I think Australian's have a reputation as being friendly, layed-back etc, and to a point I'm sure we are, but like any culture we are made up of a lot of individuals. There is definitely a number of strains of racism that exist here- racism toward our indigenous aboriginals- this is made worse by our prime minister being unwilling to aplogise for all the atrocities that happened during colonisation, and also I racism driven by the terrorist “fear campaign” and fear of the “other” is quite strong too.

We are also a very diverse group of people and there ARE, I hope, a majority that are friendly and accepting. And yes- Canadian accents rock! I friend of mine from Canada back in uni days used to get jobs in hospitality just because of his accent alone =)

Hope you had a good trip – wish the weather turned it on more for you.