h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Obviously this researcher covers important details, but he fails to address the critical issue of the direction
water moves when it creates a vortex as its flowing down a plug hole after taking a bath.

I'm on my way to Australia from the nortern hemisphere and I remain unequipped with this vital
piece of information.

Please help before I go (completely) ga ga!!!

Yeah.. It's called the Coriolis Effect. I, too, am in the Northern Hemisphere about to go to Australia in about two weeks. But, relax... despite the protests of some of my egg-head scientist friends, I have seen water flow BOTH clockwise and anticlockwise down the plughole.. here in the Northern Hemisphere. I swear. No messin'. With apologies to any elderly married women reading this, I think it's an old wife's tale. Or, at the very least, an effect with occasional exceptions.
Actually, scrap all that... and check out this:
http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/ask/ask/a10867.html
There's even a challenge at this site which isn't really practicable for yer average backpacker... but it explains all.

Yeah.. It's called the Coriolis Effect. I, too, am in the Northern Hemisphere about to go to Australia in about two weeks. But, relax... despite the protests of some of my egghead scientist friends, I have seen water flow BOTH clockwise and anticlockwise down the plughole.. here in the Northern Hemisphere. I swear. No messin'. With apologies to any elderly married women reading this, I think it's an old wife's tale. Or, at the very least, an effect with occasional exceptions.
Actually, scrap all that... and check out this:
http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/ask/ask/a10867.html
There's even a challenge at this site which isn't really practicable for yer average backpacker.

It really does go a different direction. it's not an old wives tale, but it probably does have exceptions, and i guess it depends on your dunny. Watch it swirl, mate! Trust me, its really not that exciting...

But what happens on the equator?

The oposite way to the northern hemisphere, or more accuratley
the right way! A simple experiment would be to follow these
simple steps.
1. fill a bowl full of water
2. stand on your head
3. remove the plug
4. observe and record findings for posterity
5. repeat steps 1-4 if still unsure

As an Australian soon heading back to the mother country
(not another one I hear the massess cry) I have attempted
the above experiment to try and gain an understanding of how
things work up there. following are some of my results....

1. fell over trying to reach the plug, abandoned experiment.
2. passed out before i could reach the plug, woke up in a white room.
abandoned experiment.
3. attempted to substitute beer for water, drank beer instead.
abandoned experiment and went to the pub.
4. Altererd experiment parameters by turning bowl uposide down
instead of head. limited success but no concrete observations.
experiment abandoned.
5. religiously watched australian soap operas waiting for a scene
with a recepticle of water and plug hole. research ongoing.
6. gave up and just went to the pub.

I hope this helps.

But surely on the equator water would just go straight down