Impressions from Australia

Although I’ve been back from Australia for several days, I’m still in a fog of jet lag, prep for Thanksgiving, and re-entry into regular life, which at the moment is sadly punctuated by the increasing needs of my aging dad, who’s hit a rough patch.  Still, before too much time passes, I want to share some off-the-cuff impressions from my Australian adventure. This will be “low-hanging fruit” stuff; any thoughtful reflections I might be able to offer will have to wait until I have the head space to review my notes.  Then I hope to offer my handful of blog readers a little more depth than this entry contains.

I was expecting Australia to be a lot more familiar than it was.  I assumed that because of our shared British heritage (except Australia’s still a commonwealth), we’d be somewhat similar in language, outlook, and habits.  This was not the case. Or maybe I was just more attuned to looking for differences. Either way, they are a lot more British than we are, as well as being physically a part of Southeast Asia, which makes for a dynamic cultural and culinary space.

The difference in dialect is significant.  ‘Strayans love to shorten everything and put a “y” or “er” on the end (but they only pronounce “r’s” when they’re at the end of the word).  Their vernacular sounded awfully cute to me. Here’s some examples in order of US to AU (or “merica” to “straya”):

sweater: jump-ah (jumper)

yield: give way

exit: way out

napkin: serviette

snob or snobbish: poont-see (spelling?)

jerk: wank-ah (wanker)

to whine: winge

McDonald’s: Maccas

mosquito: mozzie

umbrella: brollie

appetizers: nibbles

awesome: bang On

okay: nah, yeah

no thanks: yeah, nah

If you want to sound Australian, say this sentence aloud: Nixt Sa-tuh-die ma mites n I fig-ah we’ll ‘ed to Bond-eye ‘t whoa-ch the sha-ak biscuits (or next Saturday my friends and I figure we’ll head to Bondai (Beach) to watch the boogie boarders (or could also be the people learning to surf).

On a different note, I didn’t understand how completely defining our American culture of individuality and independence is until being in Australia. They are simply so much more unified in their outlook.  They are on the same page, so to speak, as a country (of course, we’ve never been so divided…as one “bloke” said to me “Your president’s a real wank-ah, isn’t he?”).

All their school kids, public or private, wear school uniforms including hats (no hat, no play at recess).  Can you imagine the uproar in our country if all our school kids had to wear, as the Aussie’s say, “uni’s”? They also share the same grade level curricula and standards throughout all their states , even the private schools.  

When you pay at any store or restaurant, they hand over a brick-sized machine to tap (or swipe) without carrying your credit card away from the table, and these transactions are all processed by the same bank.  There’s little to no tipping; their wait staff earn a livable wage.

We still have to wait until 2020 for a woman’s face to grace U.S. bills, but each of their colorful denominations has the image of a woman on one side and a man on the other…no big deal to the Australians.  

They are quite satisfied with their universal health system and don’t grumble about their steeper taxes (at least not the people I spoke to who also exist on the affluent side of that equation).  

Lastly, many institutions and venues begin their days with either an “Acknowledgement of…” (when a non-indigenous person is presenting) or a “Welcome to…” (when an indigenous person is presenting) “… Country” in order to recognize the original custodians of the land upon which the business or event will occur.  When I visited the Indian Mound Burial sites in Mendota earlier this fall, the plaques don’t correctly or accurately acknowledge the Dakota, the original people of our Twin Cities area.

I’ll close with a few photos of one of my favorite moments from the trip: snorkeling with my son and travel companion between Shelly Beach and the Fairy Bower pool on Manly Beach.  Cheers!