VFR flight following + PIREPs
I have a friend that flies in the USA, and I also listen to many American podcasts on GA flying. It seems that requesting (and usually receiving) VFR flight following is strongly encouraged over there.
As a lowly PPL weekend warrior here in Australia, I think I could count of one hand the amount of times I have heard VFR traffic request flight following. Is this frowned upon in Australia? Or is it often denied and hence people don't ask? I'm going to request on my next jaunt but keen to hear about other experiences.
Secondly, I note that the USA has made a big push via AOPA etc to encourage more PIREPs. It has been so successful in some areas, that the US NOAA are using PIREPs to alter forecasts.
If you make a PIREP here in Australia, do BOM do anything with that data? Or is it just passed to other pilots via ML/BN CEN?