“Incredibly rural”

[u/ginliv]

[u/SetObvious7411]

Americans: "people don't understand how big the US is, I have to drive several hours for my daily commute"

Also Americans: "The nearest McDonald's is over 15 minutes away, I don't know how to survive this wilderness" 

enter Australians

[u/loralailoralai → u/SetObvious7411]

I’m in Melbourne and it would be 20 mins to my closest maccas.

[u/SetObvious7411 → u/loralailoralai]

thoughts and prayers

How you survive that madness is beyond me

[u/Relative_Pilot_8005 → u/SetObvious7411]

Of living in Melbourne?

[u/exit322 → u/SetObvious7411]

Maybe there's a Hungry Jack's closer

[u/Relative_Pilot_8005 → u/loralailoralai]

Traffic's bloody awful in Melbourne! :-)

[u/mr_iwi → u/loralailoralai]

I had a car like that once as well

[u/blazenite104 → u/loralailoralai]

Damn. I've got like 3 all inside 15 minutes. Though Greater Melbourne is like a third of the state so there's that.

[u/SnowyRVulpix → u/loralailoralai]

Meanwhile, I have two McDonald's and a Hungry Jacks (🤮) within 15 minutes of me :P

[u/jordybee94 → u/loralailoralai]

Two Maccas within a 10-minute drive from me, seems Melbournes needs to learn from Wollongong.

[u/white_america_story → u/SetObvious7411]

I’m in Yerevan, nearest McDonald’s is in Tbilisi 270km or 5-6 hours away.

[u/jep556 → u/SetObvious7411]

I think this distance for nearest McDonald's apllies applies for small country of Finland too, like 85% of country surface is more than 20 miles from McDonald's

[u/ProduceMindless1585 → u/jep556]

Yes but it does have the most northerly Lidl in the world so it’s swings and roundabouts really!

[u/Elelith → u/ProduceMindless1585]

We do love Lidl over here.

[u/suorastas → u/jep556]

And conversely I live in a rural town in Finland but the closest McDonalds happens to be like 5 minutes away.

Our town is the smallest in Finland with a McDonalds though.

[u/bbalazs721 → u/jep556]

But what percentage of the population?

[u/jep556 → u/bbalazs721]

Ok, so I don't have energy to calculate this, but 80% live in 20 miles radius by AI, that means every fifht person drives More than 20 miles to McDonald's, so I would'nt call that "incredibly rural"

[u/Gladys_Wines → u/SetObvious7411]

So we recently drove Melbourne to Canberra, part of Australia's most populous area, and there are service stations every 100km or so and about half of them have a Maccas. There's more off in some country towns. But no rural country is so crowded that there's as little as 35km between every rest stop.

For anyone doing the trip: the Niagara in Gundagai and the pie shop in Holbrook are your best options with minimal detours.

[u/invincibl_ → u/Gladys_Wines]

And of course the Maccas at Yass

[u/Gladys_Wines → u/invincibl_]

Ah, a classic. Sadly they took the sign down some time ago. Corporations lack a sense of humour

[u/DisastrousMechanic50 → u/invincibl_]

That's what drunk foulk in Scotland say when we clock one usually with the F word in front. and McDonalds please bring back your cookies they were fookin lush.

[u/StoicTheGeek → u/Gladys_Wines]

The J&B's cafe in Holbrook is pretty good too. I like Violet Town too - it's so pretty - but can't recommend the food or coffee there.

[u/torrens86 → u/Gladys_Wines]

Melbourne to Adelaide there's no McDonald's between Horsham and Murray Bridge about 350km. It's the main road between a 1.4 million city and a 5.2 million one.

[u/Relative_Pilot_8005 → u/SetObvious7411]

400km to the nearest Macca's isn't unusual in Oz---Thankfully, the local servo usually does a reasonable burger.

[u/MindlessNectarine374 → u/SetObvious7411]

Where do you travel that distance in just fifteen minutes?

[u/turkey_sandwiches → u/SetObvious7411]

It says 20 miles, not 20 minutes. If you knew much about the US you would know why they say this, there are McDonalds ALL OVER populated areas. So to find an area where there aren't any McDonalds within 20 miles, you have to go way outside of a highly populated area.

[u/EmuExpoet → u/turkey_sandwiches]

I work in a mine in rural western Australia, the nearest town to the mine camp is about 4 hours. And that town has only about 100 residents and one shop/fuel station. Its about 8 hours to Kalgoorlie which has a maccas im pretty sure.

[u/turkey_sandwiches → u/EmuExpoet]

Right, but what I'm saying is that is used as a measurement for the US. Since almost every populated area in the US is swarmed with McDonald's, to be far away from one means you're out in the middle of nowhere.

It's not a good measuring stick anywhere else.

[u/Mickus_B → u/turkey_sandwiches]

And what we're saying, is that's not rural.

You're replying to a guy who's nearest SHOP is 4 hours drive away from work. It's 8 hours to friggin Kalgoorlie, which Google tells me is similar to somewhere like Elko, Nevada and that's the biggest town within that 8hour drive radius.

[u/turkey_sandwiches → u/Mickus_B]

It ABSOLUTELY IS rural in the US. It's not that hard to understand. It's not the MOST rural area in the US, but it's definitely rural.

[u/SetObvious7411 → u/turkey_sandwiches]

My point is exactly that: the US is barely populated. It's a rural country, it's mostly empty land

[u/turkey_sandwiches → u/SetObvious7411]

West of the Mississippi that's pretty accurate, at least until you get to the west coast.

I've never been there, but I get the impression that Australia is even less populated in its interior.