I lived in Australia for almost two years, so here’s my list on incongruities:
- People drink ALL THE TIME. I often walked from the train station to the office and people were having a pint at 8 AM. Beer at lunch? No one bats an eye.
- Fast Food is VERY GOOD there. Yes, even McDonald’s. The best fried chicken I ever ate was at a KFC in downtown Sydney. Of course, it’s also more expensive than the US, and uses fresher ingredients…
- Most houses do not have central air-conditioning, so during the summer you either sweat or buy a window-unit.
- Many roads are MUCH more narrow there, which makes driving on “the wrong side” of the road even more harrowing. And if you are driving through the high mountain roads, you know how we have guardrails in the US? Not in Australia… Which makes that drive even MORE nerve-wracking.
- School buses to pick up your kids? HA! Either you drop them off or they are walking.
- Want to have the postman pickup mail at your house? Won’t happen, you have to drop it in a mail box.
- EVERYONE has smartphones.
- Many grocery stores (like Woolworth or Coles) have their own mini-store that sells beer, wine and liquor. And they will also deliver said items to your home!
- Houses are crazy expensive to buy or rent compared to much of America. If you want a nice three or four bedroom house, you’ll be looking at least $1200… a week.
- There are “Newsagents” in every mall and near every street corner. They are as prevalent as gas stations are here. You can get magazines, newspapers, candy bars, cigarettes, wrapping paper, stationary equipment, and other (mostly paper) goods…
- The giant department stores (K-Mart, ToysR Us, Target) are INSIDE the mall in most cities.
- You have to leave any rented property SPOTLESS when you move out, otherwise you won’t get your deposit back. There’s a lot of businesses dedicated to cleaning out properties for people when they move out.
- Everything is more expensive, save DVDs and CDs… probably because there is a rampant piracy problem there (Most Aussies I knew had no problem with downloading movies or albums illegally).
- Everyone goes out to drink Friday after work. EVERYBODY. And everyone gets totally wasted on Australia Day (late January) – it’s their Fourth of July, so maybe that’s not really an incongruity.
- “BBQ” in Australia = Grilling meat on a grill for family and friends. Obviously, BBQ has a different meaning here…
- Kangaroo meat is plentiful (I personally like the kangaroo sausages, aka “Kanga Bangas’) – though it’s really hard to cook without overdoing it.
- NO PENNIES. They round up or round down all purchases.
- Plastic money. All the notes are made of plastic, not paper, so you could literally wash all your cash in the washing machine and it’ll still be fine.
- Meat pies. Oh, yes… Meat pies. Meat pie shops are everywhere, and you can also get frozen meat pies in every grocery store. I miss them so much when I came back to the US I found a recipe to make them at home.
- They put beet slices on their hamburgers.
- NO PENNIES. They round up or round down all purchases.
- Plastic money. All the notes are made of plastic, not paper, so you could literally wash all your cash in the washing machine and it’ll still be fine.
- Meat pies. Oh, yes… Meat pies. Meat pie shops are everywhere, and you can also get frozen meat pies in every grocery store. I miss them so much when I came back to the US I found a recipe to make them at home.
- They put beet slices on their hamburgers.