Things I still don't get after 6 months in Australia

[robinpud]

apart from the obvious one- WHY DON'T THEY BUILD PROPER HOUSES WITH INSULATION AND HEATING????

What on earth is Manchester and why is it on sale in lots of supermarkets- is it something about mancunians the Australains don't like?

We just put insulation in the ceiling a ocuple of weeks ago and it has made quite a difference. Especially when we had power cut last week and had no heating for 12 hours. Only cost us a few hundred dollars.

I do sometiems think they're having a competition over here to build the house that will least retain heat. And I still miss central heating.

My favourite "stupid let all the heat out" feature in my house is a cupboard in kitchen that you open and there is just a wire grill between you and the outside world, no wall! Apparently it was a "cold cupboard" thing to keep meat, milk etc cool. FFS.......my house was built in 1950's. Surely they had fridges then, even in NZ????????????

Right, whinging Pom bit over. I do love it here really...

No insulation and cold cupborads!? Am Aussie born and bred and would say most houses have ceiling insulation at least and have never seem the cupboard thing!! Then again have nver hear the "John Scholar"- dollar coloquialism either! Nor do people walk around Sydney shops (unless right by the beach) barefoot.
Where are you lot!!??
Agree though, that Aussie homes are drafty and cold in winter.

Would never have thought Aussie homes had no insulation until I lived in cosy central heated flat in Edinburgh for several years. Went home to very mild (in comparison to Edinburgh) Sydney winter and couldn't believe how cold my parents' house was and how their portable heater really didn't do much to warm it up!

Agree with SweetyDarling, have never heard of 'John Scholar' and think walking barefoot round shops is normally confined to beach areas...

cod - we call it a lounge.

Crook - not well.

Had to laugh my dad called the other day and I was not home. Dh talked to him and my dad told him he had a 'wog' dh had no idea what that was - had to tell him it was the leurgy or the flu.

another one who had not heard of 'John Scholar'

not a lot of barefoot people in the shops or not that I noticed.

It was 5 this morning robin - but we have had lovely sunny days up to 20 odd degrees. Just t-shirt and jeans yesterday by mid morning. But the cold came in quickly last night. Was out at 6pm and it was very cold already.

Job Mogwai?! no chance am too busy planning the next holiday. I am on canteen duty.. a very Australian pleasure. Not sure if any of the other Aussie mums on Mn get roped in to this..

how was the second reef trip?

i got confused when a sailing club in Bunbury WA had a sign on the door saying 'no thongs' .... I mean how would they know what your underwear was - and what's wrong with flip flops...?

hey I got concerned when someone was discussing thongs and I realised it was their underwear!!

robinpud - my three are not old enough at the moment for me to do 'tuckshop' duty as they call it here.

Dd1 goes to school next year - will depend if dd2 gets into kindy or not - then I will be able to do it.

I am actually looking forward to it. I guess cause my mum worked and never did anything like that and I used to wish my mum did.

something I missed when living in the UK - came to me at the petrol station this morning. Buckets with window washer/squeegee things. I always use them to clean my windscreens especially when I forget to top up the water. Could not get used to there never being any at the service stations I visited in the UK.

Worzella, you've been to Bunbury!?

bloody hell, that is remote

Ok, so I have only been here for 3 months ... BUT ...
I don't get the bloody australian red tape for bloody EVERYTHING ...

Getting my medicare card was a shocker - I practically had to tell them my inside leg measurement ... talk about jumping through hoops.
And the other day I couldn't hire one of those toddler car things in the shopping centre as my NZ driving licence wasn't good enough for them and I didn't have proof of residency ON me ... FFS!

AND they have a brand of cheese here called "Coon" ...

We have heating in our house ... most Melbourne homes do I gather ... good thing too ... it was a mighty 4 degrees this morning!

AnnainNZ ... Um, some houses in NZ may NOT have had fridges in the '50s ... you'd be surprised!

Don't complain about the 'draughty' houses ... I really believe that I have been healthier in the last 5 years living in draughty, uninsulated houses than I was when I lived in double brick, cavity walled, double glazed, centrally heated houses in the UK ... Airflow gets you going in the morning and gets rid of those nasty cold/flu germs that sit festering in insulated houses.

i'm with you on the germ front Ghosty - I never had a chest infection until I moved to the UK.

You can tell the difference this winter when it had not been anywhere near as cool etc - lots of illness in the community - cold snap comes through - lots of viruses etc gone!

Ghosty - I could say the same for the UK in terms of red tape!! An appointment to open a bank account. A health check-up and possible waiting list to get a gp. I did not have GP when I got pregnant with dd1 - luckily though as dh had a GP I was able to be taken on to their books otherwise I would have had to scope around for a GP rather than just going to the one down the road.

As to the shopping centre - the women I have encountered there seem to thrive on 'paperwork' and rules iykwim. Does seem a bit silly. I am glad I have never tried to hire one.

I didn't know it was hard to get a bank account in the UK eidsvold ... when I got mine I was a student and they practically PAID students to open accounts in those days ... rubbing their hands together with glee thinking of all that interest in overdrafts

LOL at lady with paperwork obsession ... the lady in the medicare office was just like that ... all officious and peering over the counter at me to suss me out to make sure I wasn't pulling a fast one ... she didn't even crack a smile when DD let rip a long loud bloke like fart following it up by saying in her loudest voice, "Oh, PARDON ME, MY stinky fart bum!"

