Aussie This & That

It's coming to a close. Only 4 more days left of our Aussie Adventure! Thought I better get down on paper some of my thoughts on Australia.

Just like the Kiwis, Aussies are just the nicest people! When I have mentioned that to an Australian, they kind of get a smirk on their face like "hmmmm not ALL are nice". However, I guess we've been lucky then because everyone we have encountered has just been lovely.

Speaking of which, lovely is their word of the day. People are lovely. Things are lovely. Food is lovely. It's just kind of a lovely word, don't ya think?

I know I mentioned the NICE driving in relation to New Zealand, but it's like that in Australia too. (Again, I got that smirk from more than one Aussie when talking about nice driving.) Once you get past the "I'm driving on the wrong side of the road" thing, driving's not nearly as stressful! Maybe because they aren't in such a daggone hurry as we Americans always seem to be. They'll actually LET YOU INTO THEIR LANE! Wow! Isn't that refreshing? Even their road signs are nice. Instead of our Yield sign (which is just kind of a demand), theirs says Give Way. Just sounds nicer. They have lots and lots of "Stopping Bays" or "Resting Bays". These are just little pullouts on the highways, or motorways, where you could rest. They have many signs reminding you not to get tired while driving and then provide these Bays. Instead of passing lanes, they have Overtaking Lanes. I read signs that said Take Care as we entered a motorway which made me smile. 

We met an Australian couple, Karrie and Kaj, who enjoyed teaching me the Aussie way of saying things. I could never say any of it with their delicious accent, but I was getting the hang of "speaking Aussie". 

You should have seen the looks of horror on their face when we discussed biscuits! To them, biscuits are cookies (like my beloved Tim Tams). When we tried to explain biscuits and gravy, wow, I thought they would gag. The very next day we saw them at breakfast, took them up to the biscuits and gravy and they said, "Oh, scones!" Well, not really, but close........

Interesting use of the letters c, s and z. For example, we spell it "cozy". They spell it "cosy". I found that throughout every word that had those letters in them. I asked and was told theirs was based on the British. Same for colour and harbour. Guess we got rid of all things British in America!

Aussies call things by different names. For example, tomato sauce for ketchup; sunnies for sunglasses; bathers or togs for swimsuit; thongs for flip flops. We met an Australian who was moving to Nevada. She had never even been to the U.S., so we jokingly had American language lessons when we would see her. We did tell her what thongs are to us so that she didn't announce she was going to get her thongs in public! 

There are not so nice things in Australia, like Mozzies, aka known as mosquitoes. Oh, yea, those........

Basically they will tell you that they are lazy and just shorten every word possible. Like Macca's for McDonalds (which BTW are on every. single. street corner. Right along with Subway! We never ate at either!). Lollis for candy, not just suckers. Bundi for the city of Bundaberg, or Rocky for Rockhampton. 

We did a lot of walking on footpaths. Now that absolutely makes sense, doesn't it? 

Everything is "have a.....". Our friends would have a spa (go in the hot tub). Or have a game of cards, have a read. Our friends said once that they were going to have a nap. We were joking once and an Aussie said we were having a go (teasing). 

One of the funniest misunderstandings we had was at one of our AirBnBs. I learned that the host was a hairdresser. We were about halfway into our adventure, so I said, "Oh, maybe you could trim my bangs!"  She gave me the weirdest look, so I quickly said, "I would pay you, of course!" thinking she thought that I meant she should just do it, being our host and all. Still with the weird look......Hmmmmmm What's up with this? Then I must have gestured towards my bangs and she said, "Oooooooh, you mean your fringe!" Fringe was trimmed and we had a good laugh.