um, er, barwon heads, queenscliff, apollo bay, johanna beach. a few don't qualify as in the "foothills" but they are great and all next to the sea. great time of year to be on the coast.

brian

in yamaguchi-ken

Husband and I are planning to move to another country if Bush gets elected for another four years, as we unfortunately live in the States... if you find a government not hypnotized by Shrubya, do share. :)

Cthulhu for President. Do not settle for a lesser evil.

Great choice available: Come to Turkey. Our politicians are no "cuckolded prats"!! They are so amateurish and inconsistent, they could not be the lap dogs of Bush even if they wanted to - they contradict themselves 120 times per minute.

Johanna Beach? Never hoid of it - I'll get onto that...

Ferit, are you sure you don't live in Japan? that scenario sounds awfully familiar...

That said, I don't know of any country whose politicians aren't a bunch of greedy, self-gratifying, pompous nob-heads. We are all in very serious trouble...

The politicians in the UK are really upstanding, moral people, for example Tony Blair. Oh no hang on...

(ps Sorry, don't know anywhere around Melbourne. Don't even know Melbourne come to that)

johanna is down the gor. past apollo bay. lovely place. google it and you'll find something. some really cool cottages called boomerang, but pricy. ever heard of dave steel? singer out of bellarine peninsula area. he's got a great tune called "johanna" that always takes me back to our lovely drive down the gor through johanna.

there is always that japanese style inn retreat in the hills above melbourne. I think you can find out more about it at www.japaneselifestyle.com.au

Hey... you could also come out with a bunch of us girls to Luna Park and then the movies... if you feel like tagging around with a group of people you don't know. The more the merrier!

However, I thoroughly recommend Yarrambuck Mountain Retreat in Warburton, which is very pretty and VERY comfortable.

Thanks Ren - I may just take you up on that one day.

In the end, I decided to go for a bit of a girlie road-trip with a girlie friend out in Maldon (Vic Goldfields area). Have never been there, so should be different! Thanks for the suggestions though, everyone!

I don't think you have any right to be critical of the Howard Government. Please tell me who you think could do a better job? Surley not the wife beater and cheater Latham who can't even his own budjet, or maybe the "burn the lezzo's" Family First Party, or the tree hugging extacy legalising new gender making Greens. This election the candidates are a joke. If your not a uni-student that's got too much time to protest then your an idiot if you vote anything but Liberal. You obviously don't have a house to pay off or you'd definatly be looking at thing differently.

Oh and we'd be a terrorist target even if we didn't support the US. They hate us becuase we are a predominatly white well off country. It's better to be the US Lap dog and left trying to defend ourselfs, when we come under attack.

I have every right to criticise the Howard Government. In fact, just as much right as you have to disagree with me.

OK, OK fair enough call.

But really do you honestly think any other party could do a better job? I'm a firm beleiver that if it's not broken don't fix it. The economy is strong, which is a great thing, and I can't fathom why people would want to change that.

Here is a sincere offer: Send us your politicians (all of them), we will send you ours (ALL of them). Whaddayasay?

see you later dude~~ that leaves more people to vote liberal! if all non-liberal voters think like you maybe next election they will have even more seats!

have fun trying to find a country better than this one!!

"Oh and we'd be a terrorist target even if we didn't support the US. They hate us becuase we are a predominatly white well off country."

You see, I just don't believe this. Your sweeping generalizations without any attempt to understand the issues, let alone another country's culture, makes me feel that you don't actually care for finding out why 9/11 happened, why Bali occurred. You've already come up with a reason on your own and won't be swayed by anything, even the truth.

Some people, believe it or not, believe in a country which encompasses more than just a great economy. A government that doesn't lie to its people (Iraq, children overboard) would be a nice start. A government that doesn't want its country to follow the path of the US when it comes to education or health care, making everything user pays until it becomes extreme and everything is unaffordable, would also be nice. And a country that is able to make its own decisions on the world stage, rather than severely compromising its integrity and its relations with its neighbours in order to buy cheap sneakers (FTA).

And you tell me it ain't broke?

You see, for some people money actually ISN'T the most important thing in the world to them. I'm not saying a good economy is not important, it is. But it isn't the holy answer to everything, and it often comes at a terrible cost.

What we Australians said last weekend by voting for the Howard government is that we are selfish, that we are more concerned about ourselves as individuals and whether we will get an extra few dollars in our pocket each week than we are about our country.

And that disappoints me.