One other thing i don't get (don't get me wrong, am loving Australia v. v. much) ...
but, what about the absence of any aboriginal culture ...
In NZ the Maori culture is a big feature ... everywhere really ... so it feels a bit odd for there to be very little aboriginal influence in Melbourne.

it was bizarre and I had the UK passport so had citizenship - not trying to do it as an aussie. I finally called the teaching agency in disgust and they sent me around to their branch and it was sorted but I still needed a letter from them to say I was who I was - even though I had a UK passport, aussie passport, utilities info for the flat I was renting, photo drivers licence and so on BUT it was the letter from the teaching agency that swung it!! mad.

I guess that depends on where you live ghosty - however I agree with what you are saying. In the city it seems to be a lost cause but in other areas there is a strong sense of aboriginal culture.

I know they are a small minority - last stats I read was that aboriginal people were 1% of the aussie population - probably more now so in a sense they were being swamped by other ethnic groups that made up a larger % of the population and so they are being lost - if that makes sense - NOT right of course.

It is such a rich culture and very interesting - It also depends on what is taught as part of Australian history and what people cover. When I went to school - explorers etc - very very little about aboriginal people and culture. However in QLD there is a subject called Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies ( from memory) and it is very interesting.

Terrible things were done and I think for a large part of the community it is still an embarrassment. Comparable to Native Americans and what little lots of average americans know about that compared with history of African Americans.

Funny about red tape Ghosty. Our medicar card took minutes and the bank account was a piece of cake. We even chose our own pin numbers whilst we were there.
totally agree re illness though as not one of us has been ill since arriving.

Also totally agree re aboriginal issues. Compared to the visible pride shown in NZ for their Maori heritage, the aborigines seem less present, far more disadvantaged and generally not values by the "white" australian culture. We thought it might be becuase they were a smaller percentage of the population here than the Maori are in NZ.

also cannot bring myself to buy a cheese called coon and after 6 months of listening to radio advert for nasal technology to help a bloke last longer, dd finally asked what it meant....

Ha ha robinpud ...
There is a huge billboard on a main road near our house that shouts "WANT SEX TO LAST LONGER? RING 0800 BLAH BLAH ..." in letters that are about 9 feet tall.

Lol at all of these!

Have never lived in Oz or NZ but when I lived in Vietnam most of my friends were from either Oz or NZ - I miss them!

So I know some of the colloquialisms - one of my Oz friends that I knew in Vietnam followed me here to Budapest - used to have to translate to other friends for her - doona, thongs etc. The one I struggle with is "skivvy" for a vest. Why?

(You can buy Tim Tams in Dublin! My Mum bought some just cos she like the look of them and I was all excited but they weren't as good as I remember.)

aboriginal culture and maori culture are extremely different. Maori's are quite agressive (in a good fighting the colonists away) and fought and won. The aborigionls didn't, they are quite gentle and were curious of the whites. For example they find it very rude when asked a direct question. Which is why they are very understood, as whites think they are being rude for not answering. Also there is a lot of anger from them in the way they are and were treated which still hasn't really been addressed. Howard wouldn't even apologise to them for how they were treated in the past . Most have turned to booze and sniffing glue and petrol, which doesn't help their situation. Anyway I'm rambling now - sorry!

I have had a laugh at all the things you find strange - thanks

Budababe ... a skivvy is a polo neck long sleeved top. A singlet is a vest ...
Or is that in kiwispeak?
Oh I am soooo confused ...
flipflops/thongs/jandals?
Coolbox/esky/chillybin?
Fish/Feesh/Fush?

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggg ggggghhhhhhhhhhhh

quokka ... yes, I suppose the aggressive maori and passive aboriginal cultures would affect their situation today.

I find the Aboriginal exhibition at Melbourne Museum very sad and poignant tbh but the Maori bit of Auckland Museum is fiercely proud ...
v. interesting.

Oh that's right! It's all coming back to me now!

For some reason I thought a skivvy was a vest. My friend was talking about skivvies for her children. I was trying to explain she meant vests - which she obv didn't and we went around in circles for a while. Aided and abetted but wine though!

Oh - another one I remember is "jaffles" - where did that come from I wonder?

PS Ghosty - had posted something in health for you - will bump it!

Quokka, I think that is a bit of a generalisation. The Austrlian Aboriginals were/are not even one people. Depending on where they were from (population, proximity to other tribes, competition for food and other resaources) some tribes were very passive while others were extremely war-like.
They don't speak one language or have one culture. I would think that one of the biggest factors in the dif btwn how th Maouri have faired compared to them is the way they were treated at settlement - ie Aboriginals not even aknowledged as having any rights to exist on their own land while the English signed a treaty with the Maouri aknowledging thier ownership of thier land etc.

Budababe, a skivvy is a tutle-neck top not a vest, but no idea why it is called that!?

God I sound so preachy!
Shut up Sweety!
My history teacher would be so proud.

Strewth, 24 degrees today. It would have been churlish not to spend the day on the beach. The things I do for Australia

yes I agree I was trying to make it short and sweet as I didn't feel like writing an essay! I studied aboriginal culture for a little bit so am fully aware of the differences. Just wanted to point out some of the reasons why the cultures are so different. I wish there was a better understanding of aboriginals and their culture I personally find it amazing.

Budababe I think you mean a vest is called a singlet in Oz?

what beach do you go to suzy? My fav is cott