Bogan behaviour abroad

Bogan behaviour abroad
Many Australians make wonderful travellers; gregarious, fun to be with and eager to learn about new cultures. But then there are the sorry few that give the rest of us a bad name.

Australian consular staff have to deal with tales of drunken debauchery in Muslim nations, wedgie obsessives at Oktoberfest and petty theft in Thailand as our worst bogans leave their mark on the planet. But some behaviour is far too bad to be dismissed as high-spirited japes. Take this little lot for example.

The bomb-hoax steward

The bomb-hoax steward

Australian airline steward Matthew Carney made himself tremendously popular with the passengers on Emirates flight EK011 from Dubai to London in March this year.

Carney left a note in one of the plane's toilets claiming that the Taliban had put a bomb in the cargo hold. The plane, 10 minutes from landing, had to put in an emergency call. Passengers and fellow crew members were held up for 10 hours while they were interviewed by police.

Eventually police found a handwritten note saying "Cargo contains explosive" in Carney's luggage, which matched the one found in the toilet.

The London graffiti crew

The London graffiti crew

Six Australians who decided to treat London's somewhat underwhelmed populace to regular demonstrations of their "art" caused more than £70,000 ($140,000 of damage).

The spray paint six called themselves AMF — short for Australian Mother F$@ckers — and embarked on a six-month graffiti campaign on London's tube trains and underground stations.

They were eventually caught in the early hours of Boxing Day morning, 2008, with neither police, prosecutors nor magistrates agreeing that their masterpieces were anything other than mindless vandalism.

The over-affectionate passenger

The over-affectionate passenger

Three glasses of wine combined with arthritis medication proved to be the undoing of Terrance George when he made an utter tool of himself on a Qantas flight from Singapore to London earlier this year.

After continually making unwanted advances towards another passenger, stewards asked him to cut it out. He punched two and bit one in a display that showed the object of his affections just what she was missing.

The crew thought about diverting the flight, but eventually decided to have George restrained for 10 hours until the plane landed at London Heathrow.

The rugby rogues

The rugby rogues

If we really want to eliminate abominable antics abroad, then the first step should probably be ceasing all rugby union tours to South Africa. It seems as though our rugby internationals can't set foot on the continent without getting into trouble.

In 2000, five ACT Brumbies players — including internationals Joe Roff and Owen Finegan — set the ball rolling with a marvellous display in Cape Town. They were thrown out of a bar following a charm offensive that included drawing on tables with tomato sauce and running around with their pants down and butts exposed.

They then ripped the meter out of a taxi and refused to pay the fare.

This performance was followed up by fellow Wallaby Matt Henjak, who was sent home for bad behaviour in a nightclub, which included throwing a drink over another reveller.

The statue vandal

The statue vandal

Bogan behaviour abroad isn't necessarily a recent phenomenon. One classic example occurred in 1972 during mass in St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Australian geologist Laszlo Toth escaped the attention of the guards, leapt over a balustrade and started attacking Michelangelo's famous Pieta statue with a hammer.

He managed to hack of the bottom of one arm, and cause damage to the nose and an eyebrow before he was saved from angry worshippers by the very guards he'd eluded.

Toth was deemed to not be in a sufficient mental state to be charged with the crime, and painstaking work by a team of restoration experts nursed Pieta back to health.

The Anzac Day brawlers

The Anzac Day brawlers

Phuket in Thailand is fast getting the reputation as the bogans abroad epicentre, and the behaviour of a group of Aussie males on Anzac Day 2008 did nothing to dispel this.

The pack of package tourists let the alcohol and the heat get the better of them, and kicked off in a bar on Patong Beach. The bar was wrecked, other punters were forced to do a runner rather than get caught up in the melee and three locals took a bashing.

Not content with this, the group decided to pin it on one of their number. The fall guy woke up in a police cell, unable to talk until nearly midday the next morning because he was so drunk, and had to phone his parents to get the money required to repair the bar. The others had all got their flight home, and left their cohort's luggage and passport at the police station.

The Anzac Day drinkers

The Anzac Day drinkers

More famous Anzac Day incidents have taken place at Gallipoli in Turkey. Increasingly bad behaviour over the years has seen a strict alcohol ban imposed at Gallipoli Cove. And it's largely aimed at the Aussies who had been treating the near-sacred site as just another stop on the European party tour.

With the drinking ban and an alternative site set up for a memorial service nearby, Anzac Day proceedings at Gallipoli have largely returned to their previous dignified status. But it's no thanks to the backpacking bogans who saw it as a slightly more exotic Oktoberfest. Unpalatable antics included leaving the site strewn with rubbish and sleeping up against war graves.

