I QUOTE: "I didnt have an Australian flag on the bike because ...I find it difficult to be proud of a country whos government imprisons refugees for years, supports unecessary wars, wont insist that its citizens held in US prisons are afforded natural justice and whos majority talk empathy and practise cruelty for the sake of low mortgage interest rates......but I do have some Australian freinds!"

I agree with all this and am desperate to leave, being nothing more than indentured labour in this land.

While at home I avoid the Jack and stars like the plague and always fly the Eureka flag (Southern Cross flag)...even though many misinformed Australians associate it with Neo Nazi skinheads or militant trade unionists.

The green and gold with boxing kangaroo tends to be associated with large mobs of ugly Aussies throwing up in the street after major sporting events, accompanied by the ubiquitous chant of Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi! (cringe and put on a german accent). I do however think that as a whitey about to travel in developing countries it is important to make it clear I'm not an American.

I know there are many decent Yanquis roaming the globe, but if someone is looking for a target to vent anti-US rage I'd rather not be the obvious and immediate choice. Not everyone will politely ask where you're from before they start throwing stones, defacating on your machine (I'd never heard of that happening before...Eeurgh!) or whatever else.

Hence the concern about being tarred with the imperialist brush, whether it's Jack or Stripes.

I like the idea of the clip on koalas. Cheap, small and light to carry, instantly recognisable. Does it work?