Hi Kurt. Triphid seems to have gone walkabout so I'll respond to your plea. I determined nearly 50 years ago to never visit Queensland again. I broke my resolve about ten years later, briefly did, regretted it & never returned.
As for mosquitoes 15 years in Western Victorian dryness has seen few mozzies till this year's incredible humidity & rainfall. As you say these days the diseases bourne by mosquitoes grows daily. . . Perhaps they will make humans become extinct.
Welcome to the pack.

@FrayedBear I have similiar qualms about Victoria. 50 ago I was camping in the little desert and got stung on my groin/ scrotumn by a scorpion. I enjoyed the experience so much I swore that once was enough and I would never go there again. I haven't so far. Still too scared ! Although other parts of Victoria I have visited since like Melbourne( no scorpions) Dandenong/ springvale(no scorpions) and Moe( no scorpions)

@Kurtn for 18 months I lived on the fringe of the Little Dessert. One of my mates used to be a driver\guide through the dessert & so showed me some of it. Sadly we never saw scorpions & thankfully were never stung. My eyes water at the thought of your experience. Yours is the first scorpion warning that I've heard off.
You can't blame that on the people though. I totally blame the inhabitants of Queensland for their bad behaviour.

???????

Hey, I've been BANNED from FB for a period of 1 year. If you feel the need to applaud.com/congratulate me, please try to refrain, I feel enough personal pride as it is for my meager efforts in sticking it to the FB Gestapo. Btw, when my time in the FB Gulag is over I WILL NOT be returning to that decrepit cesspool.

"Positivity"
My impression of NZ is coloured by:
• French murder of NZ'ers in the harbour.
• NZ telling USA to not bring their nuclear powered warships round here.
• NZ improving Oz average IQ by genocidally driving Pacific Islanders to Oz.
• NZ raising money from experimentation on orphan children until only a few year ago.
• NZ agricultural produce.
• NZ failure to stop foreign wealth disenfranchising its citizens.
• Australia claiming a wealth of NZ talent as it's own simply because they are residing here eg. Barnaby Joyce, Joh Bjelke Petersen, various actors. . .
• Being the target of the butt end of sheep jokes when everyone knows that it is chickens and choir boys who are most targeted.
• Clinging to Victorian morality and belief in Xtianity - King Henry's war against Catholics continuing particularly given Scottish Presbyterian beliefs.

Should I replace "positivity" with "snowflake" and "Trumpian" beliefs?

@FrayedBear Pretty much nailed it about NZ. Only, I haven't heard about the experimentation on orphans -- unless you're meaning the British orphans who were transported to NZ and Oz. I'm not worried about #3 if Israel Folau is an example of the higher IQ. Petersen is disowned as is any liability born here and exported, but definitely claimed as NZ-born if they've made good overseas. And I like the last one -- Catholic priests here are the whipping boys as child molesters when other offenders like protestant ministers, boy scout leaders and teachers are hardly ever mentioned.

@Garbonza In Ballarat the Uniting Church and Synagogue are unmarked whereas the railings of the Catholic and Anglican Cathedrals are bedecked with thousands of sympathy ribbons.
Barnaby Joyce I have a suspicion is Australian born but never formally relinquished right to NZ citizenship. Orphans, I only know of through a NZ born woman who died a few years ago still on her deathbed claiming that there are not only unnatural deaths but also murdered children buried in the grounds of that enormous grim Christchurch orphanage and mental institution. She claimed to have managed to obtain unredacted files from NZ to research her PhD at Melbourne Uni. that proved that the NZ government was being paid by big pharma companies to use orphans as guinea pigs to test new drugs.

I'm just bemused about the election without knowing much about it -- have heard of Bill Shorten for YEARS as head of Labor (without the u) and knew he was 3% ahead in the polls, and now this. Maybe Aussies were just sick of changing PM every year? Dunno. The Indians and Cantonese Chinese are well settled here for more than a century and are a welcome part of the fabric. The "situation" involves newly settled Mandarin Chinese who include the high-flying businessman who is husband and favourite of Judith Collins, the upcoming leader of the National Party; and a "former" Mainland China intelligence trainer who is an influential National Party MP. Go figger

Thanks for the welcome to the group, I'm Brisbane based, my profession is funeral director, which enables me to journey through many different perceptions of the end of life journey whether based on faith culture or circumstance. My main interests are human beings, playing video games, and singing.

@Raidical I don't blame you for your interests. For some reason necrophiliac pursuits are frowned upon but you can do all sorts of obscene things with pig's trotters or a plucked chicken in a kitchen.

I no longer do >t - it's @Triphid 's joy now. I still do it in "Traditional and Folkmusic", "Passions" and "Food Glorious Food"

Thanks, not in Oz but did not realise it was an Oz group and now I cannot rememeber the discussion I was tempted to join and just clicked Join for

@Francool My goodness. That was a fast response! G'day. It must be close to your midnight over there.
Have a firckle through the past posts to see if you wish to stay a member. Poms are welcome by some. If not there are 800 other groups to join. Have fun and enjoy.

G'day.

thank you and I will