American Visits Australia

[catcul]

32 Things Every American Thinks When Visiting Australia The First Time

I'll keep these in mind if/when I ever go to Australia.

To be fair, in North Carolina, USA, ...


Lowe's Hardware Store


Lowes Foods Grocery Store

[fireheart]

Aussie here

And of that list:

2. Yes, it does get HOT. It's not uncommon for some parts to be around 40C+ in summer.
3. That's an ibis/heron. I see plenty of them in the creek across the street from my house
4. Because they only come out at night
5. There have been very few deaths due to a spider bite in the last 30-odd years or so.
8. While bogans and rednecks do have a lot in common, bogans generally don't give two shits about someone's sexuality or similar unless there's alcohol involved.
9. They also sell for like $1 in summer.
10. A lot of the bar/hotels WERE actually hotels in a past life and some still are today.
12. We do have a Kmart and a Target, neither of which have links to their American counterparts
15. LIES!!! ALL LIES!!!! (Vegemite is yummy!) 17 is sort of delicious, but not nearly as great. Especially on hot days.
18 and 19 are OMG HELL FREAKING YES THEY ARE YUMMY. Especially the Double Coat Tim Tams....*Drools*
20. Has absolutely no link to baseball. The only thing they have in common with each other is a bat, a bowler and a catcher. That's about it.
21. There are gridiron clubs in Aussieland. Rugby is much more dirtier and played with less padding.
22. is Thunderdome?
28. That is Karl Stefanovic and the Today show is one of those "early morning" TV shows designed to appeal to the unemployed, stay-at-home/work-at-home parents and teenagers home from school on a sick day
31. Adelaide is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH easier to navigate. All hail Colonel Light and his idea of a planned city .

[catcul]

Aussie here

22. is Thunderdome?

That comes from the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, a movie that stars Mel Gibson and Tina Turner. It's an Australian film that has the tag line, "Two men enter; one man leaves."

[lordlundar]

I laugh with 21. Rugby like American football? Not even close. American Football players would get killed in a Rugby match.

And I still can't for the life of me understand why Australia is so proud of Vegemite.

[cindybubbles]

Love #31, though!

[fireheart]

That comes from the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, a movie that stars Mel Gibson and Tina Turner. It's an Australian film that has the tag line, "Two men enter; one man leaves."

Ah. And no I have not seen that film (I know of its origins).

AFL could best be described as "clean" rugby-in a way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football

There's 18 teams in the league across the country. Generally you say that you "barrack" for a certain team, since "root" has its own connotations. I used to follow the Adelaide Crows when I was a kid, but stopped following it after a while.

There's a pre-season match (called the NAB cup) and then the actual season runs from March-September. During that time, footy tipping is common and popular in a number of places including offices, betting agencies and even schools!
Each week 9 games are played and you pick the winners for those games. The highest score for that week wins a prize (or the money) and the winner at the end of the season wins a bigger prize (or the money if they decide not to go with a week-by-week scheme).

*if classes are doing it, money is typically not involved. Instead students win a prize that week. I somehow came first for 3 straight weeks in a row based purely on luck

[MoonCat]

Hey, we could use the middle picture on #27 here!!

Also, there might be a lot of old men in speedos down there, but holy hell some of the football players... What do you feed those boys??

[lilo]

Ha, the toilet door in 27 is at my local. That sign is now proudly displayed behind the bar.

[Sheldonrs]

...It's an Australian film that has the tag line, "Two men enter; one man leaves."

I use that same tag line. ;-)

[XCashier]

This list makes me want to visit Australia even more! I love a country with a good sense of humor about themselves.

The map of Sydney is not unlike the map of my town. We think the city planners were on an acid trip when they laid out the streets.

Tim-Tams look absolutely delicious. I'm sure the lemonade is also.

#5 is scary (though the caption is hilarious). But I like bats and weird birds.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

holy hell some of the football players... What do you feed those boys??

Vegemite, of course!

[dalesys]

Vegemite, of course!

AKA Beer Soup Residue.
[/TP - XXXX The Last (In)Continent]

[fireheart]

This list makes me want to visit Australia even more! I love a country with a good sense of humor about themselves.

The map of Sydney is not unlike the map of my town. We think the city planners were on an acid trip when they laid out the streets.

Adelaide was actually designed as a "planned city" so the streets are laid out in a particular way. It hasn't stopped the planners from making it almost impossible to navigate said planned city easily (due partially to the tramline running dead centre)

Tim-Tams look absolutely delicious. I'm sure the lemonade is also.

If you've ever heard of the term "pub squash", then you've tried Aussie lemonade . Solo is DELICIOUS though...

[catcul]

34 Reasons Australia Is The Most Beautiful Place On Earth

Those photographs are amazing, even the lake that looks like Pepto Bismol.

[Dentarthurdent]

Adelaide was actually designed as a "planned city" so the streets are laid out in a particular way. It hasn't stopped the planners from making it almost impossible to navigate said planned city easily (due partially to the tramline running dead centre)

One of the worst cities (albeit a very small one) with a street grid I've driven in is Calumet, MI. It looks like this. You may have to zoom out a level or two to see it. Basically there were 4 separate mining towns that grew together in an amorphous blob. One of the city planners followed the angle of the peninsula this city is located on. One of them went counter to the angle of it. The planner for Calumet proper actually went with a street grid following the cardinal directions. The resultant map has been compared to a butterfly smashed on a windshield.

The best (?) part is that Calumet, Laurium, and the other two sections (if memory serves they're called Red Jacket and Blue Jacket) each have their own versions of the same numbered street names. So it's not enough to specify 3rd Street, Calumet, since Calumet is understood in local vocabulary to refer to BOTH Calumet and Laurium.

My hometown (well, not really, but I was born and went to college there) of Grand Rapids had a similar scuffle between street designers, but luckily, only a very small portion of downtown is at a 45-degree angle to everything else.