CaptainR Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 We're relative newbies to Australia, been here two years and thought I'd start a thread on a few totally random observations about Australia which we didn't know before we arrived; Great Coffee almost everywhere you go, even in remote and mining towns, usually from trained Barista's on good machines. Fresh and good Sushi is also almost everywhere, and again even in a small outback town town with a tiny shopping centre you will find a small Sushi counter. Free chilled Tap Water available in almost every bar or restaurant, just ask for tap water and out comes a pitcher of chilled water and some glasses. Great for eating out with kids, or with a coffee. BYO - Bring your own wine. Strange in a country where you they produce some incredible wines, when you visit a bar or restaurant they always seem to have a quantity of overpriced and poor quality wines, however in most restaurants you can bring your own (usually free or with a small corkage fee). Public electric BBQ's, everywhere you go you will find parks or rest stops with an electric BBQ where you can pitch up and cook (most are free, some require tokens). We bought these BBQ mats which you put on the hotplate, just for hygiene. Long distance trains are really expensive and slow, but interstate flights on Jetstar can be amazingly cheap. You can buy almost all of your fruit and veg grown in Australia, Australia even produces high quality rice and sells it to Asia... Australia has snow, skiing and some seriously crazy weather. Rules and regulations are much more stringent here then any other 1st world country I've been, definitely not the laid back attitude you would expect. I work in the Maritime world and everything from radio to port procedures are much more strictly adhered to then back in the Europe, and also up in the air as a private pilot god forbid you use non standard phraseology with ATC... Gambling is big here, bars and sports clubs seem to have rooms dedicated to 'pokies', maybe its a perception thing, but seems to be bigger then the UK. The country is really, really multicultural in the major cities, yet can also come across quite racist at the same time... Hard to explain that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I didn't know.... - They don't give copper change and prices are rounded up / down . - It was illegal to park facing on coming traffic - The place is soooooooooooooooo darn BIG Cal x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BackToLife Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I didn't know.... - It was illegal to park facing on coming traffic Cal x Why did the car cross the road? To get to the other side without causing a crash. :laugh: Actually, that rule makes perfect sense. When you pull out, you join the traffic flow, instead of having to cross lanes to join it, which is why there are so many near misses in the UK, which doesn't have that particular rule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith and Linda Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Why did the car cross the road? To get to the other side without causing a crash. :laugh: Actually, that rule makes perfect sense. When you pull out, you join the traffic flow, instead of having to cross lanes to join it, which is why there are so many near misses in the UK, which doesn't have that particular rule. OK Highway code states, which if you caused an accident would be used as evidence Rule 239 "do not park facing against the traffic flow" Rule 248 as above but applies at night, but this particular rule is an offence under law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I didn't know.... - The place is soooooooooooooooo darn BIG Cal x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Long distance trains are really expensive and slow, but interstate flights on Jetstar can be amazingly cheap. . You will find that varies a lot. The most expensive economy flight I have ever had was just to go 800km between Perth and Kalgoorlie. Almost twice what I recently paid to get Perth to London. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndoe Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Why did the car cross the road? To get to the other side without causing a crash. :laugh: Actually, that rule makes perfect sense. When you pull out, you join the traffic flow, instead of having to cross lanes to join it, which is why there are so many near misses in the UK, which doesn't have that particular rule. Also, you are hitting a boot and not an engine block you collide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azh Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Drive on the same side of of the road but for some reason the window wiper and the indicator sticks are on the opposite side to each other. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Back when we came early 1970s I was surprised that kangaroos weren't hopping around everywhere ( think there are actually more now than there were then!) I was surprised that bananas were all home grown- and pineapples and other tropical fruits. I was surprised and delighted at the 'dignity of labour' compared with the UK where plumbers, electricians and brickies were very much looked down on (bloody snobs when I think about it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 A lay-by isn't some here you park the car and a skivvy is a polo neck jumper Oh and Durex is Sellotape not a condom !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JockinTas Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Why are bed linen and towels etc called Manchester in Australia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Why are bed linen and towels etc called Manchester in Australia? I 'believe' that wayyyy back when, a lot the linen that came to Australia was from Manchester, UK.