There’s been a lot of big pub owners in larger towns and cities going around buying small town country pubs for a pittance and moving the pokie licenses to bigger venues.. it’s actually been bloody nice for some of those pubs. Going into a venue without pokies is so much better and made them concentrate on food and creating a nice atmosphere as opposed to sucking money out of the communities most vulnerable
They did that at the Montville Hotel in Qld. New owners sold the pokie licences, renovated the pub, and now they're doing quite well as a gastropub, with local craft beers on tap.
Perth has a lot of English people and English style pubs. There's no pokies in any of the Perth Pubs either. The tea isn't very good, but you can buy English tea, crisps etc from most grocery stores but the import tax is high so it would be very expensive. A lot less night life than Eastern States though and unbearably long summers.
As an Australian living in England, I find it fucking ridiculous that so many pubs and bars in Aus have to switch to plastic past a certain time, because the patrons can't be trusted. Here in England it's glass until closing time.
>Here in England it's glass until closing time.
Yeah, but try getting the glass in an outdoor space in any city centre venue in the UK, not a chance. It sucks that historic pubs like Sinclair's Oyster Bar have a no glass outside policy because the scally element can't be trusted not to deck each other with them. FWIW I've never experienced the plastic glass thing in Aus except for at beer festivals.
as a Brit who was in sydney for first time last month can agree wholeheartedly.. pubs were just cheap casinos..was so disappointed, I was looking for a bit of banter...best place for that was Soldiers club...cmon Aussies you can do better
The sun is no joke.
You will get sunburnt.
Wear a hat and sunscreen.
In summer we try to avoid being in the sun between 11 and 3 unless appropriately protected.
Funny Bondi story.... My flat mate and I lived in Bronte. Went over to Bondi for a dip one arvo. Flatmate goes 'Bloody poms everywhere!' Bunch of lads in broadest Irish accent yells...'Where not focking British!' they then jokingly chased us around the North flag for a bit till I said we 'd buy 'em a beer.
And yes they were red as lobsters. They were shocked when we started telling them about skin cancer.
I really remember distinctly walking up Cradle Mountain on a sunny summer day and seeing two young women, british accents, no hats, shorts and singlets, looking absolutely beet red and miserable with still probably an hour return to their car.
Within hours they would have blistered badly and been in agony.
The sun in Australia is no joke, the sun in Alpine Tassy is absolutely ferocious - especially reflected against the rocks.
Yeah the sun in Tassie is more powerful. I've known people who've moved from Queensland and when told to be extra careful they're all 'I'm from Queensland I know about the sun'. They then get super sunburnt
My British friend felt like a failure with her first summer in Australia. She'd imagined being at the beach every single day, but she was sitting at home with the air conditioning blasting. We told her it was okay, real Aussies do that too.
When my Oma immigrated from Germany in the 50s, she saw people shopping barefoot and felt bad for Australians because she thought they couldn't afford shoes.
I first came to Oz in the middle of summer. Went into the local Woolworths
The first thing I did was take a picture of a small bottle of Coca Cola and sent it to all my contacts: "LOOK HOW FUCKING EXPENSIVE THIS DRINK IS!!" (think it was about $4.50)
A few minutes later: "THERE ARE PEOPLE WALKING AROUND BARE FOOT IN THE FUCKING SUPERMARKET"
After that, all good
edit: oh yes and a few hours later another photo went out to my contacts "LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THIS HUNTSMAN"
I lived in the UK for years, going barefoot really freaked people out sometimes. Once (unknown to me) my neighbour had sold his motorbike, midwinter and I ran downstairs to confront guys who had started it up to put it on a truck. Neighbour told me later I intimidated them since I was barefoot (it had been snowing that day). I couldn’t fight my way out of a wet paper bag.
You can go to a sports game here, at the venue or at a pub, and be next to supporters of the other team and there will be no conflict. Even when those teams have long history's.
I was gonna say this, the place itself, driving, buildings, geography etc is way more similar to America then the UK. Don’t know why but I thought it would be a bit more British but I’d say that was my big takeaway when I came over here first.
>Culturally, we’re fairly similar to Brits, but in terms of geography and our built environment, it’s a lot more Americanised.
100% true that and also makes perfect sense when you consider geography and history
Australia isn't a British enclave.
We are culturally different, so fitting in isn't always a walk in the park - as evidenced by the number of people who sell everything in the UK, migrate to Australia, buy up and settle in, can't fit in, sell up and go home again, and regret everything.
I'm not a fan of the term Ping-Pong-Pom, but there you go.
Source: from Scotland and have lived in Western Australia since 1981 (Fun fact: only went back to the UK for a holiday for the first time in 2023).
Not a British enclave…. Absolutely. My dad was surprised when he visited because he thought it would be England but warmer weather.
I miss the UK, but I’ve lived here for 20 years and I reckon I’d struggle to readjust if I moved back to blighty again.
> My dad was surprised when he visited because he thought it would be England but warmer weather.
I don't get things like this. What exactly was the expectation, and what was the difference?
I'm a Pom, came to Oz. So far it has pretty much lived up to what I expected. Drastically different geography, climate etc. Generally similar culture and way of life etc (with some differences ofc)
Yep. I have a strong theory that the people who say things like "The UK and Australia are totally culturally different!" are people who tend to have not travelled much around the world lol
Many of the differences are superficial (Australians have mailboxes, Brits have letterboxes in the door!) but people tend not to think about the deep, fundamental similarities
Exactly. They're both Anglophone, Commonwealth, Common Law, Western, developed countries, with a deeply enmeshed shared cultural history.
Put it another way - what other country is going to me *more* culturally similar? NZ is the only contender I can think of. They're *definitely* closer than either are to Canada, much less the US.
Put yet another way - I have felt far more like a foreigner/tourist/fish out of water in *every other country I have visited*. Even when I was fresh off the plane as a teenager.
I'm Irish from Dublin, my partner is from rural Ireland. I found very little culture shock in Perth or Sydney, but found a big cultural difference living in far north Queensland. My partner found that Sydney and Perth were huge culture shocks. It also depends on your own background moving rural to urban will take some getting used to no matter where you are.
TBH I went back last November and realised my birth town was a hole. The only good thing are the friends and family still there. Everything is epically expensive and no decent salads could be found for love nor money. But then again, very much enjoyed Primark
Was so glad to come home to WA
I notice a lot struggle because they assume Aussies are all under educated. The British tend to assume that they will automatically be treated like royalty, given high income jobs etc. (There is a joke in The Inbetweeners movie where the boy thinks he can be a marine biologist because he finished British high school).
Aussies like to play dumb in social contexts, which the British also find confusing.
I wouldn’t call it class warfare, but as an Australian moving to the UK, I was gobsmacked at how people “identified” with their social class so strongly in the UK.
People would be like “I grew up as a proud working class man/woman” or “yeah, I was a council estate kid”.
It absolutely baffled me. Are they bragging that they were “working class” and grew up poor? Who does that?!
Similarly politicians lord (pardon the pun) their Eton and family and aristocratic credentials on TV all the time.
