There are a lot of little things about Australia that have been funny, frustrating, and interesting.

Words

We’ve gotten the biggest kick out of picking up on Aussie lingo.  I couldn’t help but take pictures of some of my favorites.  They just seem so funny to me that I can’t help but laugh when ever I see or hear them.

• Pram = Stroller
• Trolley = Shopping cart
• Lift = Elevator
• Cheers = Thanks
• Nappie = Diaper
• Jumper = Sweater or jacket
• Brekky = Breakfast
• Footy = Australian football

A common phrase people use is, “How you going?”  This obviously means how’s it going or how are you doing but it sounds so funny to me.  I’ve been disappointed by the lack of “mate” and “g’day” but maybe that’s just regional?

I’ve also noticed that cars have different names here.  Like a Toyota Highlander is called a Kluger.

Food

For the most part, food is pretty much the same here as it is in the US.  There are a few differences though that we’ve gotten a kick out of.  On Easter, the hotel in Sydney had a huge assortment of candy in the lounge.  It was fun to try new candies that we don’t have at home.  And hello, Lindt chocolate, where have you been all my life?  I know I’ve had it a few times before but there is a Lindt store next to our hotel (that we’ve been to more times than I would like to admit) and lets just say Hershey and I are breaking up.  It’s time to see other (less gritty) people.

Dairy product taste different to me.  The milk and cheese leave a different after taste that I’m not really a fan of.  Good, clean ingredient yogurt is easy to find so that’s a win.  And thickened cream, where have you been??  So good on strawberries and bananas!

Cilantro is called coriander, which I guess is technically the same thing but threw me for a loop when I was searching for it at the grocery store.  Bell peppers are called capsicum and there aren’t any concord grape raisins or grape jelly, only sultanas (which i think are from golden grapes).

I have become obsessed with ketchup chips!  Yes, ketchup!  Which is surprising they even have them here because instead of ketchup it’s tomato sauce, but they are so tasty.  I may have to bring back a suitcase full.  Andrew is his mother’s child and loves a brand of sour cream and onion chips they have here and I must admit they taste lots better than Lay’s.

Mexican food….oh how I’ve been missing Tex Mex and queso and tacos.  We found a good back up though called Guzman y Gomez.  Not quite the same but it fills the lonely Tex Mex hole in our stomachs.

Melbourne has an ah-mazing selection of restaurants.  I had some mushroom and chicken risotto from a legit Italian restaurant (like I even know what that means lol) and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  Our favorite pizza place (I’m looking at you, +39 Pizzeria) has truffle honey and cheese that is to die for and chili infused olive oil that is out of this world.  I could go on an on about the restaurants here, but I’ll save that for another day.

The biggest disappointment has been Australia’s lame gluten free game.  The stores have options but they literally all taste like nasty cardboard.  I bought gf cookies that were so gross that Alex wouldn’t even eat them and that’s saying something!  Most restaurants have gluten free options (like buns, crust, pasta, etc) so I can’t complain about that but they have not figured out gf sweets.  Donuts, muffins, biscuits, etc have all been super nasty.  Poor me 🙂

Money

We mostly just use our credit cards, but the boys have enjoyed the kangaroo money (just coins with kangaroos) and think it’s cool that there are $1 and $2 coins.

Appliances/Electricity

I still have not completely figured out what all of the pictures on the oven mean but I’ve figured out how to bake and broil so it’s all good.  We have a tiny, little washer/dryer unit in our apartment which is actually pretty handy because I don’t have to remember to switch things over to the dryer or rewash stinky things that I’ve forgotten about.  The light switches still annoy me!  Down is on and up is off!  We have a handy converter for our electronics but I always forget to flip the switch to make the outlet work.