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I must admit the gambling thing really annoys me - but as a bookkeeper, when I see how much Gaming Tax is collected by the government I am not surprised there is no great desire to do anything about it! I love the fact that the role models for most kids are more likely to be sports stars than pop stars, but hate the prevalence of betting ads all the time whenever sport is on TV - normalising the whole thing for impressionable kids. Gambling is a real addiction that destroys lives and yet it's treated as a 'harmless bit of fun' by the people that have the power to do something about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Oddly enough Dianne I think gambling is advertised too much in the UK too I commented on it just recently watching Premier League Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JockinTas Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I must admit the gambling thing really annoys me - but as a bookkeeper, when I see how much Gaming Tax is collected by the government I am not surprised there is no great desire to do anything about it! I love the fact that the role models for most kids are more likely to be sports stars than pop stars, but hate the prevalence of betting ads all the time whenever sport is on TV - normalising the whole thing for impressionable kids. Gambling is a real addiction that destroys lives and yet it's treated as a 'harmless bit of fun' by the people that have the power to do something about it. I'd like to see pokie machines banned and all the casinos here blown up. Tacky horrible places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I 'believe' that wayyyy back when, a lot the linen that came to Australia was from Manchester, UK.. There was a lot of Mills in and around Manchester hence the name Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1cha3la Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I had never heard of the BYO - Bring your own wine thing either and sadly we only found out after our reccie and I read about it on here :laugh:. I really like it, it's such a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 It gets cold in the winter! I had no idea, it never crossed my mind to think about the weather in the winter before we came. The first winter we were here I used to take the kids to the local shopping centre to warm up! We bought a house with a wood burning stove which is lovey in the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I 'believe' that wayyyy back when, a lot the linen that came to Australia was from Manchester, UK.. Yes - in the early days of the colonies all the linen had to come by ship from England. The place of origin and the destination were stencilled on the wooden crates containing the linen. The place of origin was always...Manchester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I 'believe' that wayyyy back when, a lot the linen that came to Australia was from Manchester, UK.. Yes, but that was then. Why haven't they renamed it Guangzhou? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croft Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Drive on the same side of of the road but for some reason the window wiper and the indicator sticks are on the opposite side to each other. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk It's not which side of the road you're on, it's where your car is made. Cars made in the Far East, eg Japan and Korea, tend to have the indicator stalk on the right. Cars made in Europe tend to have them on the left. Now if you have a Japanese car made in the UK I think it's still on the right! My OH's car is a Fiat and I drive a Kia. Confusing swapping between the two! Some of the things that surprised me were: - quite how federalised Australia is, with different regulations and provisions for virtually everything in each State. - no MOT here in QLD. - no fog lights required in QLD (apparently QLD really doesn't get fog thick enough to warrant them). - having to pay for driving license every few years. - how many UK products you can get in Coles - how many UK programmes are on TV. - how much BBC content there is and ABC Radio National and News Radio. - how cold it gets, even here in QLD - and it feels it because there is no insulation. - how much produce is produced right here in Australia (then again it is a continent). - how little pom bashing there is. - how expensive and convoluted the visa process is for most people. - casual racism seems to be accepted in many quarters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 - how many UK programmes are on TV. ....and some of the really old stuff, like Fawlty Towers, Only Fools and Horses, To The Manor Born, Open All Hours etc still get shown here regularly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommy Jimbo Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Plus, Australia has a public holiday for the Queen's birthday... but England doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 Plus, Australia has a public holiday for the Queen's birthday... but England doesn't. You didn't know England doesn't have a public holiday for the Queen's birthday until you moved to Australia? That's weird. Didn't your bosses complain when you didn't turn up for work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommy Jimbo Posted April 27, 2016 Share Posted April 27, 2016 Sorry, too many negatives for me Ken. You don't think I'm not understanding what you're not saying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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