Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Observations on Australia from a Yank

This is my second trip to Australia, the first being in 1991.

Here are a few of my observations:

Vegimite tastes terrible but is fun to eat, for some reason I just can't stop myself. Australians have never used the words "you're welcome." For some reason they seems to interpret my "thank you" as an expression of concern because they all reply "no worries." Australians don't use pennies, we should adopt this practice in the States. Not all Australians are blonde surfer type bomb shells :(, though there are some ^.

Australians in North Queensland are like Southern Californians in that they add a compass direction to where they are from and they go one farther, they can also be from Far North Queensland.

Australian beer is generally much better then US beer, and Canadian for that matter. I think we could even go as far to say North American. Bars in Hotels and tourist areas serve beer with a glass but Aussies themselves don't generally inbibe in this fashion.

Australians eat a lot of meat. It's difficult to find vegitarian dishes though they exist of course. Australians get confused when asked in a bar "what type of pop do you have?" I can let this last one slide a little because even in the States pop is not universally used. Maybe we should all use the Spanish refrescos.

Dudemon, where in my country? :)

It is great almost everywhere this week, weatherwise.

Now you've reported the initial stuff, get into the subtleties. ;)

[QUOTE=Dudemon;8219422]This is my second trip to Australia, the first being in 1991.

Here are a few of my observations:

Vegimite tastes terrible but is fun to eat, for some reason I just can't stop myself. Australians have never used the words "you're welcome." For some reason they seems to interpret my "thank you" as an expression of concern because they all reply "no worries." Australians don't use pennies, we should adopt this practice in the States. Not all Australians are blonde surfer type bomb shells :(, though there are some ^.

No worries roughly translates to you're welcome and does not mean they interpret thank you as an expression of concern!!!!!:D

Australians in North Queensland are like Southern Californians in that they add a compass direction to where they are from and they go one farther, they can also be from Far North Queensland.
[/I].

North of me in Cairns is VFNQ (Very F...... North Queensland). South of me.... Mexico.

This is my 5th or 6th trip and this time for about 2 months. ^ (only a week and a half in Melbourne left :td:)

You didn't observe that everything closes at 6PM?

Don't get me started on small town Australia. We stopped Sunday at Boggy Creek Pub in scenic Curdie Vale. (trip report to come) It was around 4PM and we were famished. Of course we then saw the sign that lunch is served between noon at 1:30. Inquired at the bar and no food served outside these hours. Hours later we had KFC in Colac. :(

This is my 5th or 6th trip and this time for about 2 months. ^ (only a week and a half in Melbourne left :td:)

You didn't observe that everything closes at 6PM?

Don't get me started on small town Australia. We stopped Sunday at Boggy Creek Pub in scenic Curdie Vale. (trip report to come) It was around 4PM and we were famished. Of course we then saw the sign that lunch is served between noon at 1:30. Inquired at the bar and no food served outside these hours. Hours later we had KFC in Colac. :( Huh? I live in a small town, and my local Coles supermarket is open to midnight, 7 days a week - plenty of restaurants are open to fairly late (I has a spag bol tonight - Monday night - at 11pm, didn't eat in, but went takeaway, but eat in was available).

Dave

Some deep and meaningful stuff here - relating to Vegemite, how Queenslanders like to stress which part of the state they are from, how our beer is better, and how we eat a lot of meat. Deeply insightful and sure to entice people to visit us. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

How about providing some more information, how you found the people, your perceptions regarding our lifestyles, public safety and so on? You know, the sort of things that people might actually want to read.

Dave

How about providing some more information, how you found the people, your perceptions regarding our lifestyles, public safety and so on? You know, the sort of things that people might actually want to read.



Apparently those weren't observations the OP made. I have found that most Aussies have a good sense of humor though.

There would be a Coles/Safeway in Colac; but unlikely in "Boggy Creek Pub in scenic Curdie Vale".

Have you been doing the GOR/Grampions? Not the best weather for it, but at least the air would have been fresh and clean. :)

There would be a Coles/Safeway in Colac; but unlikely in "Boggy Creek Pub in scenic Curdie Vale".

Have you been doing the GOR/Grampions? Not the best weather for it, but at least the air would have been fresh and clean. :)

We did some of the GOR and it was great. The rain kept the flies away on the treetop walk and the cold kept plenty of rooms open in Apollo Bay. I'm going to try to post a trip report in the next few days.

I suggest reading Bill Bryson's Book, "In a Sunburned Country!" It's published under the name "Down Under" in the UK and in Australia. The U.S. edition has a cover picture of a Kangaroo with a Joey in pouch. The Australian edition has a cover photo of Uluru and the UK edition has a great cover depicting Australia atop an ice cream cone!

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/bb_title/display.pperl?isbn=9780767903868

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