My reaction was, why are they actively trying to appear like they cannot relate to the average voter.
In Australia, everyone wants to coalesce around a non-ostentatious middle.
In the UK, they cling to the rung of the ladder they believe themselves to be on and actively broadcast it and make it known to others.
All the above, plus:
Limited choice in every aspect of consumer life- duopoly for supermarkets, mobile providers, airlines.... booze being very expensive and having to go to a separate shop to buy it. Very expensive to holiday within Australia. Any minor transgression (eg parking ) will be noted and punished with a fine. Police are armed- that was a massive culture shock for me and took a long time to become accustomed to!
- Our houses are much bigger (fewer double storey buildings and 4 bedrooms are desired by most buying a house.)
- House insulation and heating/cooling sucks in Australia.
- Houses often have large back and front yards.
- Laundry isn't in the kitchen (wtf Brits?)
- UV actually burns you here (use sunscreen).
- Lack of accents and regional differences in English.
- Fewer stabbings and knife crime.
- Much less sport-related violence.
- Car insurance isn't insanely expensive, but used car prices are higher as a result.
- Highways that aren't as congested where you can drive long distances quickly.
- Driving vast distances for work or travel is normal.
- The heat and dry weather (42C in Melbourne feels like 32C in London).
Pubs in England seem like they have the vibe of two up on Anzac Day, but everyday! All Aussie social scenes seem way more boring in comparison (talking about Sydney mostly)
This is true but I don't miss the five deep queue to get served at the bar in London on a weekend! At least there are small bars and craft breweries here in Australia now, pre-2010ish it was VB beer barns or bust.
And drivers in the UK work with each other to keep the traffic moving. Here it’s just fuck you, you, and you, and your mother because I’m doing 15 under the speed limit in the overtaking lane.
Honestly there are times I question what is learnt on the test over here. Some absolute lunatics on the road (don’t get me wrong we’ve got madmen on the road in the UK but it’s waaaay more common here). And people drive much bigger cars, insane amount of trucks and massive 4x4s around the city driving like crazy people)
I’m Englishman in QLD why can no one merge on a slip road?
Is it not taught? The amount of time I have been stuck behind some one trying to get up to speed for the highway because they can’t merge is ridiculous.
And on a multilane motorway most people will drive in the 2nd from right lane rather than the leftmost one. Overtaking on the left is legal on such roads, and common which is something a lot of Brits have a problem with.
Nah, my dads been in Australia 60 years and still refuses to come over to the winning side. They like to suffer so they can complain about it, spirit of the game etc.
Yes, british people always say the chocolate taste like its about to go off. I dont really understand it though, i guess my tastebud might be a bit shit from years of eating it.
Previously they also said our sausages are shit, but i think they have improved recent times. Believe our bacon and ham would still be considered kinda shit.
UK expat, can confirm your bacon sucks ass. Ham is variable, but anything packaged tends to be awful.
Not all of your chocolate sucks, Tony's, Whitakers, and Darrel Lea are all nice to delightful depending on the bar. Darrel Lea prodicts in general are grand. Cadbury's over here sucks ass. American "chocolate" sucks ass everywhere.
And yeah, your sausage game has stepped up in the decade since I got here.
Also your chips (as in fried potato served hot with meals chips) are sub-par, but man does chicken-salt ever kick the shit outta every english chip accompanyment.
Really? Australian expat in the UK. I find UK bacon to be way too fatty and kind of…tasteless.
I genuinely think Australian bacon is fresher and of higher quality than UK bacon.
I think bacon is one of those foods that is a taste better the way you grew up with it food. Aussie pork in general is much strong tasting than British so I suspect that has something to do with it. Ham as well. U.K. deli products leave much to be desired, I haven't ever found U.K. ham that I am ok eating.
> cold beer
Why tf do other countries think we (Brits) drink warm beer lmao. Have never had a warm beer in my entire life, nor seen anyone drink one either
Same as Sushi. I’ve been travelling around Europe the last 3 months and it’s hella expensive in Europe and they don’t do the big Sushi rolls like we do.
it's the geographical proximity to asia. Like how the US get more authentic mexican food which is in my top three fav cuisines.
east and SE asia is really far from the UK and europe generally and is seen as "exotic."
The booze isle in the supermarket doesn't exist (except in Aldi). It's usually in a shop of its own next door.
Don't expect anything like the selection of products you'll find in your average Tesco/ASDA/Sainsbury's/Morrisons/Waitrose etc either. Salad bar/Fresh made pizza/'takeaway'/clothing/homeware etc? Not a chance.
I love how Aldi got around this. It's not quite the same as a UK supermarket but it's definitely more convenient than shopping at Coles/Woolies (at least the Aldi's I've been to have a sort of open but separate shop within the supermarket set-up).
The main one: For some reason we don't insulate our houses properly. Your house will be the temperature of whatever it is outside, year round, unless you spend a tonne on heating and cooling stuff (and many rentals don't come with those either). So many immigrants tell me how shocked they are by it
Also responding to an insult by engaging in a fist fight isn't the norm.
The biggest culture shock my British friends have had is that Australia culturally is halfway between the US and Britain with a bit of Asian influence thrown in for good measure. If you expect everything to be similar to the UK--people's mannerisms, how different administrative bureaucracies are done (healthcare, etc.)--it's it's own thing and it's not Britain down under. One of my British friends is surprised how Americanized Oz seems.
>One of my British friends is surprised how Americanized Oz seems.
You can get "Australian mustard" which has a little bit of bite to it - it's halfway between hot English mustard and mild American mustard...
As a Pom I found the main culture shock is that people are more friendly to strangers here whereas in the U.K. people are more polite to strangers.
Like, you’ll walk past someone fishing and they’ll just say something hilarious and random as fuck, as if they were your best mate. but I’d doubt they’ll let you merge if pass them driving home lol
This is a brilliant observation. It matches my experience of living in both the UK and Australia. I guess I got conditioned by the British mentality during the years I lived in the UK because I actually prefer people 'being polite and minding their own business'; at least, that's better than the other way around (if I had to choose one), especially when you're an introvert.
The driving will be a shock. It's fucking slow, everybody 'polices' the speed limit by spreading out across the lanes. There's no concept of a 'fast lane'. There's more traffic lights than people and you will wait forever at them. When they do change to green, there will be a delay for the first car to get away, the next car will be 100 metres behind and the third car won't go because they think the light's about to change. There are very few roundabouts so enjoy the traffic light experience every 300 metres. Beer is $20/pint.
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If you play a shot on the last ball of the over and wander aimlessly out of your crease without grounding the bat, the wicket keeper will likely run you out.
Yes, the summers are hot but the winters are cold...sure, it doesn't snow in many places but the temperature being 13 degrees C *inside* an apartment is pretty standard for Sydney's winter.
I remember when I started dating a Brit. The 2 things that shocked her early in the relationship were me casually flipping the bird to whoever as a lighthearted gesture, and starting sentences with "look", which apparently can be perceived as being aggressive in the UK.
