I’d like to share a few culture shocks I experienced from my personal point of view.

• In Australia, people smiled at me, made comments, and started conversations without hesitation. In France, I’m used to strangers avoiding eye contact.

•I felt noticeably safer. I didn’t constantly check my bag or my surroundings. In France, especially in Paris, theft is more common.

• The relaxed attitude toward time. Things feel less rushed, and being a little late doesn’t carry the same stress as in France.

• Australian men felt kind and respectful toward women. In France, men often seem more focused on themselves and on appearance

• The beaches were absolutely beautiful. Clean, wide, and natural beaches in Australia feel open and peaceful.

• I noticed less history and art. Australia is a young country, while in France almost every street has history and culture.

• I noticed women dress very freely in Australia.Very short shorts and low cut tops are normal and accepted, while in France people are more likely to judge what feels “appropriate” for the street.

• The heat is no joke. It was really intense and took me about 3 days to adjust, but the sunshine is beautiful . In France, the weather often feels quite gloomy 😞

• Dinner time really surprised me. Australians tend to eat dinner quite early, around 6 or 7 pm, while in France we usually have dinner around 9 sometimes even 10 pm.

• My English accent isn’t very strong, but people were very patient. Australians tried to help, spoke more slowly, and made sure I understood. In France, people are very protective of the language and don’t like words being pronounced incorrectly.

I’d love to hear from Australians , do these observations make sense to you, or did I just experience Australia in a very tourist way?

Also I forgot to mention that I was honestly surprised to see people wearing sportswear everywhere, even in supermarkets and restaurants. At first, it felt unusual to me, but I later understood it as part of the relaxed lifestyle.

As the title says, my wife thinks fairy bread is bland and wasteful, I heartily point out that not only is it pleasing to the eye, it has the softness of fresh white bread, the mild saltiness of butter, the sweetness and crunch of 100's and 1000's and is as fundamental to a kid's birthday party as a cake or presents? By what magnitude am I more correct than her?

Edit: Thank you for the support everyone! I threw caution to the wind and made fairy bread regardless. When I busted it out to the whoops and cheers of the other parents, my wife knew she had made a grave miscalculation. However, I have never won a 'disagreement' before and the power dynamic in the relationship has shifted. Wish me luck, as I enter strange new territory in my marriage

Edit 2: I'm muting this because holy smokes... thank you to the people who understand a bit of tongue in cheek fun when they read it. Thanks for the upvotes and awards. Aplogies to those of you who took the post too seriously and/or didn't really read it properly. My wife and I have a great relationship and got a lot of good laughs out of people's responses.... now I'm off to educate her on the correct way to make a pie sandwich 😀

It seems she is now devastated she can't Copyright her "famous" bunny hop as her own invention! Retire....go away, disappear for ever please.

Dear Australia,

A few weeks ago my daughter (“M”) and I wrote a letter to the children in Australia: „My 4 year old is curious: what do Australian kids eat for breakfast? (And are koalas real?)“ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAustralian/s/wekxgJ9IKu

As I replied to one comment: “I initially hoped that we’d get a few cute koala anecdotes to talk about in the mornings. Now a whole continent decided to share their knowledge and kindness.”

More than a thousand people replied and we’ve received countless pictures and videos of koalas, kangaroos and many other animals. We tried to read them all and replied to as many as we could.

Several people even offered to send us packages with Australian treats. We were honestly a little hesitant about that, because we didn’t want to take advantage of anyone’s generosity. In the end curiosity got the better of us and we gratefully accepted a kind offer https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAustralian/s/biEsT2f4xf. This week an enormous package https://imgur.com/a/Ei6VSsT arrived in the mail, filled with Australian snacks and little surprises. It even contained a new koala plushie family member that received the high honor to sleep in M‘s bed. She named it „Koalan Lejon“ („lion the koala“ in Swedish, dad’s language), which I find hilarious.

So we decided to write a thank you letter to all the kind people of Australia who made that post such a wholesome corner of the internet and created a unique experience of cultural exchange for us.

Here is what we’ve learned:

- Children in Australia seem to have two clear breakfast (brekky) favourites: Vegemite and Weet-Bix. We were lucky enough to sample both this weekend, along with many of the other options that were mentioned and that u/zenkitty999 generously sent us.

- M enthusiastically approved of the “Eeetbix”, Nutri Grain, Coco Pops, and especially Milo.

- When it comes to Vegemite, she and dad both agree with the people who claimed that it might be an acquired taste. (Mum liked the Vegemite avocado toast that many recommend though!)

