When I first arrived in Australia, I knew what to expect in
terms of sites and attractions – my Lonely Planet guidebook took care of that
for me. What I didn’t know is what kind of culture shock I would experience,
and what kind of customs would go straight over my head. I was warned that
Australians loved to ‘take the piss’ out of somebody – essentially excessive
teasing. That’s all I knew.
But all in all, it’s been the easiest culture transition I
think I’ve ever had to make in all of my travels. There haven’t been any big
shocks anywhere along the road – nobody is eating live koalas or lassoing
strangers for fun and profit (why these were my big fears, I’ll never know).
But because the transition has been so easy, it’s made the
little things stand out. And so what follows is a list of all the little things
that threw me for a loop.
1. Green Toilets – One of the first things that I
did when I reached Australia was run to the bathroom. Partially because I just
got off a fourteen hour flight, yes. But mostly because I couldn’t wait to see
a toilet flush in the wrong direction (although, come to think of it, I can’t
actually remember which way toilets flush in the States. Is it clockwise or
counterclockwise?). Regardless, my experiment was a failure. Almost all toilets
here flush straight down. So that’s no fun. But what is interesting? All
toilets have two flushing options. One for the piss and one for the poo. If you
press the smaller button, you’ll only get a half-flush. The toilet won’t put
much effort into it. But if you pres the big button? That’s when the toilet
goes all in. It’s fantastic; the States need to catch up!
2. Bathrooms and toilets – In Australia, a bathroom
is literally the room where you bathe in. If you don’t say ‘toilet’ then people
might not understand exactly what it is you’re looking for.
3. Driving on the left side of the road – For us,
driving on the ‘wrong’ side hasn’t been too much of an issue. Since the
steering wheel is also on the right side of the van, we’ve just been trying to
keep this piece of advice in mind: “Always stay in the center of the road.” If
we catch ourselves near the shoulder… we’re in the wrong lane. The only time
this is actually hard to remember? Sometimes, on turns, our gut instinct places
us in the right lane by accident. Thankfully, we usually correct.
4. Gas – Is sold in liters. In the Outback, liters
tend to run about $1.70. Which, at first, seemed remarkably cheap, compared to
the $2.50 most US gallons go for! Then we remembered that there are nearly four
liters per gallon. So gas here is really $7 per gallon. It’s been taking a toll
on our wallets, to say the least.
5. “Cash Out” – If you ever use a debit card, you
don’t receive Cashback like you might in the states. Instead you receive “Cash
Out.” I discovered this at a pub while buying lunch. The man offered me cash
out and I said, “I don’t know what you mean.” And he said, “Cash… That comes
out.”
6. CANDY!! – Hershey’s and Nestle don’t dominate
the candy market here quite like they do at home. There are some of the most
popular ones – Snickers, Twix, Kit Kat bars. But most of the other candy bars
are brands we’ve never heard of. Milo, which is a chocolatey-brownie type candy
bar. Several candies come with honeycomb inside it. There are Turkish Delights,
which are fruity-jelly candies dipped in chocolate. (Willie and I couldn’t
finish them.)
7. Moneys – Everything here seems to be slightly
more expensive than it is back in the States. The money itself is plastic-y and
extremely colorful and you can see through the bottom right corner. It’s
bizarre. Also, the lowest bill is $5. They have one and two-dollar coins. Which
means you could be holding ten dollars and it would feel like you’re holding
fifty cents. You can burn through cash easily that way. It must be great for
the economy. Also: no quarters, but they do have twenty cent coins. And there are
no pennies. Everywhere rounds up or down to the nearest 5 cents. It’s lovely.
8. Job Wages – An American expat came up to me one
day after hearing my accent and said, “You! You! Are you moving to Australia?!”
and when I said I was working with Tourism NT, she told me that I’d probably
never go home. The average wages here are twice what they are in the States,
according to this completely reputable source. She told me most Starbucks
baristas make $15 an hour, minimum.
And I think that about covers it. So if you can handle that
amount of culture shock… Come to Australia!!
-by Andrew Adams