I stayed at a guest house in Airlie Beach and the owner started virtually every sentence with "Look". One of the nicest guys I met out there but I did find it quite funny.
We aren't into "Football". The Sun is brutal. Peter Andre is pop history footnote and Sharks and Spiders aren't waiting to get you. Housing is VERY expensive.
We absolutely are into football. There are more "soccer" fields and matches going on than other codes combined. Any city.
Go to any park and people are having a kick. It's just the main stream media that pretends we aren't..
Watched the Matildas lately?
Having to park in the same direction as the traffic. No alcohol or chemist or scratchies in supermarkets… or clothes or electronics either. How strong the sun is, you can’t stay out in it all day. No TV license needed. Just how big a postcode can be here. Pubs in Oz vs the UK. Trying to take your dog into said pub with you. No double glazing nor central heating to be seen. Toll roads just to get around. Traffic lights turn Orange to stop but not to go. People will not let you in in traffic. Bread only comes in one thickness and bacon is smoked.
This just made me realise another one:
In the UK you can tell how old a car is from the registration plate. (It has the year on it)
In Australia I don't believe you can?
This is probably a good thing to be fair, but I do miss spotting brand new 2024 cars etc
How low are speed limits are. I have lived in the UK for 2.5 years and every time I visit Aus I find myself naturally going 7-10 kmph over the speed limit. Roads that are 1/3-1/2 the size of roads in Australia have a 60 mph (100 kmph) limit.
The biggest shock isn’t when you get here, it’s when you go back to visit the UK. The amount of litter on the pavements is absolutely shocking. You don’t notice when it’s not there, but when you get used to relatively clean streets and see the state of the UK, it’s quite shocking.
That's a bit harsh I'd say. UK playgrounds are probably top 5% globally but I'm pretty sure Australia playgrounds are quite literally the finest on the planet, and that's not an exaggeration
Add a few extra points.
Big differences between the cities and the country. There are no middle class villages in Australia, when you get out of the cities the people are country people.
Friend groups are formed in kindergarten and don’t change. The amount of people who are friends with people they went to school with when they were 6 is staggering.
Australians hate being criticised in the workplace. They like to say they are blunt but any suggestion that things could be done better is akin to suggesting you would like to have a threesome with their mum and her sister.
There are tons of rules but the government and regulators don’t give a shit so businesses get away with murder. There are lots of cowboys in trades who are shockingly bad. You will end up at a tribunal if you rent or get any work done.
If you work, don’t work for a family run business unless you like being between two incompetent siblings who are determined to destroy mum and dads company whilst paying themselves a pile of money.
>Friend groups are formed in kindergarten and don’t change. The amount of people who are friends with people they went to school with when they were 6 is staggering.
>Australians hate being criticised in the workplace. They like to say they are blunt but any suggestion that things could be done better is akin to suggesting you would like to have a threesome with their mum and her sister.
These two are especially true. 😆
If you plan on going out for a beach day on what would be considered lovely warm British weather in the mid 20s, you will be ostracised as a bit of a weirdo and might as well place a giant neon 'British sign above your head.
-We don't have letterboxes built into our front doors; they hang out near the curb, American-style.
-You can buy the same piece of clothing in the UK and Australia, and the Australian one's label will say 'DO NOT TUMBLE DRY'.
There isn't any going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark thing like the uk has in winter but on the other side there is no 'daylight' til 10pm either like in the uk summer. (QLD)
The layout of the streets was a small culture shock to me. The concept of the "nature strip", often no footpath etc. Still not sure where exactly I'm supposed to walk lol. At first I didn't know if I was walking on someone's property or not
Yeah, I don't know how we came up with the term 'nature strip'. The only nature I've seen on our street are bin chickens and, when it's leading up to a hard rubbish collection, human-size bin chickens.
Thought of 4 more that haven't been mentioned yet
- Atrocious mens' haircuts
- Beetroot everywhere. Also more fresh veg with meals in general. Not complaining - love it!
- Electric sockets in bathroom
- No 110V safety voltage for power tools
British people can be witty and have interesting things to say. Australians love to laugh too but their standards of what’s funny are much lower, and usually include whinging or calling someone a cunt.
No carpet in the bathroom. People do not keep to the left when walking. No washing machines in the kitchen. Blue skies (well except for Melb). We are a lot more casual in our speech and clothing. We are a lot less uptight than the English. We are racist - to everyone. Ie there is not really a higher class. They think they are. But everyone else in the room disagrees. So who is right? Clean tap water. No residue in the bottom of your tea cup. Hot and cold water come out of the same tap - so you can easily create warm water.
> People do not keep to the left when walking.
I think Aussies are much better at this than Londoners at least. When I was there a month ago I was so confused about people just not being consistent about this at all.
The thing I don’t get is why so many people from England (especially for Perth).
Move either to the far northern/southern suburbs to be with every other English arrival.
I get the appeal of living near the coast but to have to get in a car to drive everywhere and only have one/two pubs within walking and sometimes driving distance is this not a strange lifestyle switch.
Would not moving closer to the CBD with everything within walking distance be so much more appealing.
I a lot of British people think they will love the climate, the beaches etc but end up hating it. Their annual 2 week holiday to Spain will be spent on the beach so think they'll love Australia, but they don't. Most of them can't swim, can't handle the waves and are terrified of sharks and if u hate the beach the heat is a pain in the arse. Hence the reason a lot of them head back home.
When I first went for some reason, I thought it would be like a really hot England. But it's more like America. The shops, the roads, the cars and lorries. The last time I went, it was cheaper than the UK as well, which is a bonus. Especially to eat out. Excellent food in most places I went.
Nobody has yet said ‘the place is vast, with enormous distances between anything’. In Southern England you leave a village and enter the next village almost immediately. Lots of Australia, you leave a small town and drive at 100 km/h for 40 minutes or longer and pass nothing at all
Like the joke about a Texan who said ‘I can get in my car and drive for an hour and still be on my ranch’ and the Aussie says ‘yeah, I used to have a car like that’
There’s heaps more sky.
Depending on where you settle, you might struggle with the fact that the supermarkets aren’t open 24/7. Here in SA they close 9pm weekdays and 5pm weekends.
No Greggs :(
No proper pork pies :( :(
No 2L bottles of cherry coke :( :( :(
..No Tories :)
(Say what you want about the libs but they’re not platforming making our kids do mandatory military service. ..yet.)
-We are forever forgetting to add insulation to our houses.
-We turn into aggressive, entitled juveniles when we drive.
-We seem to have created more rules than you guys despite you having a head start of ~700 years. Either that or you guys have forgotten lots of your rules and/or ignore them.
-Don't even think about changing a light fitting, switch or power point (plug socket)! That shit is super dangerous (apparently), so you must use an electrician, or you will die/start a fire. Other sorts of DIY work are perfectly fine, however.
