Leaving Las Vegas

Today I went to Las Vegas. Also today, I left Las Vegas. Admittedly I was only there for about an hour and I never actually left the airport, but I still feel like I had a small part of the Vegas experience. In Las Vegas, the entertainment comes into the airport.

I also had the opportunity to encounter effigies of some of the animals that symbolise this extraordinary desert city. To an Australian, whose archetypal animals are fluffy marsupials and laughing birds, this sounds like a rather sweet and cuddly idea. Unfortunately in Las Vegas the reality is oversize sculptures of rattlesnakes and scorpions.



Alas, Steve Irwin has done Australia's reputation an unintentional disservice. I am mercilessly teased by my new American friends about the enormous number of dangerous creatures that live in Australia. Finally I understand why. You people are obsessed with poisonous animals!

Having visited Las Vegas airport I now feel totally justified in haughtily ignoring all future such references. Australia may have many dangerous animals, but we don't hang our cultural identity on them. In our international airports you will find koalas, kangaroos and maybe a platypus or two. You are exceedingly unlikely to find any sign of funnel web spiders, king brown snakes or a blue ringed octopus.

So, people of America, please spare me your jibes about our distinctive Australian fauna. Yes, we do have creatures with claws and venomous fangs, but at least we don't celebrate them in our airport terminals.