Not only has his party lost the election massively to Labor, but at this stage it also appears that he will lose his seat of Bennelong to Maxine McKew. I couldn't think of a nicer man for it to happen to ;)And how is Tyrone feeling about this?
Pretty damn happy :)It's going to be quite strange though - Howard has (unfortunately) been PM for half of my life, and I don't think I had much of an interest in politics in the first half of my life (although I can remember watching Keating's concession speech in '96 and having an intense disliking of John Howard even back then). So an adjustment, but one I'm only too happy to make.
All in all, I think I was happy to experience this election from outside Australia, as I didn't have to suffer through the numerous ads from both parties. However, I've been reading the Australian newspaper websites and blogs religiously every day, and found that you don't even have to be in Australia watching the party ads on television to get a serving of government propoganda, all you need to do is read The Australian. Tonight was very exciting, with a bottle of red wine (to either celebrate with or drown my sorrows with) I watched a combination of the coverage on Sky News and the ABC, depending on when they worked on my computer, and madly refreshed the results page of the ABC election site every 30 seconds, and while I would have liked to have been celebrating with friends back in Aus, thank you to the other Aussies at FTW for sharing the experience with me - you guys are hilarious.
Anyway, in the last week it was getting very stressful and tense, and given I had a week off work, I was spending far too much time reading election articles, so went on a short trip to Nikko to get my mind off of it (and my eyes away from the computer screen). Saw my first snowfall, my first autumn leaves, and met some fantastic people. Will post more photos. I think I've found my favourite place in Japan - each time I go somewhere new it overtakes the last place.
But to symbolise this turning of a new leaf in Australia, here's a picture of the pretty maple leaves in Nikko (okay, these leaves are dying, but you get my connection).
All in all, I think I was happy to experience this election from outside Australia, as I didn't have to suffer through the numerous ads from both parties. However, I've been reading the Australian newspaper websites and blogs religiously every day, and found that you don't even have to be in Australia watching the party ads on television to get a serving of government propoganda, all you need to do is read The Australian. Tonight was very exciting, with a bottle of red wine (to either celebrate with or drown my sorrows with) I watched a combination of the coverage on Sky News and the ABC, depending on when they worked on my computer, and madly refreshed the results page of the ABC election site every 30 seconds, and while I would have liked to have been celebrating with friends back in Aus, thank you to the other Aussies at FTW for sharing the experience with me - you guys are hilarious.
Anyway, in the last week it was getting very stressful and tense, and given I had a week off work, I was spending far too much time reading election articles, so went on a short trip to Nikko to get my mind off of it (and my eyes away from the computer screen). Saw my first snowfall, my first autumn leaves, and met some fantastic people. Will post more photos. I think I've found my favourite place in Japan - each time I go somewhere new it overtakes the last place.
But to symbolise this turning of a new leaf in Australia, here's a picture of the pretty maple leaves in Nikko (okay, these leaves are dying, but you get my connection).