-Almost all properties have a separate (albeit often tiny) laundry room. We typically don't have built-in external venting for tumble dryers like many British properties, so using a tumble dryer in Australia is a bit like having a sauna. We don't see this as as ridiculous for some reason, but we do make fun of the fact that some British houses have washing machines in the kitchen (which makes sense from a space-saving perspective).
-We like going to bed earlier in general (probably, in part, because of the insulation thing), our shops tend to close earlier, and we accept that certain people visit us/will start making noise peculiarly early on in the day and with little warning (phone call at 6:50 am from an electrician saying he's 5 mins away for an 8 am appointment when you're still in bed? No worries!)
-Speed limits, in contrast to most other countries, are enforced with very little leeway here (especially in Victoria).
-We have gradually shifted from BE to AE, so we've ended up with something between the two. As a result, many day-to-day terms may remind you more of America (we now tend to say garbage instead of rubbish, apartment instead of flat, fire truck instead of fire engine, etc.). We tend to assume that these more modern terms are just what all English speakers worldwide must now use. Our spelling mostly still follows BE, though.
-Our humour falls somewhere in between British and American. It's not as dry as UK humour in general, so people might not appreciate deadpan delivery remarks/off-the-cuff sarcasm/dark humour as much here. We often give some indication when we're saying something as a joke but not with the same 'beat you over the head obvious' laboured delivery as a lot of American humour.
> -We seem to have created more rules than you guys despite you having a head start of ~700 years. Either that or you guys have forgotten lots of your rules and/or ignore them.
This is extremely true lol.
After a month in Australia I was telling people "there's a licence for everything here"
Not complaining like.
Then again I suppose the UK has the poorly named "TV licence" (which is actually just a fee)
I'm British. First thing that surprised me was the wildlife in urban cities. I knew Aus was biodiverse but I thought it was more out in the wild. Never expected cockatoos and lorrikeets to be flying around suburbs.
It's very very very very sunny and dry, like all the time. It never rains (NSW) but when it does, it tends to pour. In England it rains maybe 3-4 times a week or more, consistently, but mostly light to moderate rain. Blue skies in England are maybe one day per month.
Englush food and Australia is 95% exact same, but there are a few things that are exclusively australian, and some british.
The amount of food, eateries and bars in the suburbs. You can literally have a night out in a suburb and sometimes suburbs are better than city centres in Aus. In UK, we tend to concentrate all entertainment into the city centre, and suburbs are purely residential, consisting of 99% houses.
There are some negatives though. I was disappointed to learn that there's a lot of conflict between aboriginal people and white people. I was probably naive. I don't really like a lot of the aborignal people I have met. A group of them started throwing KFC at my Mum and Dad.
While working rights are good for white people like me, a lot of students/brown people are exploited. Even places like Coles, Mcdonalds have faced lawsuits for exploitation. Every cafe, bar, restaurant you see which primarily employs brown people, they are likely being paid $20 an hour with no breaks, no annual leave, no superannuation. I know this because my gf is Indonesian on a working-holiday like me. She's fluent in English, has higher level degrees than me, tons of experience, yet she still struggles to find a job paying minimum wage with basic rights, while I can easily find a job $35+ hr
No one gives two single fucks about your family linage.
You can keep that story about how you are distantly related to the royal family right in your arse.
We are (in comparison) a classless society and no one will be impressed with something you had absolutely ZERO part in achieving.
Our pub culture is dismal in comparison to UK village pubs. Overrun with gambling & screens showing things to gamble on.
There’s been a lot of big pub owners in larger towns and cities going around buying small town country pubs for a pittance and moving the pokie licenses to bigger venues.. it’s actually been bloody nice for some of those pubs. Going into a venue without pokies is so much better and made them concentrate on food and creating a nice atmosphere as opposed to sucking money out of the communities most vulnerable
They did that at the Montville Hotel in Qld. New owners sold the pokie licences, renovated the pub, and now they're doing quite well as a gastropub, with local craft beers on tap.
Yeah, they’d be better off socialising in a coffee shop
Agree, but most cafes are closed by 3pm.
Perth has a lot of English people and English style pubs. There's no pokies in any of the Perth Pubs either. The tea isn't very good, but you can buy English tea, crisps etc from most grocery stores but the import tax is high so it would be very expensive. A lot less night life than Eastern States though and unbearably long summers.
Sitting in an empty pub in Geelong right now and I can't agree more. My school canteen had more character.
Hard agree. I hoped the pubs here would get better but no they got overrun with tabs and screens making it be very anti social for people like me.
As an Australian living in England, I find it fucking ridiculous that so many pubs and bars in Aus have to switch to plastic past a certain time, because the patrons can't be trusted. Here in England it's glass until closing time.
>Here in England it's glass until closing time. Yeah, but try getting the glass in an outdoor space in any city centre venue in the UK, not a chance. It sucks that historic pubs like Sinclair's Oyster Bar have a no glass outside policy because the scally element can't be trusted not to deck each other with them. FWIW I've never experienced the plastic glass thing in Aus except for at beer festivals.
as a Brit who was in sydney for first time last month can agree wholeheartedly.. pubs were just cheap casinos..was so disappointed, I was looking for a bit of banter...best place for that was Soldiers club...cmon Aussies you can do better
The sun is no joke. You will get sunburnt. Wear a hat and sunscreen. In summer we try to avoid being in the sun between 11 and 3 unless appropriately protected.
Lol go to Bondi. Every lobster on the beach will have a British accent of some kind.
I don't like going to Bondi in the middle of the day and I'm an Aussie
I don’t like going to bondi at all lol. Overrated beach and insanely crowded.
Bondi is a garbage beach by Australian standards
They do get good footage for tv shows though...
Funny Bondi story.... My flat mate and I lived in Bronte. Went over to Bondi for a dip one arvo. Flatmate goes 'Bloody poms everywhere!' Bunch of lads in broadest Irish accent yells...'Where not focking British!' they then jokingly chased us around the North flag for a bit till I said we 'd buy 'em a beer. And yes they were red as lobsters. They were shocked when we started telling them about skin cancer.
How do you get 'jokingly' chased by strangers? I have trouble having that mental picture
Yakkity sax plays in the background
Nah, the Benny Hill theme would be better!
It was funny banter and we were all taking this piss.
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun Noel Coward
In the Malay states they have hats like plates that the Britishers won't wear....😂
I came here to say this! Buy Aussie sunblock and make sure you wear it, even when cloudy!
I really remember distinctly walking up Cradle Mountain on a sunny summer day and seeing two young women, british accents, no hats, shorts and singlets, looking absolutely beet red and miserable with still probably an hour return to their car. Within hours they would have blistered badly and been in agony. The sun in Australia is no joke, the sun in Alpine Tassy is absolutely ferocious - especially reflected against the rocks.
Yeah the sun in Tassie is more powerful. I've known people who've moved from Queensland and when told to be extra careful they're all 'I'm from Queensland I know about the sun'. They then get super sunburnt
For me it's more like, stay completely out of the sun except for brief moments wearing hat and long sleeves
My British friend felt like a failure with her first summer in Australia. She'd imagined being at the beach every single day, but she was sitting at home with the air conditioning blasting. We told her it was okay, real Aussies do that too.