What's the worst 'bogan abroad' behaviour you've ever witnessed ... or been a part of?

User comments
To who create 'bogan behaviour abroad' blog, The creator of this is obviously is not experienced in terms of travelling outside of Aussie and how damaging this looks for Aussies abroad. This Blog has Australian haters getting out there two cents worth and for those who dont know any Aussie's it give the wrong and damaging impression of an Aussie before even meeting one. The creator is someone who attacks his own kind (the worst human being alive) or is very very ingnorant! The creator needs to delete this whole blog and say good things about Aussie, which are the true and fair things to do. As Australia is a lovely great nation of people and evey one in the world should have he pleasure of knowing and meeting Aussies Everyone who's Australian who drinks Alcohol does not make a fool of them selves. Some people do but itsdoes not come down to some ones race or culture at all. If the creator of the blog is not Aussie then Aussie not to put you on a black list & educate
Bogans come in all shapes and forms so dont put it just down to class as its not like tickets around the world are just 5 or 10 dollars. Its a shame that there is a very very small percentage of Australians that take having a good time too far and act stupid and its only because of excess alcohol. Although this is the case for any one in any nation that drinks alcohol. Alcohol can be the cause of major problems and this can happen in any part of the world but there is more evidence of this in western communities which is a shame. So dont isolate "Bogans" on type of race or culture or even western society as its only such a very very small number of ppl who cause bad to serious problems. Australians are very much so a gr8 nation with lovely and friendly ppl
Unfortunately true, as is always the case(if you haven't noticed you've been hiding under a rock), the majority are judged on the action of a few. Assies are quickly taking over from the Yanks as the loud obnoctious bunch in the crowd.
Most Australians I know wandering around popular tourist spots in Bali like Kuta, Seminyak, and Sanur were always seen heavily *** by cheap beers we got in Bali, foul & loud mouthed, breaking beer bottles on d road almost every midnight esp weekend. Quite embarrassing for some of my decent Aussie mates who travelled to Bali quite often but avoided mingling among those crooks.
We were visiting the old Olympic Stadium in Athens with our 2 young children. A bogan decided to pull out a boomerang (as you do when you are overseas) and start throwing it around with his son. It nearly hit my 4 month old in her pram. Pity the armed guards didn't cart him off. Imagine the story he told his family - what a hero!
It ain't just "bogans", and it certainly ain't "the sorry few". Go to almost ANY town or city in Australia on New Years Eve and witness one of the biggest disgraces of man-kind. Some people may claim Americans to be the most dumbed-down in the world, but I believe us Aussies take the cake. We are a society of alcohol fulled, footy and cricket watching, flag waving, materialistic, media believing morons. How could ANYONE be "proud to be Australian"? And hats off to msn here (for once). Good to see you reporting some much needed facts for a change - instead of just mindless celebrity crap...
Yes, Australia has it's *** that think they're above the law & dont know when to quit....and the dispensation of Australian Law on these people is so minimal it promotes this mentality...ESPECIALLY with rugby players. But my son was cabin crew with Qantas at Heathrow for 5yrs He dealt with and saw in his travels MANY British, Spanish, European tourists who behaved like pigs (both on board the plane & off)...so it's not only Aussies!..Some of the stories I've heard about the Brits behaviour would make your skin crawl.... if not make you downright ill !!!
Australia is full of different Australians, Yes some of us who are bogans who act like Tools , but there alot of us out there who are very respecful of people and different cultures.If you have a problem with Australia and Australians maybe it's time to find a new country to live in.I personally would want to live anywhere else Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi.
I find it to be very ironic that those people who can be seen marching around main events throughout Europe and South America with Aussie flags, face paint, getting in fights, and p!ssing in public, are the same who are seriously offended when a person of another nationality (i.e, someone form Australia's Greek community) parades their flag after a soccer game etc. Do you like it when people act like that back home..... I don't think so... It has nothing to do with being proud of where you come from. Its about representing, and Aussies realy do represent very poorly across the board.. It's not cool any more, no one gives a ***... Bring a good vibe or head to the Goldie with the rest of your ferrel mates.
I live in Bali and I can tell you the worst group of tourists are young Aussies- male and female. They spend their holiday totally drunk, expect the locals to treat them like gods for spending a few rupiah on crude and offensive t-shirts and treat all young local women like prostitutes. It makes me ashamed to admit to the country of my birth. If you want to come to this lovely part of the world behave like the respectful and considerate guest that you should be- don't walk around temples smoking and drinking, wear a damn helmet and shirt when you're on your scooter, and ladies put a sarong over your bikini - you might think you're hot, but Indonesia is a conservative nation and you'll just be regarded as a cheap tart for parading around half naked.

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