- We’re still unsure about yogurt (M’s initial guess) though. Some people said that it’s never an option and some people seem to regularly have it for breakfast (or lunch?). We think that Australia is huge so there might naturally be a large variety of options and opinions.

- A surprising number of people claimed that Australians eat koalas for breakfast, and we didn’t quite know what to make of that at first. But then we learned about drop bears, and now we think it might be the other way around?

- Australian children apparently see the occasional koala, but it still seems to be special for many people. We were really happy about all the pictures we received. One kind lady shared a video of a koala hopping around in a tree - we didn’t know that they could hop like that!

- Kangaroos seem to be more common. Apparently your best chance to see a kangaroo is to attend a funeral or play golf?

- But breakfast and koalas were only the beginning. Along the way we also learned about wallabies, wombats (and their funny poo), quokkas (one of our new favourites!), echidnas, dolphins, snakes, penguins, cockatoos, magpies, laughing kookaburras, bin chickens, the lyre bird, and many other cool animals. The platypus was especially hard to explain.

- We learned about life in cities, in the bush, and on islands. We learned about water tanks, huge farms called stations, and even pedal radios used to attend school!

Some people had questions for us, so here are our answers:

- M likes to eat dinosaur muesli and pancakes with apple sauce for breakfast. (The muesli brand is infamous in Germany for its very terrible commercials https://youtu.be/NtLD-L_P9tg?si=pmevvCJlQuyGvyj7, but the muesli itself has nice tiny chocolate flakes, so we like it nonetheless.)

- The wildlife we see in Berlin are mainly pigeons and sparrows. But there is also the occasional very cute red squirrel. There are even foxes and wild boars in the city. The coolest ones, however, are the dinosaurs https://imgur.com/a/QtHqgpy in one of our zoos. (Berlin has two of many things because of the former wall. We’ve even got a couple of opera houses but none near as fancy as yours.)

- We have watched Bluey (“Bloobie”) which is quite popular in many European countries. M watches it in Swedish, so we didn’t even realise they had an Aussie accent! I think it’s excellent. Dogs are M‘s favourite animals but unfortunately she prefers that show with the machines („pah-patwol“). We did learn about Blue Heelers though, after some kind people shared pictures and stories of their dog friends.

M and I are still frequently discussing what the children in Australia might be doing, and now we both feel much more confident making informed guesses while munching on a Timtam and having another look at some of your pictures.

Thank you all for sharing a slice of your lives with us. One day we will come visit. M is even more convinced than before that we should go tomorrow, but unfortunately that might require a little more planning.

Danke schön and tack så mycket from a Berlin that is slowly warming with spring, and even more with all the kindness you shared with us.

Sincerely,

Mara and M :-)

Ps: unfortunately it’s impossible to share pictures or make hyperlinks here so I left some URLs where I planned to post them. I hope it works!

In Asia, I found they didn’t swear that casually. When I was in Canada, they didn’t swear that much too.

In Australia so far (Sydney wise)… they use the c and f word for everything under the sun.

• When a mate says he is better than someone at footy , other guy goes “mate, stop talking s*hit”

• When someone likes an risky idea “that’s a f*ked up idea but let’s do it “

• When people mean business… “let’s go f*k some things up”

• When people don’t like a song … “mate , that’s a shit song, change “.

• When its going to a fun night.. "This is going to a F*kn wild night."

Seems like the F and S word is the favourite word here.

Anyone born after 2008 will never be able to buy cigarettes or tobacco. Should Aus do the same?

For me, it has to be Americans that say they'd never come to Australia because of the deadly wildlife. Because you know, our 32 Animal Related deaths per year is vastly scarier than their 40,000 yearly deaths from Gun Violence.

My workmates are Australian and were using weird phrases as I highlighted Would love to know if we are being pranked by the Australians at my office. Please help : r/AskAnAustralian Thanks to you all I have told them that the food they were eating looked drier than a dead dogs dinger, that I couldnt attend a meeting because I was flat out like a lizard drinking, and when one was presenting I gave feedback that he wasnt the sharpest tool in the shed but he gave it a fair shake of the sauce bottle. They know Ive had some help, but they didnt know it was from the whole of Australia. You are all absolute legends and fair dinkum. Love you all, thanks

Seriously almost NO one is talking about this.

I mean holy shit they found that dozens of tested beef mince packets contained horse meat.

or that almost 60 percent of Leggos tomato sauce is chinese when it's clearly labled as Australian.

I mean i found it bonkers we have no actuall body govermentally that actually checks that shit that's wild.

