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Living in Australia - What you need to know


Guest The Pom Queen

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There is no 24 hour shopping, online shopping isn't as common, most shops close at 5pm on Reply With QuoteSaturday and don't open till 11am on Sunday - so if you need milk..... and public holidays actually mean shops stay closed too so everyone gets to enjoy the holiday.

 

Checkout assistants are generally happy to serve you, they will pack your bags for you and supermarkets charge for plastic bags.

 

And veggies only have one g

 

I live in the Victorian countryside and Coles is open from 6am until 10pm 7 days a week. Are you in WA or SA where the shops keep quaint hours?

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I live in the Victorian countryside and Coles is open from 6am until 10pm 7 days a week. Are you in WA or SA where the shops keep quaint hours?

 

See reply above. Flossybeth and I are in SA. Shop opening hours are very similar to UK ones, except for closing at 5pm on a Saturday. We have Sunday trading laws here that restrict the hours shops can open on a Sunday.

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Australians do not eat roast at lunchtime on Sunday (as a rule) - I'm not sure how many POMS really do either these days. Yorkshire puddings are uncommon.

 

Ready meals have never really taken hold.

 

People do not eat anything like the number of crisps

 

There is no tradition of getting something to eat after the pub shuts, which I am sure the proprietors of Indian restaurants and chip shops don't mind. Drunk people buy kebabs all over the world.

 

You can't buy 10,000 kinds of yoghurt, but the dips are better!

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There is no 24 hour shopping, online shopping isn't as common, most shops close at 5pm on Saturday and don't open till 11am on Sunday - so if you need milk..... and public holidays actually mean shops stay closed too so everyone gets to enjoy the holiday.

 

Checkout assistants are generally happy to serve you, they will pack your bags for you and supermarkets charge for plastic bags.

 

And veggies only have one g

 

does it matter about 24hr shopping? how often did you go shopping at 3am? Kmart is open 24 hrs in Melbourne, supermarkets don't charge for bags here except Aldi, and not all shops are shut on holidays usually just the small independent ones,

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Now I do not want this thread turning in to a V's thread but thought it may be a good place to have advice for new arrivals, for example:

 

1) You have to park in the same direction as the flow of traffic.

 

2) Manchester is not the place in the UK it is a name for bedding and towels

 

3) Flybys is a loyalty reward card https://www.flybuys.com.au/flybuys/content

 

 

Stay in the right hand lane at the speed limit.

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They dont sell alcohol in supermarkets...well not in coles/woolworths on the gold coast...you have to go to the bottle'o for this.

 

Once at the bottle'o we found you couldnt buy a bottle opener...and was told by the manager it was "to prevent drinking on the streets"... my reply to him was "but you also sell screw tops, boxes of wine and cans"...... to which he replied "oh yeah, never questioned that"

 

I worry about some people!

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You have to consider the weather conditions when planning a trip or day out. Extreme weather conditions and changes can catch people off guard.

in the warmer months you look for a ( car) park in the shade, seek out shade when having a picnic or sitting out having coffee/ meals etc. the sun is too hot to sit in for too long or at all.

The hottest part of the day ( in Melbourne ) can be around 4 pm.

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Guest lulum1986
Swimming costumes = bathers, cozzies, speedos or (in the case of boys) budgie smugglers

Australians tend not to refer to Australia as Oz but Aus and not Ozzies but Aussies

Re parking - in some places you are required to park backwards - at an angle ( or frontwards at an angle) - read the signs (angle parking or reverse angle parking)

A long drive is over 12 hours, anything less is just a short trip

Get Premium cover from your road service provider because if your car is going to break down on a trip it'll do it at the max distance from the next nearest town and the nearest repair garage is bound to be further on and incur an extra tow charge with the bog standard roadside cover.

Kangaroos are worse than sheep when it comes to jumping out in front of cars so watch out when driving at dusk or dawn and either get bloody great bull bars or a roo scarer fitted on your car (not needed in central Melbourne of course)

 

They charge for bags here anyway?

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Randomly, Aldi are the only shop/supermarket that sells booze along with food! But only in some stores in ACT, NSW and Vic, the enlightenment hasn't spread as far as QLD, WA, NT or Tassie.....

 

http://aldi.com.au/au/html/product_range/22425.htm?WT.z_src=main

 

The Champagne ($25) is pretty good all things considered, and a LOT cheaper than equivalently cheap champagne in BWS/Liquorland :)

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They charge for bags here anyway?

