People don't really smoke here. Some of course still do, but it is much more of a rarity than in the USI have seen and been told. Smoking became "not cool" very quickly according to my friend Jack as the government's public service campaign was very effective 20+ years ago.
Electricity consumption seems to always be at the front of Australian's minds (or at least with the people I've been meeting!) Plugging in a laptop in a cafe, turning on the vacuum to kill ants (mini invasion when we spilled coke at the vacation rental!), and the usage of clothes dryers have all sparked conversations. Almost all the houses/apartments I've stayed at so far only have washing machines. Everyone line dries! Like everyone!
Suburbs here are like Park Ave in Rochester. They do call the ones right by the city inner suburbs, but their building density is so different than ours. I spent some time on my first Friday in a "suburb" called Prahan right next to South Yarra and to me it felt wayyyy more like Brooklyn than Penfield. We drove the 2 hours to the vacation rental on Philip Island and at about 1.5 hours outside of Melbourne it started to look a bit more like American suburbs at least density-wise. I really never saw new development tracts though. I described how their suburbs couldn't really be our suburbs because theirs still had public transport reaching them (train, tram, and buses all come out to Prahan) and they had sidewalks. Same applies in Sydney. Surry Hills is right beside the CBD, but is called a suburb. I asked why and it seems to have more to do with the lifestyle in the area that makes it a suburb. Suburbs are just simply more residential though they still have plenty of commercial. So just more residential apartments than the city. So basically anything outside of the skyscraper packed CBD is a suburb... Except Chinatown. I checked. So Dad's neighborhood in the Browncroft area would definitely be classified as a suburb by Australian standards.
People know how to parallel park here. And are really good at it. For being a girl who doesn't care at all for cars and who gets turned off when guys speed (which Australian men seem to do a lot of), I have to say I find it very sexy when guys can fit a pick up truck into a space I can't even fit my Prius in on their first try. I am pretty envious...but really not enough to get me to practice more... Just enough to make me look forward to the day when I don't need a car. My hubcaps on my Prius are already pretty scratched up from failed attempts!
Driving in the dark between Victoria and New South Wales (i.e. melbourne to sydney) will likely be one of the most memorable moments of the trip. I have never seen so many constellations pop out. I don't even know them all, but it was clear where they were because they were so bright. Brightest night sky I have EVER seen. Every star was shining brighter than I have ever seen before. I made them stop the car so we could all have a look. I also checked myself out of the conversation later in the backseat saying I was going to try to sleep but really I just wanted to listen to my iPod and stare up at the night sky more. Sooo enormous.
And speaking of the sky... There is no north star here so I have gotten a lesson in finding the southern cross several times now! So neat!
One thing I do not like about Australia is the severe lack of pedestrian crossings. Unless there are actual painted white stripes in the intersection or at the end of the sidewalk before a road crossing, it is not a true crossing and pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way! Stop signs are few and far between from what I've seen so a car approaching a T in the road likely won't come to a full stop when turning left (their "right") so you had better not be in the way! Pedestrians do not have the right of way and as a person with the opposite mentality solidly cemented in place after 5 years at Cornell, this just drives me bonkers!!
The world is a pretty small place. I saw a fan wearing a Buffalo Bills hat at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) when we went to attend a footy game (Australian rules football). I approached smiling and asked if he was from Buffalo, and he said no, but that he had just chosen to support the Bills for awhile! (with an Australian accent!)
And the world is still smaller! Someone who I met on Philip Island at a party on my first Saturday turned out to be standing in front of us in line for a bar/club on the next Thursday night! That doesn't even happen to me in Tampa, but in a city where I knew fewer than 20 people it happened in the first week!
Toilets. The word leaves nothing to the imagination. But that is what they are called here. Not restrooms, not bathrooms, not facilities, and not even the loo. I get weird looks when I ask where the restrooms are so I've started to say toilet too and I feel dirty each time. It's just not lady-like enough for me.
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