I have been living in Australia for a while now and something still catches me off guard almost every day. Random people talk to you. At the servo. At the beach. In the lift. Waiting for coffee. It is never deep but it is constant. A comment about the weather. A joke about the line taking forever. A quick chat that ends with no names exchanged and everyone moving on.

Back home this would feel strange or forced. Here it feels normal. Sometimes even expected. I have had full conversations with people I will never see again and somehow it does not feel awkward. It feels easy.

What I cannot figure out is whether this is just politeness or if Australians actually enjoy these small interactions. Is it about being friendly or just filling the silence. Do people genuinely care or is it more of a social reflex.

I also notice that it does not usually turn into anything more. You laugh. You nod. You go on with your day. No pressure. No follow up.

Is this something you grow up learning here or is it just part of the culture without anyone really thinking about it. And do Australians notice when someone does not play along with it?

Dear Australia,

I am writing from Europe as a mom with a curious 4 year old.

My daughter is fascinated by Australia, mainly because of kangaroos and koalas. We talked about them a while ago, and that somehow led to conversations about how when the sun goes down here, it is morning for you, and when we wake up, you are already well into your day.

Since then, this has become part of our daily routine.

In the evening, she asks what the children in Australia are doing.

In the morning, she asks again, because now it is your turn to go to sleep. I try my best to give answers but what do I know?

Recently, her questions have become very specific, so I suggested that we could write a letter to the children in Australia and ask them.

So here it is.

We would really love to know:

What do children in Australia usually eat for breakfast? Her guess is yoghurt but I think that can’t be all.

She is also very curious about animals and keeps asking whether children in Australia actually see kangaroos or koalas, or if that is something rare. If you feel like sharing pictures of breakfast or koalas you’ve seen, that would be a wonderful bonus.

Thank you so much for reading and replying.

Warm greetings from freezing Berlin

Edit: We're really grateful for the wonderful feedback this received. Here's an update with all we've learned https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAustralian/comments/1rnehqj/update_my_4_year_old_was_curious_and_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

I’m from Sweden and I partially grew up in Australia (qld). I’ve also lived in France. I would like to begin by saying that I like Australia and Australians, and I hope I don’t come across as offensive. This is just one aspect of Australian society.

In my experience, people in Australia tend to not value education so much. When they do, it’s usually because it leads to a higher-paying job. Knowledge for the sake of knowing is not really valued, the dominating idea being that education only matters if it can be capitalised.

Maybe I exaggerate a bit, but it’s a kind of sentiment I’ve often come across in Australian society. When I was in high school in aus I was kind of bookish, and often felt estranged from other students because of that. It was hard to find people who were interested in literature, poetry and even politics. Very few read books in their free time.

My experience in Sweden (and France) has been vastly different. These are by no means perfect countries and everyone definitely aren’t academic people, but people are in general more intellectually, culturally and politically engaged.

Do you agree with me or not? If you do, what do you think the root cause is?

So I was having a conversation with some co workers today, somehow the subject of bottled water came up. I mentioned I just drink tap water and they looked at me and interrogated me like I was some sort of savage (I am a bit of a savage but I didn't think my water drinking habits were relevant to my savagery) .

These people will only drink bottled water or at the very least avoid tap water unless absolutely necessary.

How many of you are like this? For reference I'm an unc millennial from Melbourne.

I feel like I'm going to be in the minority here. Prove me wrong fellow tap water drinkers.

Ok I might offend some people with it but I am disgusted over this. I work in an office job where all staff makes over 100k/year, all of them are highly skilled but when it comes to basic manners boy they suck.

Our kitchen sink is always filled or half filled with dirty dishes (Dishwasher is right next to sink). Our toilets are filled with unflushed shit or toilet papers. People leave their dirty dishes on desks for someone else to pick up the next day and list goes on.

I understand we dont always have time but how hard it is to flush after you poo or pee. Why are we lacking basic etiquettes? Do highly skilled people behaves like this?

Look I get it, they want people to have more kids. But isn't dental kind of more important? Dental is a vital thing for health and wellbeing.

Kids are optional most of the time and is often a personal choice.

Anytime i hear it i cringe so hard, surely in not the only one?

Hey everyone! I’m a 26-year-old from South Florida who just spent a little over a week in Sydney (plus a side trip to the Blue Mountains), and I’m still processing how different everything felt compared to home.