 

They do in ACT (PC to the core!)

Trains are as expensive as planes and a lot slower

It costs more for a return flight to UK originating in Aus than doing the same flights originating in UK

Once you are a citizen you have to leave on an Aus passport even if you don't plan to return

Lucas pawpaw ointment beats germolene hands down (but what a waste of pawpaw - which is the Aus name for papaya btw).

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Guest lulum1986
They do in ACT (PC to the core!)

Trains are as expensive as planes and a lot slower

It costs more for a return flight to UK originating in Aus than doing the same flights originating in UK

Once you are a citizen you have to leave on an Aus passport even if you don't plan to return

Lucas pawpaw ointment beats germolene hands down (but what a waste of pawpaw - which is the Aus name for papaya btw).

 

sorry here I meant in the UK. They charge for all bags even in McDons.

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The super market section labelled 'fresh bread' doesn't contain the fresh bread. I t contains the long-life type ready sliced bread.

 

The drive through is a drive through off-license. Yes that's right, an off license that you drive through in your car. 2 lanes. One for staying in your car and being served through the window, and the other where you can get out and pick the bottles/cans up yourself.

 

You can also drive through the DIY shop 'Bunnings' at the bigger ones. There's generally a side or rear door where you drive into the shop and can load up indoors. And you can borrow a trailer if you are buying a big item, or hire one if you just need a trailer for the day.

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sorry here I meant in the UK. They charge for all bags even in McDons.

Really? Never been charged in Cambridge!

 

Bonds are vests/singlets/t shirts and truckies (truckdrivers) wear their blue Bonds (vests) as a sort of uniform

Emus like sandwiches

The dawn cacophony (cockies, magpies etc) always starts at jumbo jet decibels a good hour or more before you want to wake up and there is a bird called the "Drive you mad" bird (Koel) which calls monotonously throughout the night and really does drive you mad if you happen to live near their nest

Cars dont have MOTs

There are no GCSEs or A levels in Aus

The shadows are upside down (that's what confuses the DH the most, his internal navigation is up the creek when on the other side of the world) so a North facing wall is warmest.

 

And one I've never fathomed - in Victoria a school bag is called a Port

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Guest lulum1986
Really? Never been charged in Cambridge!

 

Bonds are vests/singlets/t shirts and truckies (truckdrivers) wear their blue Bonds (vests) as a sort of uniform

Emus like sandwiches

The dawn cacophony (cockies, magpies etc) always starts at jumbo jet decibels a good hour or more before you want to wake up and there is a bird called the "Drive you mad" bird (Koel) which calls monotonously throughout the night and really does drive you mad if you happen to live near their nest

Cars dont have MOTs

There are no GCSEs or A levels in Aus

The shadows are upside down (that's what confuses the DH the most, his internal navigation is up the creek when on the other side of the world) so a North facing wall is warmest.

 

And one I've never fathomed - in Victoria a school bag is called a Port

 

There has been a law in Wales enforced by the government to charge 5p ber bag within the last year or so. It's a pain in the bum lol, especially when shopping in tesco lol.

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Avo...Avacado

Servo..Petrol Station

Reno...Renovation/Renovating

Macca's....Mc Donald's fast food

All sweets are called Lollies :chatterbox: wether it's has a stick or not! :no:

Ice Lollies....Icy Pole....again with or without a stick!

 

And as some one else mentioned , make sure you park facing the way your driving, I was caught out by this lol until some kind lady said if I new I was parking illegally :embarrassed:

 

Its funny to watch TV and the presenters/news reader seem to use all these shortened slang words also...takes some getting used to. I'm not into these sorts of shortened slang type word, in the UK or here so I say it as it is....the whole word lol :biggrin:

 

We parked in north NSW once, and drove nose-in. Someone came up and pointed out that you had to reverse in (which the signpost said, to be fair), so we had to re-park. As we walked along the road, we watched three people reverse into parking bays, and crash into the sign posts, which were really close to the kerb.........!!

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A burger is the bread roll which holds the filling.....I.E 'Egg burger' is an egg buttie, I asked for a 'plain cheese burger' in Macdonalds (as my son hates all the relish)..and I got a bread roll with cheese in it, the poor guy didn't get me at all.

 

You can also wash your dog with your car?!!!

The colour maroon, is pronounced marone.....

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