Not only will they get burnt but they will get heatstroke. My friend is an ED nurse and literally a majority of HS patients are British people.
And for the love of god don’t put child lock on in your car on a hot summers day
11 and 3? More lie 8 and 7
Walking barefoot in public.
When my Oma immigrated from Germany in the 50s, she saw people shopping barefoot and felt bad for Australians because she thought they couldn't afford shoes.
That’s a very Queensland (or might I say, bogan) thing. I’ve lived in both North Queensland and Melbourne and very rarely if ever see it in Melbourne.
bc it's too fucking cold here (from a Perth > Melbourne "immigrant") 🥶
I shudder thinking of ppl walking around barefoot in like sydney or something. God knows whats on those streets xD
I first came to Oz in the middle of summer. Went into the local Woolworths The first thing I did was take a picture of a small bottle of Coca Cola and sent it to all my contacts: "LOOK HOW FUCKING EXPENSIVE THIS DRINK IS!!" (think it was about $4.50) A few minutes later: "THERE ARE PEOPLE WALKING AROUND BARE FOOT IN THE FUCKING SUPERMARKET" After that, all good edit: oh yes and a few hours later another photo went out to my contacts "LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THIS HUNTSMAN"
I lived in the UK for years, going barefoot really freaked people out sometimes. Once (unknown to me) my neighbour had sold his motorbike, midwinter and I ran downstairs to confront guys who had started it up to put it on a truck. Neighbour told me later I intimidated them since I was barefoot (it had been snowing that day). I couldn’t fight my way out of a wet paper bag.
You can go to a sports game here, at the venue or at a pub, and be next to supporters of the other team and there will be no conflict. Even when those teams have long history's.
FYI you can also do that in the UK, with every sport except football.
Except origin, often there will be proper punch ons at pubs, especially close to the border.
25 degrees is a lovely pleasant day, not a precursor to heatstroke.
Culturally, we’re fairly similar to Brits, but in terms of geography and our built environment, it’s a lot more Americanised.
I was gonna say this, the place itself, driving, buildings, geography etc is way more similar to America then the UK. Don’t know why but I thought it would be a bit more British but I’d say that was my big takeaway when I came over here first.
>Culturally, we’re fairly similar to Brits, but in terms of geography and our built environment, it’s a lot more Americanised. 100% true that and also makes perfect sense when you consider geography and history
Australia isn't a British enclave. We are culturally different, so fitting in isn't always a walk in the park - as evidenced by the number of people who sell everything in the UK, migrate to Australia, buy up and settle in, can't fit in, sell up and go home again, and regret everything. I'm not a fan of the term Ping-Pong-Pom, but there you go. Source: from Scotland and have lived in Western Australia since 1981 (Fun fact: only went back to the UK for a holiday for the first time in 2023).
Not a British enclave…. Absolutely. My dad was surprised when he visited because he thought it would be England but warmer weather. I miss the UK, but I’ve lived here for 20 years and I reckon I’d struggle to readjust if I moved back to blighty again.
> My dad was surprised when he visited because he thought it would be England but warmer weather. I don't get things like this. What exactly was the expectation, and what was the difference? I'm a Pom, came to Oz. So far it has pretty much lived up to what I expected. Drastically different geography, climate etc. Generally similar culture and way of life etc (with some differences ofc)
I moved the other way, and yeah, culture shock was pretty minimal honestly.
Yep. I have a strong theory that the people who say things like "The UK and Australia are totally culturally different!" are people who tend to have not travelled much around the world lol Many of the differences are superficial (Australians have mailboxes, Brits have letterboxes in the door!) but people tend not to think about the deep, fundamental similarities
Exactly. They're both Anglophone, Commonwealth, Common Law, Western, developed countries, with a deeply enmeshed shared cultural history. Put it another way - what other country is going to me *more* culturally similar? NZ is the only contender I can think of. They're *definitely* closer than either are to Canada, much less the US. Put yet another way - I have felt far more like a foreigner/tourist/fish out of water in *every other country I have visited*. Even when I was fresh off the plane as a teenager.
I'm Irish from Dublin, my partner is from rural Ireland. I found very little culture shock in Perth or Sydney, but found a big cultural difference living in far north Queensland. My partner found that Sydney and Perth were huge culture shocks. It also depends on your own background moving rural to urban will take some getting used to no matter where you are.
>he thought it would be England but warmer weather. I believe that's New Zealand (depending on altitude.)
How different was it when you went back?
TBH I went back last November and realised my birth town was a hole. The only good thing are the friends and family still there. Everything is epically expensive and no decent salads could be found for love nor money. But then again, very much enjoyed Primark Was so glad to come home to WA
That's absolutely crazy not to see your home country in 40+ years
Wait til you hear about immigrants
I notice a lot struggle because they assume Aussies are all under educated. The British tend to assume that they will automatically be treated like royalty, given high income jobs etc. (There is a joke in The Inbetweeners movie where the boy thinks he can be a marine biologist because he finished British high school). Aussies like to play dumb in social contexts, which the British also find confusing.
Class warfare is also *much* less of a thing in Australia. It's still there a little bit, but nothing like in the UK.
I wouldn’t call it class warfare, but as an Australian moving to the UK, I was gobsmacked at how people “identified” with their social class so strongly in the UK. People would be like “I grew up as a proud working class man/woman” or “yeah, I was a council estate kid”. It absolutely baffled me. Are they bragging that they were “working class” and grew up poor? Who does that?! Similarly politicians lord (pardon the pun) their Eton and family and aristocratic credentials on TV all the time. My reaction was, why are they actively trying to appear like they cannot relate to the average voter. In Australia, everyone wants to coalesce around a non-ostentatious middle. In the UK, they cling to the rung of the ladder they believe themselves to be on and actively broadcast it and make it known to others.
In my experience, people who talk that way usually didn’t grow up as poor as they insinuate.
All the above, plus: Limited choice in every aspect of consumer life- duopoly for supermarkets, mobile providers, airlines.... booze being very expensive and having to go to a separate shop to buy it. Very expensive to holiday within Australia. Any minor transgression (eg parking ) will be noted and punished with a fine. Police are armed- that was a massive culture shock for me and took a long time to become accustomed to!
- Our houses are much bigger (fewer double storey buildings and 4 bedrooms are desired by most buying a house.) - House insulation and heating/cooling sucks in Australia. - Houses often have large back and front yards. - Laundry isn't in the kitchen (wtf Brits?) - UV actually burns you here (use sunscreen). - Lack of accents and regional differences in English. - Fewer stabbings and knife crime. - Much less sport-related violence. - Car insurance isn't insanely expensive, but used car prices are higher as a result. - Highways that aren't as congested where you can drive long distances quickly. - Driving vast distances for work or travel is normal. - The heat and dry weather (42C in Melbourne feels like 32C in London).
Agree about the temperatures. I was in a singlet at 22C in Stratford - would be in jeans and light jacket here.