I’m from Miami—a major coastal city like Sydney—but the vibe couldn’t be more different. Where Miami is flashy, materialistic, and go-go-go, Sydney felt laid-back, functional, and grounded. People seemed way more chill, there was a sense of trust (the honor system? like paying for gas after you pump, wild to me), and daily life just felt less cutthroat. Even the way people drive was more respectful, and I was shocked that my hotel didn’t even charge me till after checkout.

I noticed so many things: • No tipping culture because wages are fair • Measured liquor pours • Little to no violent crime • Transit that works • The outdoors culture being so strong • No bill brought to the table—you go up and pay at the front It really felt like society was designed to support people, not burn them out.

So I’ve got a few questions for you all: 1. Do Australians feel that difference? Do you notice your society being less cutthroat or does it just feel normal to you? 2. Are there any things you admire about the U.S., or wish Australia had? 3. How aware are you of how life works in the U.S.? Do people generally follow American culture or politics closely?

Thanks for reading—honestly I loved it so much I’m now seriously considering doing a working holiday or skilled visa route soon. Y’all are doing something right.

I’m your average Aussie on average 100k salary I work my 9-5 pay $800 week rent for a crap 3x1 in a “previously low income suburb”

With the recent and continuous cost of living pressures lack of housing blah blah

Why don’t we riot in the streets at our governments like the Europeans do?

I feel like we just accept fate and don’t retaliate.

Short story: we met on a dating app and on the first date he says that he’s Anglo-Australian and goes back to the first fleet before it even occurred to me to ask anything about his heritage. Is this a common way to introduce or describe oneself?

(More detail: He’s from South Australia so probably not of convict heritage. Actually: VERY VOCALLY NOT OF CONVICT HERITAGE. Offended at the question and repeated that he’s NOT three times when asked! I now see, thanks to the power of Reddit, there’s a discrepancy between when SA was settled and his story.)

EDIT BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE ASKING: I don’t think “bogan” is the story here. No signs of it in appearance and bogans also don’t brag about private school, right?

I know i shouldn't laugh at someones misfortune

But fuck em realtors are the laziest people i can think of in australian society they don't add any real value to the nation.

All act like entitled toss pots.

so it's sort of heartening to see them having a sook every day on the news about how it's been the worst few months for them selling homes in years.

And i mean shit they are having a cry at a barely 3 percent correction have a sook cunts

Like it's fucking karma boners... i deal with this pricks all the time...

Hows that Leased Range rover treating u now dickhead.

I'm a long time reddit lurker and I made an account just to ask this question.

My new roommate is from Australia and he said that people carry portable sirens in their cars because Australia is so desolate and has ambulance shortages. When people need to urgently get themselves or a loved one to the hospital for medical care, they can place the siren on their car to cut through the traffic. He said you are allowed to break traffic laws with the siren on and other cars must yield for you. He also said there are massive fines in place (~10k) if you misuse your siren.

However, upon googling this stuff up, I am unable to find any information about it. Is my roommate just trolling me?

So I've been solo travelling around Tasmania and had one of the strangest travel experiences I’ve ever had in Queenstown.

I checked into the Empire Hotel in Queenstown planning to stay the night after driving from Strahan. The weather was awful, low cloud, drizzle, dark, barely anyone around. The off-season and I think I was the only tourist. But there was just something about the atmosphere of the town that got to me almost immediately.

Nothing happened. Nobody was unfriendly. I wasn’t unsafe. But within about two hours I suddenly had this overwhelming urge to leave right away. There was something telling me that I COULD NOT stay the night.

I packed my stuff back into the car and drove the 4 hours all the way back to Hobart in the dark. I didn't stop once and kept one eye on the rearview mirror. The Lyell Highway was equally unsettling.

It’s hard to explain properly. The whole place just felt incredibly heavy. There was a weight. An intensity. The energy.

I’ve travelled a lot, including some pretty remote parts of the world, and I’ve never had a town affect me like that before. I've never felt the urge to leave somewhere I've booked.

Am I imagining this or do other Tasmanians/Australians know exactly what I mean about Queenstown?

Also, before anyone says it, it’s not that I’m uncomfortable with small towns or remote places. I live in a pretty small remote town myself in North America and have spent a lot of time in isolated areas. I'm also NOT at all superstitious.

EDIT: this is my first Reddit post and I’m surprised it’s received such attention. Just to clarify, I live in a remote isolated misty non-touristy mountain town in the moody Pacific Northwest, not a city dweller as some have assumed here. It wasn’t simply the weather and atmosphere. It was a feeling.

Forgive my late night rambling. But who tf do you talk to all day on the phone? Genuinely curious. Is it your mum ? Your spouse? Friends? How do you not run out of things to say ?