Since being here, I have realized how little I truly knew about Australia prior to coming here. I have learned a lot of different things related to their lifestyle, culture, and the environment. Here are some experiences I have encountered and cool things I have realized:
- Grocery stores are much smaller here; they do not have a large selection of frozen foods, such as breakfast foods. Waffles and pancakes and french toast are not available in any frozen aisle sections
- Biscuits are cookies; I had a funny experience one night I was really craving a KFC biscuit, like the ones back in the states. So I decided to go to a KFC and get one. Unfortunately, they looked at me like I was crazy and then I remembered those do not exist here
- There’s an abundance of wildlife that one is actually unlikely to run into, especially in Sydney; I have not encountered any dangerous animals, but I learned that the ones that are the most dangerous are normally the size of your thumb nail
- Most Australians live on the coast, since the outback is inhabitable
- It snows in some parts of the Blue Mountains
- Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world; I am actually going to get to see and experience it on a 4 wheel drive tour in a few weeks
- It is super windy here; even on really hot days, one should bring a hoodie because the weather changes drastically, quickly
- Australians say people should fear salt water crocodiles more than any other sea animal; this is because they actually hunt humans and can track our movements for 6 hours without us ever seeing them
- Australia was initially a continent filled with convicts and they hand built Central Station and it still stands with the same materials they used
- Since they were filled with convicts, their first police force was made up of well-behaved convicts
- Although Australians speak English, they shorten and changed a lot of common words; like breakfast is brekky
- Horse racing is also a big thing here, many people take off work to partake in festivities
- Australia contains the whitest sand beaches, such as Whitehaven and Hyams beach
- There are not many hospitals, especially in the outback regions, so they have “flying doctors”, who are prepared to go to these regions in emergencies
