what I'm learning about Australia

*written by Suzanne

A few random facts I have learned about Australia since coming here.....

I am loving life here in my husbands homeland,  and thought I'd share few things from the American perspective.   : )

(for most of these, I grabbed photos from google just to show you what I'm talking about)


1- You can see exotic birds just sitting on the power line in this country...(that's a Cockatoo)

and if you have food for them they might perch on your shoulder :)

2- $1 frozen cokes are really popular and really delicious
(do we even have these at fast food restaurants in the states??)
I especially like mine with ice cream in it.  :)

3- kids wear uniforms like these to private schools:
I think the little kids look super cute, but I'd be pretty over wearing that hat by the time I graduated.  The hat is mandatory from what I've heard.
also...another fun fact...Nick was never required to wear shoes to school until high school..they just walked around barefoot and that was normal.

4- Jacaranda trees are beautiful and they smell good

5-  in Sydney, there are signs painted onto the road which are probably there to help keep Americans from being run over by cars

6- Australians think you have to have a kit to make s'mores (we found these at Aldi) :)

7- Australians have the game "snakes and ladders" instead of "chutes and ladders", and they eat gummy snakes instead of gummy worms.

8-  Milo is a heavenly invention, and so are Tim-Tams

9- Russell Crowe lives in Australia, and owns a rugby team called the "South Sydney Rabbitohs", and I like them because their name is fun to say.  

They recently won the NRL Grand Final, which was in Sydney while we were there visiting.  Also, I now understand why American football players get made fun of by Australians for wearing so much gear, because these guys wear no helmets at all, and beat each other up every game.

10-  Bike riders are often seen with zip ties sticking out from the top of their helmet, and the reason is to discourage magpies from dive-bombing their heads while they are riding.  

A magpie swooped down at me several times when I was walking home the other day, and it was pretty scary! It definitely made me duck, so I can see why bikers would find that distracting.  And they look so fashionable too.    : )

11- This is called a Huntsman, and I saw one on the wall at a friends' house and once was enough for me. 

(apparently though, they aren't very dangerous.  But Nick's instructions to me about Australian bugs was  "if it looks mean it probably is poisonous".  I think I'll just keep away from insects.)

And this just made me laugh... :)