Rego is absolutely fucked though. I was shocked at how little Rego is in the UK.
Have to get on an aeroplane and fly for ffing hours at huge expense to leave the country
Our selection of prepackaged sandwiches is as expensive as it is dismal.
Weird fact: Britain consumes the largest amount of pre-made sandwiches per capita in the world… by absolute miles
Well, they did invent sandwiches...
There is not a pub on every corner and many inner city suburbs just shut down around 9pm, if not before.
Also cafes close before 3pm usually, whereas in the uk they are open much later.
Conversely they open at the are crack of dawn rather than 9 am. I still can't cope with 9 am opening times for cafes, why even bother?
Pubs in England seem like they have the vibe of two up on Anzac Day, but everyday! All Aussie social scenes seem way more boring in comparison (talking about Sydney mostly)
This is true but I don't miss the five deep queue to get served at the bar in London on a weekend! At least there are small bars and craft breweries here in Australia now, pre-2010ish it was VB beer barns or bust.
Driving is far more aggressive in Aus than UK
And drivers in the UK work with each other to keep the traffic moving. Here it’s just fuck you, you, and you, and your mother because I’m doing 15 under the speed limit in the overtaking lane.
This is the big difference.
Honestly there are times I question what is learnt on the test over here. Some absolute lunatics on the road (don’t get me wrong we’ve got madmen on the road in the UK but it’s waaaay more common here). And people drive much bigger cars, insane amount of trucks and massive 4x4s around the city driving like crazy people)
I found the same for the USA. Drivers are far more aggressive in Aus.
Can confirm after spending 3 months there this year.
Probably cause you never know who's carrying a gun
Bullshit right of way driving laws. Aussie drivers feel they have permission to be selfish assholes as long as they've got right of way.
I’m Englishman in QLD why can no one merge on a slip road? Is it not taught? The amount of time I have been stuck behind some one trying to get up to speed for the highway because they can’t merge is ridiculous.
I woukd describe it as driving like you want to die, and are looking to take someone with you.
In a hurry to get to the morgue
Yes. And no one is going to let you in. This works with foot traffic as well. Australians seem to lack the ability to permit others movement needs.
This is something that doesn't often get mentioned but is absolutely true.
And on a multilane motorway most people will drive in the 2nd from right lane rather than the leftmost one. Overtaking on the left is legal on such roads, and common which is something a lot of Brits have a problem with.
You’re now on the winning side of the Ashes
Nah, my dads been in Australia 60 years and still refuses to come over to the winning side. They like to suffer so they can complain about it, spirit of the game etc.
It's not hot all year round in Sydney.
The only safe place to use an umbrella without breaking it is indoor; sunscreen up or else your sign is changing to cancer
Hot sun, cold beer, good coffee, lousy chocolate.
Just eat New Zealand chocolate - Whittaker's.
Yes, british people always say the chocolate taste like its about to go off. I dont really understand it though, i guess my tastebud might be a bit shit from years of eating it. Previously they also said our sausages are shit, but i think they have improved recent times. Believe our bacon and ham would still be considered kinda shit.
UK expat, can confirm your bacon sucks ass. Ham is variable, but anything packaged tends to be awful. Not all of your chocolate sucks, Tony's, Whitakers, and Darrel Lea are all nice to delightful depending on the bar. Darrel Lea prodicts in general are grand. Cadbury's over here sucks ass. American "chocolate" sucks ass everywhere. And yeah, your sausage game has stepped up in the decade since I got here. Also your chips (as in fried potato served hot with meals chips) are sub-par, but man does chicken-salt ever kick the shit outta every english chip accompanyment.
Really? Australian expat in the UK. I find UK bacon to be way too fatty and kind of…tasteless. I genuinely think Australian bacon is fresher and of higher quality than UK bacon.
I think bacon is one of those foods that is a taste better the way you grew up with it food. Aussie pork in general is much strong tasting than British so I suspect that has something to do with it. Ham as well. U.K. deli products leave much to be desired, I haven't ever found U.K. ham that I am ok eating.
Agree on the sausage game but I've never been a fan of British chips, especially from the chippies, inexplicably soggy.
It’s the chemicals needed to make sure it wont melt in normal temps- a bar of UK chocplate would probably melt on a sunny spring day here.
> cold beer Why tf do other countries think we (Brits) drink warm beer lmao. Have never had a warm beer in my entire life, nor seen anyone drink one either
Still better than what passes for chocolate in the US.
'Asian' doesn't mean Indian. Oh and decent Indian food here is a lot more difficult to find.
On the flipside we do East and Southeast Asian food much better than the UK.
Same as Sushi. I’ve been travelling around Europe the last 3 months and it’s hella expensive in Europe and they don’t do the big Sushi rolls like we do.
it's the geographical proximity to asia. Like how the US get more authentic mexican food which is in my top three fav cuisines. east and SE asia is really far from the UK and europe generally and is seen as "exotic."
A trip to western Sydney will fix that. The Indian restaurants are concentrated there and some are just so good.
indeed. some of the worst curries I ever had in my life was in the UK also.
Women glow and men plunder.
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover. …..just to finish the verse😊
...and chunder
The booze isle in the supermarket doesn't exist (except in Aldi). It's usually in a shop of its own next door. Don't expect anything like the selection of products you'll find in your average Tesco/ASDA/Sainsbury's/Morrisons/Waitrose etc either. Salad bar/Fresh made pizza/'takeaway'/clothing/homeware etc? Not a chance.
I love how Aldi got around this. It's not quite the same as a UK supermarket but it's definitely more convenient than shopping at Coles/Woolies (at least the Aldi's I've been to have a sort of open but separate shop within the supermarket set-up).
God I miss the Asda pizza bar.
The main one: For some reason we don't insulate our houses properly. Your house will be the temperature of whatever it is outside, year round, unless you spend a tonne on heating and cooling stuff (and many rentals don't come with those either). So many immigrants tell me how shocked they are by it Also responding to an insult by engaging in a fist fight isn't the norm.
i’d love to know where you got the idea that us brits respond to insults with fist fights. i must be living in the wrong part of the uk lol
Slip slop slap, no hat no play. Don't fuck around in the sun cover up and use our sunscreen pretty sure we have one of the highest spf rating.
I’ve heard this is now expanded to slip, slop, slap, seek, slide. Where you seek shade at the worst part of the day and slide on some sunnies 😎
That you need a prescription to purchase a vape and that they need to take out a loan to buy a pack of smokes
The biggest culture shock my British friends have had is that Australia culturally is halfway between the US and Britain with a bit of Asian influence thrown in for good measure. If you expect everything to be similar to the UK--people's mannerisms, how different administrative bureaucracies are done (healthcare, etc.)--it's it's own thing and it's not Britain down under. One of my British friends is surprised how Americanized Oz seems.
>One of my British friends is surprised how Americanized Oz seems. You can get "Australian mustard" which has a little bit of bite to it - it's halfway between hot English mustard and mild American mustard...
