When I first arrived in Oz, I had a certain amount of knowledge that I was armed with, most of it was absolutely vital to get by in the first few weeks.
However, once I began to meet friends, aquaintances and get to grips with the local way of life, there were a few trivialities that I soon realised I simply had to know.
- 1. Learn (or at least recognise) your aussie celebrities, no matter how minor, this will save you from having awkward moments when you a) have no idea who your friends are talking about; and b) reverse your car into the car of the newsreader from channel 7 in the car park.
- 2. When you are invited round for a coffee (or morning tea, as it’s known) NEVER go empty handed. If you are incapable of baking anything even half edible (like me) then buy something from the bakers – it’s just not worth the looks you get if you don’t.
- 3. It’s ok to kill a cane toad.
- 4. Make sure your kids can swim, your eight year old does not want to be wearing arm-bands at a friends house when you are invited round for a barbie and a swim, when their three year old is freestyling up and down the pool at a rate of knots.
- 5. Don’t refer to a child care centre as a ‘nursery’ – your friends will think you are taking your child to garden centre and will look puzzled.
- 6. Buy a car with tinted windows.
- 7. Never refer to a toasted sandwich as a ‘toastie’ unless you are talking to someone under 5 years old.
When buying land, don’t refer to it as a ‘plot’ – its a ‘block’! A plot is where you choose to be buried when you’ve kicked the bucket!
When your kids come home from school raving everything’s ‘sick as, man’ – don’t panic! Its nothing bad, in fact its all good! Sick means good – figures huh?
Doing the roll at school is the register and not some dodgy dance. You leave your bag on the port rack (a wooden shelf) – hopefully this is in the shade so your morning tea/little lunch/big lunch isn’t a warm soggy mess by the time you come to eat it! And don’t worry when your kids ask for a popper for lunch! Its a carton drink with a straw!