Sunday, May 20, 2012

Australian Differences

Well I've been in Australia for almost a full day. It was really good to see my sister, as she met us at the airport. She did her best to show us around the city, or at least as much of the city we were awake enough to see.

While I was exploring Australia, there are many differences that I have noticed. I will do my best to start with the ones that everyone knows, and go on to the more obscure/subtle differences.


  • Everyone drives and walks on the left. Also, people drive on the right side of the car. This means all the controls are reversed, as well. That means that whenever we make a turn, the windshield wipers go off instead of the turn signals.
  • The accents are cool. I've always loved an Australian accent. A hot girl with an Australian accent becomes an even hotter girl.
  • The money is different. It's worth a small percentage more than American dollars. Also, everything here is way more expensive. My sister ordered a burger yesterday for $25.
  • When you say "thank you," people don't say "you're welcome." They say "no worries" or "not a problem."
  • There are two different buttons for flushing a toilet. A small flush, and a big flush; this depends on, well, you get the point.
  • They love being "green." There are a number of things that have to do with conserving energy. Every wall socket has a switch that you turn off when it isn't being used, for example.
  • There is no heat in the houses. When it gets cool (we are heading into Australia's winter right now), you just put on a sweater, or turn on a space heater.
  • Pineapple on hamburgers. Revolutionary. America, please do your part.
  • Birds are annoying. Really annoying.
  • I can drink. I haven't had a full fledged legal drink, but since the drinking age is 18, I will be taking advantage of that at some point.
That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure I'll update with more later.

- D

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