Is North really UP?

In my recent musings I stumbled upon a really basic axiom most of us take for granted - North is up. When we travel North, we go "up state" or "up north". Similarly we go "down state" or "down north". What the hell, Australia is even referred to as down under!!
MOST maps assume North to be up. When we think of our countries, we picture them North side up. Would most of us even recognize our nations if we were presented with their map, say south-east side up?
Of course, most of us go through life taking the "upness" of North for granted. Think for a minute that in the cosmic scale of things, if the South were the real "up" direction. Doesn't that feel funny in your tummy? Now turn things on their side and think if East were up. Even funnier. Would we see things sideways? Ummmm not really, but it gets you thinking!
I for one (being the non-conformist that I am), would like to think that Australia is really up above and the rest of the world is down under. Maybe it's time to CHANGE THE MAPS!!
Or better still, let's turn the Solar System on it's side and make a wheel of it. That way everybody gets to be up once in a day! Much better!
One thing is making a system of reference (like the Cartesian plane geometry system, with x,y coordinates) - another thing is to live in a such a purely random system assuming it's the way things really are. And then once in a while, a thought occurs, which changes the whole perspective!
Is there anything else we should be questioning? Well, I'll see what else I can rustle up :)