When going to a new country, there is a tendency to experience culture shock. You will get home stick at times. This is normal and everyone goes through it at one or another. My first signs of culture shock were minor. Here is some things I did to overcome culture shock. I almost had a heart failure at the price of gas because I did not understand the pricing signs for gasoline. It look this one below
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| A Gasoline station in Australia |
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At first I thought it said it was $133 a liter. I found out it is actually $1.33 Plus GST. GST is good and services tax that you pay in Australia. You pay it on everything you buy at restaurants,groceries and other places as well. In Australia they use the metric system. So, it is not gallons, and it is measured in liters. I had to learn that the steering wheel is on the right side of a car. I had been so used to having the steering wheel on the left hand side of the car and didn't realize that side of the car is now the passenger side.
In Australia, when you buy something everything is either rounded up or down to the next available cent. They did not have any pennies. The money comes in nickels,dimes and 20 cent pieces and 50 cents and $1 coins and $2 dollar coins.
The notes come in denominations from $5 to $500.It is always a good idea to have carry travel visa card or use your ATM card with a Visa Logo on it. There are plenty of ATM around where you can take money out whenever you need to. Getting map is a good idea and your smart phone from your provider from the US will not work there. A good idea is get a smart phone with a provider in Australia like Telestra since they are a large carrier. They are other providers that you can go with.
Never be loud or obnoxious. Dress conservatively and modestly. Remember that you are representing the US when you come. Do try to fit in as much as possible. There will be a tendency want to find other Americans. I didn't try to find other Americans and decided that I wanted to blend in rather stick out. I wanted to be inconspicuous as possible. This would allow me to move about with great ease.
They do have places like Subway Sandwiches,McDonalds,KFC,Pizza Hut,Johnny Rockets,Hard Rock Cafe,Krispy Kreme Donuts,and Starbucks Coffee. Burger King is not called Burger King. It is called Hungry Jack's. They have Target and Kmart. I always like Gloria Jean's Coffee better than Starbucks anyway.
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| The better choice in Australia |
To dispell of the stereotypes. Aussies don't say "Put another shrimp the barbie.". It is called a prawn and not a shrimp. Fosters Lager is Canadian Beer and not Aussie Beer. Four X is an Aussie beer brew out of Milton, Queensland. I am not a beer drinker. Here is what the sign looks like
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| Four X |
Thongs are not swimwear there. It is a pair of flip flops. In Oz, they call them thongs. Convenient stores are called milk bars. They don't carry alcohol there. If you want alcohol, you have to go a shop that sells only alcohol. When you go the drug store, they call them pharmacies and have medical cross and keep the aspirin,ibuprofen behind the pharmacist's counter and you have ask for Panadol.
Here are the equivalents of the department store in Australia:
Department Stores
Macy's - Myer.
Nordstrom's and Neiman Marcus- David Jones.
Best Buy - Dick Smith, JB Hi Fi, Domayne, and MegaBuy
Hardware Store
Home Depot or Lowes- Bunnings
Men's Suits Stores
Mens' Wharehouse and Jos A Bank- Fletch Jones or Roger David
Grocery Stores
Whole Foods Market - Mountain Creek Whole Foods in Canberra.
They have Coles and Woolworths', and Aldis. But, Woolworth's is called Woolies.
Ketchup is called Tomato Sauce. Doritos and Fritos are called corn chips. They don't have Fritos except you have order it from USA Foods out of Melbourne.
They don't have any cheese that looks dark yellow like American in the Cole's or Woolies. You can go to a cheese shop order it. The cheese in both Cole's or Woolies is light yellow or white.
Now, if you are celebrating Thanksgiving. You want to order your Turkey from a butcher. Plus, do not forgot to order any pumpkin pie filling from USA foods. Don't forgot to order the Guacamole seasoning from USA food if you are going to make Guacamole. Because Cole's,Aldies, Woolies don't carry it.
The other thing to remember is that squash is called Pumpkin. Capsicum are peppers. They don't have chicken or turkey pot pies there. You can make them out of fili dough on baking pie pan. I put a great recipe for it. Pot pies are made of usally beef. They are called Meat pies and usually have them with peas that called mushy peas. They don't sell hotdog weiners there nor do they sell the hot dog buns. They sell sausages that are huge.
Also, if you are going to make french press coffee. I highly recommend a French Coffee Pot.
Like this one.
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| French Press Coffee Pot |
I did not see any in Australia. I would recommend it highly and get one.
The movies tickets at the movie theater usually cost per ticket about $12 per showing in the daytime. At night is about $16 per showing. If you order anything from the concession stand they will bring it your to you as you are entering the movie theater.
If you want buy Pepsi or Coca Cola products at the store. They are $3 per bottle for 2 liter bottle.
The cars and other vehicles drive on the opposite side of the road than they do in the US. Certain parts of Oz, you may have to take a bus and is advise to wave your arm in the air to signal to bus to stop otherwise they won't stop and keep on going. A bus ticket is about $2 AUD. Make sure that you ask for a transfer to your next stop or transfer point.
Wheather wise everything is measured in Celius and use the metric system for the weather.
The metric system is used on everything from cooking,driving,weather,measuring and weighing things in Australia. Here is the link for conversion to metric.
Metric Conversion
For the money conversion, you can use this handy dandy website called xe and will do the exchange rate.
XE
If you decide to rent an house or a flat. A flat called an apartment there. It is not charged by the month. They charge by the week. Apartments are known as hotels are over there. They can run anywhere from $200 per week and up.
If you are going to get a car over there, get automobile insurance to cover any damages in you get in fender bender.
If you get a speeding ticket or parking ticket, do not argue with the police officer assigning you the ticket. Just pay the fine at address on the back of ticket and get it over with.
When a gentleman says G'day love. Just say G'day. It means good afternoon or good morning.
When you go to a restaurant, you do not leave a tip. The servers make more than enough to cover their living expenses, and they are paid better than in the US. The minimum wage law in Australia is about $400 a week depending on the Australian state where people live.
Always says Yes, sir. No,sir. Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am. It is good manners when over there.
The main phone companies that I know of are:
Telestra
Vodaphone
Virgin Broadband
Virgin Mobile
iPrimus
Optus
AAPT Limited
To dial a phone outside of Australia to the US, you dial 0011 1 (areacode) and the number
Within Australia to another state or calling area, you dial country code of 61 and area code with the zero and the number.
For to celebrate US holiday, you can contact the American Australian Association
American Australian Association
Here is list of holidays celebrated in Australia
| 1 January |
New Year's Day |
| 28 January |
Australia Day |
| Late March or April |
Good Friday |
| Late March or April |
Easter Saturday |
| Late March or April |
Easter Monday |
| 25 April |
Anzac Day |
| 10 June |
Queen's Birthday |
| 7 October |
Labour Day |
| 25 December |
Christmas Day |
| 26 December |
Boxing Day |
Most of the houses that are older do not come with air conditioner, it is good idea buy one really cheap for about $300 at the hardware store. The stoves and oven is smaller than American stove and oven as well as the refrigerator and icebox.
Also, it is good idea to get adapters for electrical appliances like hair dryers,radios,tv and other appliances. But be carefule it may short out the Australian outlets being higher voltage. I had a hair dryer that could of cause an electrical fire and had the adapter and did not know it. I was cautious and got an
hair dryer with Australian electrical plug to work right. I would highly recommend one like this.
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| Australian Electrical Adapter |
This information is very handy to have. It makes living in Australia a lot easier. I will update this page to include more. For now, this should be good enough.
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