everywhere imaginable and heard about the infamous “Hippy Trail” and Bali, which are both immortalized in a song by Red Gum entitled, I’ve Been to Bali Too.

Yes, you have to go a long way before you find a group of people who travel more and who are dissuaded less by wild creatures, civil wars and the such. So it with great amusement that I read a report on the website produced by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade called “Smart Traveller” which stated that Aussies should”exercise caution” when traveling to our Great White North. It seems Canada is 4th in a rating out of 5. (5  means “do not travel.”)

Why, you may ask? Well, Australians are advised to be cautious because of “the risk of a terrorist attack” in Canada, heavy snow, windchill and ice in the winter, and forest fires that can erupt “at any time.” Now, the worst was British Columbia, a land where parts look very much like New Zealand. (New Zealanders south of Christchurch will tell you to dress warmly in the winter too)  Unbeknown to it occupants, B.C. was also singled out as being in an active earthquake zone and “subject to avalanches,” along with Alberta.

So, where does this put us in this amazing rating system: the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Bosnia, Albania, Spain, Malaysia, Greece and Cambodia.

Now, here’s the kicker: China, Chile, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Belarus, Romania, South Korea, Ireland, Norway (avalanches), Japan (more earthquakes in one day than we get in a year) and Latvia get the best rating.

Australian High Commissioner Bill Fisher also said that “The warning is a general one for all Western countries and it followed some quite nasty statements by al-Qaida two or three years ago about attacks on Western countries.” Sure, Canada is in Afghanistan clearing mines and building schools and wells – and some are getting killed for it. However, has the travel-sensitive Fisher forgotten that it was Australia who followed the U.S. into Iraq? As well, statistics show that brush fires in Australia are more deadly to humans than forest fire in Canada

My point is this: Canada is a huge country with more mountains than Australia has Great White Sharks. So if someone goes snowboarding in an area posted with “No Skiing” signs then they are tempting many Darwinian laws, just like someone who swims in a no swimming area in Surfer’s Paradise, posted because sharks have been sited.

The trouble with the High Commissioner’s claim about Canada is that it’s bad for all tourism. And it’s also pretty wild claim about a country that consistently places 2nd or 3rd on the United Nations list of”Best Countries to Live In.”

Now the good news: The Canadian Embassy website in Australia says that Australia sends the fifth largest number of overseas visitors to Canada each year. It seems these guys know more than the High Commissioner. Good on yah!