Anything worth buying & bringing home from Australia?

[Imsixtyandiknowit]

Going out to visit a friend soon...... is there anything brilliant I should get? Or is everything the same as the UK?

I've only seen the original and caramel Tim Tams here, so will keep an eye out for the dark chocolate ones. Hopefully their dark mint will be on sale here soon.

To the PP who mentioned Chemist Warehouse, apparently they are opening in the UK too. I can spend hours in there, especially the sunscreen aisles!

Kit Kat bars. They do the most amazing array of flavours and they’re far superior to our flavoured, two fingered Kit Kats.

I brought back some aboriginal art from Alice. Very striking.

Pink diamonds are a bit cheaper in Australia I believe.

I was in the international section of Woollies today and saw you could buy Cadbury's Dairy Milk, imported from the UK, and by all accounts on MN full of vile palm oil, two aisles away from the Aussie full milk variety.

I bought four tins of mushy peas, which were reduced.

I love vegemite and plan to take some back with me to East Asia, but I wouldn't waste baggage space on Vegemite from Australia to the UK when it's abundant in the UK already. What sort of hardship is it to just add it to the monthly shop?

Cheezels & twisties. Don't come over to stay without the visitors tax of orange goodness!!

Bendon bras. If you’re in Melbourne, I got about 5 pairs for about £50 at the outlet store - on Smith St, I think.

Bonds underwear.

I eat my fill of dim sims while I am there!

Haighs chocolate, you can now get Arnotts shapes at Ocado. Stock up at Chemist Warehouse (which is going to open in the U.K. eek!). Chezzels. Brandy Melville clothes are a lot cheaper and stores are bigger. My teens like Cotton.

Cotton on

Sard Wonder Soap bars

You need a prescription in Aus for the Melatonin that works (I know, I take it), I hate the fact that shopping is so homogeneous these days, we can even get M&S undies although I realised a long time ago that Bonds are superior. A lot of really good Australian wine isn’t sold in the Uk - we export the shit stuff like Yellow Tail - but you would need to do your homework, or go wine tasting here, to know what to buy.

Chemist Warehouse are in Dublin, Ireland.

I'd say that if you have time to shop fur clothing you might find a fair few Aussie made clothes or brands we don't see much of here. I've not been for ages, but they did have very good sale bargains 20 years ago.

I wouldn't personally buy one, but we encountered a specific didgeridoo queue in the airport in 2003

Same here. From the cultural centre at Uluru. Padded out in the suitcase by many packets of biscuits!

I expect the surf brands are more numerous out there than here.

Second (third) Haigh's chocolates if you're in Melbourne or Adelaide (they may in other cities by now).

Do Cadburys still do the mint fondant filled chocolate bars? They were bloody gorgeous.

I'm going back this year so going to stock up on underwear (Bonds) and chocolate.

I'm wondering what to take my friends from the UK. It's a tricky one.

If you like sportswear/yoga/pilates, you will get some different styles and colours , I really like Running Bare, Dharma Bums and Lorna Jane - absolute bonus is not wearing the same stuff as everyone else in your class! https://www.russh.com/australian-activewear-brands/

also swimwear, beachwear is usually good value, and more variety than you get in UK. I think Seafolly is a bit cheaper than in UK, although still spendy.

Finally, because of the opposite seasons to ours, you can often find sale rail bargains eg at the moment they will be coming into winter so summer wear sales will be on

You can buy lovely items made from banksia cones, though I'm not sure, being wood, they can be brought back into the UK.

Over the years I've brought back any number of banksia items, and jarrah wood bowls. Never occurred to me that I shouldn't 😲

When I go over (my DD llves in Melbourne) I bring back Tim Tams (nobody anywhere near me sells them), big boxes of Advil and a load of T shirts and pjs from Cotton On. Sometimes bars of Old Jamaica chocolate with the rum soaked raisins in, and big bottles of sunscreen.

And if the Design your own Kit Kat place is still open in Melbourne, I recommend a visit there...

@30birthdaygirl Anthisan cream. It’s banned in Australia. Brilliant stuff for itchy insect bites. I order mine from New Zealand. They’ll thank you when they get an itchy insect bite.

That is so incredibly random! 😂

Thanks for the tip- would they let me in with it though, if it's banned???

Yes. My English-born GP brings it back from the UK when she visits back home, and gets her mum to bring a few tubes over whenever she visits her in Australia. No issue getting it mailed from NZ. It’s because it an old banned sedating antihistamine in it as the active ingredient but no one is going to eat enough of that cream!

I grew up there so I have quite a wide range of stuff I like, but there's not that much point bringing it back. Doesn't taste the same in the cold anyway. I used to love Top Deck, and Old Gold. The kids love the Snack blocks and the Black Forest chocolate as much as I used to, but it's a bit sweet for adults.

My Basque friend went nuts when we visited the big outlet centre in Torquay, Victoria. He bought loads of Rip Curl, Quicksilver, Stussy and all that. They weren't actual surfwear but smart casual shirts, trousers and jackets. When he got home his sister very much wanted the same for her fashion-conscious teenagers, because those brands are very cool and expensive in Spain. But I don't know if they are so appreciated in the UK.

I bought a painted boomerang ($10) and a teddy bear.

Haigh’s, available pretty much everywhere now.