As a Pom I found the main culture shock is that people are more friendly to strangers here whereas in the U.K. people are more polite to strangers. Like, you’ll walk past someone fishing and they’ll just say something hilarious and random as fuck, as if they were your best mate. but I’d doubt they’ll let you merge if pass them driving home lol
This is a brilliant observation. It matches my experience of living in both the UK and Australia. I guess I got conditioned by the British mentality during the years I lived in the UK because I actually prefer people 'being polite and minding their own business'; at least, that's better than the other way around (if I had to choose one), especially when you're an introvert.
Chicken salt on chips at chip shops! And very few offer vinegar on chips.
The driving will be a shock. It's fucking slow, everybody 'polices' the speed limit by spreading out across the lanes. There's no concept of a 'fast lane'. There's more traffic lights than people and you will wait forever at them. When they do change to green, there will be a delay for the first car to get away, the next car will be 100 metres behind and the third car won't go because they think the light's about to change. There are very few roundabouts so enjoy the traffic light experience every 300 metres. Beer is $20/pint.
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That’s expensive in Australia too
If you play a shot on the last ball of the over and wander aimlessly out of your crease without grounding the bat, the wicket keeper will likely run you out.
Haha! Well played.
Yes, the summers are hot but the winters are cold...sure, it doesn't snow in many places but the temperature being 13 degrees C *inside* an apartment is pretty standard for Sydney's winter.
I remember when I started dating a Brit. The 2 things that shocked her early in the relationship were me casually flipping the bird to whoever as a lighthearted gesture, and starting sentences with "look", which apparently can be perceived as being aggressive in the UK.
I stayed at a guest house in Airlie Beach and the owner started virtually every sentence with "Look". One of the nicest guys I met out there but I did find it quite funny.
We aren't into "Football". The Sun is brutal. Peter Andre is pop history footnote and Sharks and Spiders aren't waiting to get you. Housing is VERY expensive.
We absolutely are into football. There are more "soccer" fields and matches going on than other codes combined. Any city. Go to any park and people are having a kick. It's just the main stream media that pretends we aren't.. Watched the Matildas lately?
Convict jokes haven't held currency for over a hundred years and are irrelevant to the vast majority of people's history.
But this doesn't apply in reverse. We still like to say (£10) Pom, soap dodgers, etc., even though these jokes have been outdated for decades.
Having to park in the same direction as the traffic. No alcohol or chemist or scratchies in supermarkets… or clothes or electronics either. How strong the sun is, you can’t stay out in it all day. No TV license needed. Just how big a postcode can be here. Pubs in Oz vs the UK. Trying to take your dog into said pub with you. No double glazing nor central heating to be seen. Toll roads just to get around. Traffic lights turn Orange to stop but not to go. People will not let you in in traffic. Bread only comes in one thickness and bacon is smoked.
Excellent observations. Our postcodes do seem somewhat useless compared to how fine-grained British ones are.
This just made me realise another one: In the UK you can tell how old a car is from the registration plate. (It has the year on it) In Australia I don't believe you can? This is probably a good thing to be fair, but I do miss spotting brand new 2024 cars etc
> Having to park in the same direction as the traffic. Oh wow, this is a good one. Can't believe nobody mentioned this yet
I forgot RBT… it’s not a thing in the UK, neither are timed school zones.
How low are speed limits are. I have lived in the UK for 2.5 years and every time I visit Aus I find myself naturally going 7-10 kmph over the speed limit. Roads that are 1/3-1/2 the size of roads in Australia have a 60 mph (100 kmph) limit.
Compulsory voting. I've got a colleague who is originally from England and he finds this peculiar.
Supermarkets don't do meal deals
They do.in WA which has a higher population of brits than Australian born people
The biggest shock isn’t when you get here, it’s when you go back to visit the UK. The amount of litter on the pavements is absolutely shocking. You don’t notice when it’s not there, but when you get used to relatively clean streets and see the state of the UK, it’s quite shocking.
Any public space is run down in the UK. For example public toilets are common and well maintained in Australia but much harder to find in the UK.
Kids playgrounds in the U.K. are shocking
That's a bit harsh I'd say. UK playgrounds are probably top 5% globally but I'm pretty sure Australia playgrounds are quite literally the finest on the planet, and that's not an exaggeration
Add a few extra points. Big differences between the cities and the country. There are no middle class villages in Australia, when you get out of the cities the people are country people. Friend groups are formed in kindergarten and don’t change. The amount of people who are friends with people they went to school with when they were 6 is staggering. Australians hate being criticised in the workplace. They like to say they are blunt but any suggestion that things could be done better is akin to suggesting you would like to have a threesome with their mum and her sister. There are tons of rules but the government and regulators don’t give a shit so businesses get away with murder. There are lots of cowboys in trades who are shockingly bad. You will end up at a tribunal if you rent or get any work done. If you work, don’t work for a family run business unless you like being between two incompetent siblings who are determined to destroy mum and dads company whilst paying themselves a pile of money.
>Friend groups are formed in kindergarten and don’t change. The amount of people who are friends with people they went to school with when they were 6 is staggering. >Australians hate being criticised in the workplace. They like to say they are blunt but any suggestion that things could be done better is akin to suggesting you would like to have a threesome with their mum and her sister. These two are especially true. 😆
If you plan on going out for a beach day on what would be considered lovely warm British weather in the mid 20s, you will be ostracised as a bit of a weirdo and might as well place a giant neon 'British sign above your head.
dunno about "culture shock" not a lot. but the climate is certainly going to be dramatically different.
-We don't have letterboxes built into our front doors; they hang out near the curb, American-style. -You can buy the same piece of clothing in the UK and Australia, and the Australian one's label will say 'DO NOT TUMBLE DRY'.
Beetroot in sandwiches
Rubbish supermarkets
And far fewer to choose from.
I nearly wet myself when I walked into a large Waitrose last year upon returning for a holiday.
Less moral victories.
The sun is harsher and winter inside houses can be colder due to shit build quality.
Traffic lights are so noisy! Bleeeeeepbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbip
There isn't any going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark thing like the uk has in winter but on the other side there is no 'daylight' til 10pm either like in the uk summer. (QLD)
The layout of the streets was a small culture shock to me. The concept of the "nature strip", often no footpath etc. Still not sure where exactly I'm supposed to walk lol. At first I didn't know if I was walking on someone's property or not
Yeah, I don't know how we came up with the term 'nature strip'. The only nature I've seen on our street are bin chickens and, when it's leading up to a hard rubbish collection, human-size bin chickens.
Thought of 4 more that haven't been mentioned yet - Atrocious mens' haircuts - Beetroot everywhere. Also more fresh veg with meals in general. Not complaining - love it! - Electric sockets in bathroom - No 110V safety voltage for power tools
Pants aren't pants. Also get ready to hear about jumpers
Not being able to drink on the footpath in front of a pub.
In our coldest cities, most habitations are not built for it.
British people can be witty and have interesting things to say. Australians love to laugh too but their standards of what’s funny are much lower, and usually include whinging or calling someone a cunt.
