Depends what you are comparing the distances with. I'm guessing it is much less distance from Perth, Melbourne, or Sydney to Bangkok or Manila, than it is from Seattle, Portland, or San Francisco. The km or mileage does not matter as much as the travel time, and it seems like when I asked Pacman before how long it took him to get to BKK from Oz, that it was much less time than it took me from PDX or SeaTac.