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Living overseas

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Original poster

What should I know about Australia that I might not

190 replies

overthesea · 19/04/2011 18:32

Hi

I was just wondering if any Aussie based MN could give me tips on what has surprised you about living in Oz.

We are coming over in a few weeks to visit with a view to moving over in six months. I keep thinking it'll be just like the UK (well except wildlife/accents) but are there things that weren't as you expected? Do I need to investigate anything that I might not obviously think about? Confused

Thanks

OP posts:
esselle · 22/04/2011 01:21

You can go places - like the zoo, museums etc during the school holidays/weekends and they aren't completely heaving and you will be able to get a really close parking space. This may just be a Melbourne thing though.

There are a lot of places which have free parking. Shopping centres, town centres, train stations...

PieMinister · 22/04/2011 02:06

Nettosuperstar, love it.
Aussie blokes like that LOVE strange vehicle called the ute, short fir utility vehicle... Has two seats and a tray out the back, and in this age of the cashed-up bogan, in which tradies are better off than, say, teachers, they come in seriously showy colours like lime green and purple...

AllThreeWays · 22/04/2011 02:19

hehehe [ not really this bad]

AllThreeWays · 22/04/2011 02:20

try that again

NettoSuperstar · 22/04/2011 02:46

PieMinister
In the Ute is a dog on a rope.

NettoSuperstar · 22/04/2011 02:48

Oh, and the tinned spaghetti has cheese in it[buconfused]

chloeb2002 · 22/04/2011 05:32

in brisbane .. we do get coles and woolworths online for supermarket stuff?

no prawn cocktail crisps... i do live without them.. im yet to go to the english shop!

esselle · 22/04/2011 06:13

gotobedsleepyhead MIL has sent Calpol to us in the post with no problems. We usually instruct Uk visitors to bring bottles of Calpol, Cadbury's dairy milk and bisto as payment for accomodation!! Grin

thumbbunny · 22/04/2011 07:07

calpol isn't restricted for posting then? I sort of assumed it would be, obviously wrongly! Maybe it's only POMs that are restricted.

gregssausageroll · 22/04/2011 08:51

I have received calpol in the post. Quarantine opened acd checked it but i received it ok.

gregssausageroll · 22/04/2011 08:52

drink driving seems to be acceptable.

accidents in the freeway are usually bad mainly because of dreadful driving standards.

you get double demerits on holiday weekends.

lulalullabye · 22/04/2011 08:57

Esselle snap on the gravy thing. Tis gross over here. I signalled for an old lady to cross the road the other day and she looked around as she was so shocked that I was letting her cross. I could I think have given her a cardiac.
Esselle, we are in Adelaide now and a Shame we didn't meet up but next time you go to you mums we will meet up Smile

dickcheeseandthecrackers · 22/04/2011 09:36

Greggs, I don't agree on the drink driving thing at all.
I've lived in England 12 years and NEVER seen a random breath testing unit or an anti ad for drink driving.
In Australia you can't drive anywhere in the evening without seeing them. And they advertise constantly about the risk and penalties etc.

HowsTheSerenity · 22/04/2011 09:37

Gregs - Drink driving is not acceptable except by ignorant yobbo bogans. I do not know anyone who drink drives.

Oh we have a death toll tally over the holidays too. We seem to like to know how many people died.

thumbbunny · 22/04/2011 10:12

I was going to say the same - drink driving is jumped on very hard around here in NSW - when they catch you. Which they often don't, so people are sometimes very relaxed about "oh you'll be all right if you only have a couple". Maybe not in the cities but it happens around here a fair bit.

dickcheese, in England, the anti-drink-driving ads are there, but concentrated exposure around Christmas. You don't see them anything like as much the rest of the year.
I have seen a random breath testing unit in the UK, but again only around Christmas/NY time.

echt · 22/04/2011 10:15

A problem associated with the double demerit points system for holidays and drink driving is that there are no more deaths at this period than any other, at least in Victoria.

thumbbunny · 22/04/2011 10:21

ah, but they could say that is BECAUSE of the double demeriting, echt - y'know, the reasoning would go "if we didn't do double demerits, more people would risk drink driving and there would be more fatalities, therefore it works."

gregssausageroll · 22/04/2011 11:06

Perth must be different. I have lost count of the number of times we've been out at parties, wineries, lunch, dinner, picnics and I see people who have been drinking get behind the wheel. It just seems to be the norm to do it. DH actually reported someone who was absolutely plastered at Whitfords in Perth and got in his car to drive. Don't know what the outcome was.

Police are about and you are in trouble if caught but from what we've seen local people do drink and drive but are clearly not caught.

And before you ask! We take turn about and whoever is driving doesn't touch a drop.

thumbbunny · 22/04/2011 11:17

I guess each state must have their own laws etc. on this? Or maybe just different policing attitudes.
I know that NSW come down hard on drink drivers because BIL has lost his licence several times for it Hmm - he should have been banned permanently by now or served time, IMO, but hey. He obviously pays no attention to the warnings about drink driving!

beanlet · 22/04/2011 12:06

Can I say how nice it is to meet so many Brisbane residents on this thread? I barely meet any in the UK. We'll be there at Christmas...

For information, how many of you live at North Lakes? My mum's principal of Grace College and says she has loads of British pupils.

gotobedsleepyhead · 22/04/2011 12:18

We love Brisbane beanlet! Would have liked north lakes but a bit too far from the city for us, we've ended up in the western suburbs this time (been a northsider & a southsider before)
Re the drink driving - I see some that do & others that don't, same as in the uk really, but have you all heard of a 'roadie'? As in 'one for the road' - literally a drink to take in the car with you! Or maybe the person who showed me that one was just very irresponsible!

GapsAGoodUn · 22/04/2011 12:25

Any Brisbane people who haven't yet noticed - Serenity has started a thread for a meet up.

hurrah!

Oh and Chloe - you are dead right about coles doing deliveries here. I was told otherwise when we arrived and didn't think to doubt check!

Thanks for letting me know.

thumbbunny · 22/04/2011 12:36

gotobed - yes I've heard of a roadie, courtesy of DH before he was DH, in the UK. He wasn't driving, mind you. I was and I hadn't been drinking at all - the beer was for him to drink in the car on the way home. He was still in his 20s then though. When he was a yoof in Australia, they used to do it all the time - he and his surfing buddies. 5h roadtrip up to Forster; they'd have a 12pack of tinnies on the seat between them and drink them on the way up. How they didn't get caught more often, or killed on the road, is anyone's guess. I mean, DH (and several of his buddies) did eventually get caught and also lost his licence but FFS!!

So I guess going back only about 10-15y, it was pretty common to drink and drive, certainly among the yoof, whether or not it's as common now I don't know.

esselle · 22/04/2011 14:06

lula Sorry we didn't get a chance to catch up. Sad My folks live about 4 hrs drive from Adelaide - so we may not be able to pop in so easily Grin!! I will let you know if we do a road trip there in the near future.
Hit the central markets on Gouger St, they are fab but not as fab as the Queen Vic!

gotobedsleepyhead · 22/04/2011 14:21

Forgot to say Thankyou for the Calpol advice - I shall be putting my order in with the mil immediately! I was a bit concerned that we might end up on a potential drug smuggling list or something like that!

Thumb - I think now roadies are generally just for passengers like you said - hopefully they are a thing of the past (for most people anyway).

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