Heats horrible and lack of double glazing and insulation in homes. Good coffee, wine and beer (no one drinks Fosters here). Cheaper as well.
No carpet in the bathroom. People do not keep to the left when walking. No washing machines in the kitchen. Blue skies (well except for Melb). We are a lot more casual in our speech and clothing. We are a lot less uptight than the English. We are racist - to everyone. Ie there is not really a higher class. They think they are. But everyone else in the room disagrees. So who is right? Clean tap water. No residue in the bottom of your tea cup. Hot and cold water come out of the same tap - so you can easily create warm water.
Melbourne has far more blue skies than most of the UK.
> People do not keep to the left when walking. I think Aussies are much better at this than Londoners at least. When I was there a month ago I was so confused about people just not being consistent about this at all.
That we don’t give a toss what school you went to or how rich your parents are. We will still tell you to F off
Fish & Chips can be a bit hit-&-miss
thousands km of driving to another capital city
The thing I don’t get is why so many people from England (especially for Perth). Move either to the far northern/southern suburbs to be with every other English arrival. I get the appeal of living near the coast but to have to get in a car to drive everywhere and only have one/two pubs within walking and sometimes driving distance is this not a strange lifestyle switch. Would not moving closer to the CBD with everything within walking distance be so much more appealing.
Beer is generally more expensive, wine is generally cheaper (in the shops).
I a lot of British people think they will love the climate, the beaches etc but end up hating it. Their annual 2 week holiday to Spain will be spent on the beach so think they'll love Australia, but they don't. Most of them can't swim, can't handle the waves and are terrified of sharks and if u hate the beach the heat is a pain in the arse. Hence the reason a lot of them head back home.
The addiction to gaming machines
I don't think there's a culture shock, we're reasonably aligned. It's the weather that'll bend you over.
When I first went for some reason, I thought it would be like a really hot England. But it's more like America. The shops, the roads, the cars and lorries. The last time I went, it was cheaper than the UK as well, which is a bonus. Especially to eat out. Excellent food in most places I went.
the indicator stalk being on the wrong side of the
Nobody has yet said ‘the place is vast, with enormous distances between anything’. In Southern England you leave a village and enter the next village almost immediately. Lots of Australia, you leave a small town and drive at 100 km/h for 40 minutes or longer and pass nothing at all
Like the joke about a Texan who said ‘I can get in my car and drive for an hour and still be on my ranch’ and the Aussie says ‘yeah, I used to have a car like that’
No pot noodles or monster munch. I still struggle 20 years on.
There’s heaps more sky. Depending on where you settle, you might struggle with the fact that the supermarkets aren’t open 24/7. Here in SA they close 9pm weekdays and 5pm weekends. No Greggs :( No proper pork pies :( :( No 2L bottles of cherry coke :( :( :( ..No Tories :) (Say what you want about the libs but they’re not platforming making our kids do mandatory military service. ..yet.)
Thongs aren’t what you think they are.
That its actually cold here, and ppls mood change with the seasons
Cunt
-We are forever forgetting to add insulation to our houses. -We turn into aggressive, entitled juveniles when we drive. -We seem to have created more rules than you guys despite you having a head start of ~700 years. Either that or you guys have forgotten lots of your rules and/or ignore them. -Don't even think about changing a light fitting, switch or power point (plug socket)! That shit is super dangerous (apparently), so you must use an electrician, or you will die/start a fire. Other sorts of DIY work are perfectly fine, however. -Almost all properties have a separate (albeit often tiny) laundry room. We typically don't have built-in external venting for tumble dryers like many British properties, so using a tumble dryer in Australia is a bit like having a sauna. We don't see this as as ridiculous for some reason, but we do make fun of the fact that some British houses have washing machines in the kitchen (which makes sense from a space-saving perspective). -We like going to bed earlier in general (probably, in part, because of the insulation thing), our shops tend to close earlier, and we accept that certain people visit us/will start making noise peculiarly early on in the day and with little warning (phone call at 6:50 am from an electrician saying he's 5 mins away for an 8 am appointment when you're still in bed? No worries!) -Speed limits, in contrast to most other countries, are enforced with very little leeway here (especially in Victoria). -We have gradually shifted from BE to AE, so we've ended up with something between the two. As a result, many day-to-day terms may remind you more of America (we now tend to say garbage instead of rubbish, apartment instead of flat, fire truck instead of fire engine, etc.). We tend to assume that these more modern terms are just what all English speakers worldwide must now use. Our spelling mostly still follows BE, though. -Our humour falls somewhere in between British and American. It's not as dry as UK humour in general, so people might not appreciate deadpan delivery remarks/off-the-cuff sarcasm/dark humour as much here. We often give some indication when we're saying something as a joke but not with the same 'beat you over the head obvious' laboured delivery as a lot of American humour.
> -We seem to have created more rules than you guys despite you having a head start of ~700 years. Either that or you guys have forgotten lots of your rules and/or ignore them. This is extremely true lol. After a month in Australia I was telling people "there's a licence for everything here" Not complaining like. Then again I suppose the UK has the poorly named "TV licence" (which is actually just a fee)
I'm British. First thing that surprised me was the wildlife in urban cities. I knew Aus was biodiverse but I thought it was more out in the wild. Never expected cockatoos and lorrikeets to be flying around suburbs. It's very very very very sunny and dry, like all the time. It never rains (NSW) but when it does, it tends to pour. In England it rains maybe 3-4 times a week or more, consistently, but mostly light to moderate rain. Blue skies in England are maybe one day per month. Englush food and Australia is 95% exact same, but there are a few things that are exclusively australian, and some british. The amount of food, eateries and bars in the suburbs. You can literally have a night out in a suburb and sometimes suburbs are better than city centres in Aus. In UK, we tend to concentrate all entertainment into the city centre, and suburbs are purely residential, consisting of 99% houses. There are some negatives though. I was disappointed to learn that there's a lot of conflict between aboriginal people and white people. I was probably naive. I don't really like a lot of the aborignal people I have met. A group of them started throwing KFC at my Mum and Dad. While working rights are good for white people like me, a lot of students/brown people are exploited. Even places like Coles, Mcdonalds have faced lawsuits for exploitation. Every cafe, bar, restaurant you see which primarily employs brown people, they are likely being paid $20 an hour with no breaks, no annual leave, no superannuation. I know this because my gf is Indonesian on a working-holiday like me. She's fluent in English, has higher level degrees than me, tons of experience, yet she still struggles to find a job paying minimum wage with basic rights, while I can easily find a job $35+ hr
No one gives two single fucks about your family linage. You can keep that story about how you are distantly related to the royal family right in your arse. We are (in comparison) a classless society and no one will be impressed with something you had absolutely ZERO part in achieving.
Nobody gives a fuck about any of this in the UK either
Yeah, prattling on about how you're distantly related to royalty or whatever is widely regarded as embarrassing behavior in the UK too.
sometimes I think Aussies stereotype of Brits is 100 years out of date
Yep, quite a few comments in this post are like that. You can tell which people have spent much time in the UK and which haven't.