Weird things about Australia (part 1)

My husband and I moved to Australia and have been here for almost two months. We love it here (except that we miss our family and friends), but there are some things about Australia that we’re still getting used to. So, here are weird things about Australia (part 1) that we’ve noticed.

The language

Australia is an English-speaking country, or at least that is what they have led us to believe. It’s English, but a different kind of English so it’s difficult to understand at times. For example, Aussies love to shorten words, like ‘afternoon’ is shortened to ‘arvo’, and there are many more examples of these shortened words. We’ve come across people with strong accents, and then we just smiled and nodded, not knowing what they were saying. But I think we’ll get used to the accent. I mean, in South Africa we have so many accents and I understood everyone.

Tattoos

It seems like everyone has tattoos here. At the time of writing this post, I have seen four people with face tattoos, and I didn’t see them in dodgy places. I saw these people grocery shopping, like in Woolies buying hummus.

Bunnings

Bunnings is a hardware store chain, and the people here love it. The stores are open until late at night and open at 7AM on the weekends.

I hate hardware stores and I’ve been there three times in the last week—how are they doing this? Are they pumping pheromones or something into the air? (yes, I realise that doesn’t make sense)

The times that I’ve been there, I’ve seen families walking around the store. It’s probably some people’s idea of a family outing.

If you’re single and looking for a partner, just dress up and go to Bunnings. There are plenty of people walking around there, already looking for things they don’t need. So you might just be in luck.

Capitalism

I thought I understood the extent of capitalism when I was in South Africa, because over there people love making debt and buying stuff they don’t need, but Australia is just next level.

Very few people park their cars in their garages because it’s full of other shi… stuff. Everyone keeps buying stuff because of all their disposable income—talk about first world problems.

Also, most of the stores are open late (compared to South Africa). Most clothing and grocery shops are open until 9PM. However, banks are not open late, or even open on Saturdays. They don’t care about you or your workweek.

Humidity

I’m used to living in a warm place, but it was always a dry heat. In Australia, most people live near the coast, ourselves included, and it’s so freaking humid.

This humid heat makes it feel like it’s 10 degrees hotter than the thermometer says. Also, for the first two weeks that we lived in our new place, we couldn’t use the aircon (long story) and although it saved a bit of electricity, we almost melted.

Kids

If you walk around in the shops over here, half the women you see are pregnant or have a couple of small children running around them (or both). It’s cheaper to have kids here than in most other countries. In Australia, healthcare is free (if you’re a citizen) and schools are free if you’re in the catchment area. There might be a small yearly fee, it really depends on the school.

So you really just have to house, clothe and feed your offspring.

Lastly

That’s it for part 1. Is there something weird about your country that you only noticed when foreigners mentioned it? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Meh. 

Michelle

P.S. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to comment below, send an email to thatmichelleperson@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @M_ClutterBox.