But where were all the people? If any
of these trips had been in Canada, there would have been many other
people hiking or kayaking. Some trips, in fact, would have been so
popular that a lottery system would be used to allocate spots along
the route. Yet, in Australia, we saw virtually no-one. Well, that's
not quite true, we would always know when we were within 5 to 10
minutes of some road side access because we would see people. Other
than that, the country/ocean side was virtually vacant (with the
exception of power boaters).
From an outsiders perspective, and,
despite being born in Australia and now returning to live here, I
still consider myself an outsider, Australians appear, on the whole
to be much less active than Canadians. Repeated studies have shown
that participation in physical activity among Australians is
declining every year and, while some 50 to 70% of Australians
(depending on the survey) report engaging in physical activity, that
same 50 to 70% consistently over-estimates their level of physical
activity by as much as 50% compared to objectively measured levels.
Canadians participate at about the same rate as Australians but
participation in physical activity is actually increasing in Canada,
not declining.
Australians do seem to like the
outdoors, every weekend and school holiday sees them out in throngs
packing the local campgrounds to a much greater extent than Canadians
(perhaps the more benign climate encourages more camping), but, all
the Aussies seem to do when they are camping is sit. Well, again,
that's not quite true, sometimes they lie. What they don't do in
significant numbers or to a significant extent is engage in physical
activity.
There are hard-core Australians out
there – I've even met some of them – climbers who've gone to the
US to climb big wall routes, kayakers crossing Tasman Strait from
Victoria to Tasmania, cyclists racking up 400 km rides in 24 hours,
but the average Australian just doesn't seem to believe in doing
anything much of anything.
The quixotic thing about Australia is
that there are gyms everywhere – even small towns will have a gym,
and around the Sutherland area, there must be a dozen gyms within
walking distance (if, of course, anyone actually walked) of each
other. There are almost as many gyms as there are pubs and pie
shops, and that's a large number! Yet, despite all these
opportunities to exercise, very little seems to actually get done.
At some point, each individual and the country as a whole, is going
to suffer serious consequences of this population wide sloth.
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