We expected many things to be different from Canada when we went to Australia; we expected that it would be hot and humid, that there would be colourful birds and palm trees, and that people would speak with Australian accents. But there were also day-to-day differences that we did not expect. Here are 10 unexpecteds from Australia:
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#1. Voices
At the start, I found it difficult to recognize individual people’s voices, because one of the cues I had used in Canada didn’t work. You recognize someone’s voice because of things in their voice that are different from other people. For example, one person might speak with an exceptionally low voice. Another might speak with an exceptionally rough voice. Another one might speak with an Australian accent – Whoops! You can’t use that one here.
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#2. Toilet
In Canada, if you ask for directions to either the toilet or the bathroom, you get pointed to the same place. In Australia, you get pointed to different places, because toilets are in separate rooms from bathrooms. That means that after going to the toilet, you need to go out, and then go into another room to wash your hands. But how do you clean your hands before touching the doorknobs?
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#3. Hats
2 out of every 3 Australians will develop skin cancer before turning 70.1Australians realize this, and many people wear hats. We should have realized that, but we were surprised. Hats of different kinds. Hats of different colors. Young people and old people. Men and women.
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#4. Periscopes
The black pipe sticking up out of this truck is called a periscope. This is where air goes into the engine, allowing you to drive the truck through deep water. Useful with the torrential downpours we get here. Of course, this only works with diesel engines, which don’t need electricity to combust the fuel.
Have you ever seen spoilers on the back of hot cars? Everyone knows that those are just for show. But these periscopes aren’t. One prof at James Cook University said that he has had to drive through deep flooded roads with a truck like that. Sometimes people put something in front of the radiator so that the fan doesn’t spray water backwards, since it might crack the engine block. As long as water doesn’t come into the end of periscope, you’re OK. Well – the truck will keep going, but that air intake is higher than the top of the truck. What about the air intake for the driver?
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#5. Enforced cleanliness in the kitchen
One morning, Magi put some apple scraps into a garbage bag hanging from the oven door.
At noon, we noticed some movement near it.
Looking closer we saw busy ants going to and fro.
We followed the trail up, around a corner, and along the wall.
The trail zigged and zagged a bit, with all ants following those zigs and zags as if they had no choice.
The trail went over a doorway.
And around another corner
And along the top near the ceiling
And then it turned and went down.
Finally the trail ended in a tiny crack in the window-sill. This trail went more than 15m in length, along 3 walls of the kitchen.
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#6. No basements
Not only do houses here not have basements, but some have negative basements; that is, some of the houses are built on stilts. This is because Townsville is on a flood plain, and before the Ross River was dammed, it used to flood the town. Many people use the area under the house for storage space. In Canada, we use our basements for storage space. Why do we do this? If all we do is store stuff in it, then it would be much cheaper to build a house on stilts than to dig a basement.
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#7. Many kinds of eggs
In Canada we have large, medium and small. But if you like egg choice, come to Australia.
Your basic eggs. They tell you that the chickens are raised in cages.
Still cage eggs, but these are better – they are “environmental”.
Still cage eggs, but these are from a sunny farm.
These chickens have more freedom – the run of the barn. Stamp of approval by the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).
Also from the sunny farm, but these chickens have more freedom than a barn – free range.
Free- range eggs, but also “natural living”.
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#8. No pickups here
We haven’t heard the term “pickup trucks”. Rather they are called “utes”, for sport-utility vehicles. And, rather than the traditional (to us in Canada) pickup-truck back, they have what look like flat-beds with side rails.
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#9. Drive-thru booze
You don’t even have to get out of your ute to buy liquor in Australia. Just drive on through.
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#10. For men only
In Canada, urinals in public washrooms are individual. In Australia, there is one large trough, where men stand in a row to pee. Perhaps this is efficient – if many men need to go pee at the same time, they can just squeeze in together. Of course, you would need to make sure that your aiming hand isn’t jiggled by the guy cozying up next to you.
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Reference:
1. Cancer Council ACT. Skin Cancer in Australia. 2007. Accessed 10-Jun-2010. http://www.actcancer.org/sun-smart/skin-cancer.aspx
