Ah, Australia… A wonderful place where everything, down to the weather, will sooner or later try to kill you. And only the most prepared will be able to overcome all difficulties, and the best preparation is to learn from the mistakes and experience of others. Therefore, we suggest you read the revelations of Reddit users who have visited the Green Continent and answered the question: “What is the most amazing thing you have met in Australia?”.
“I used to think that the best days of my life would be associated with marriage, children, maybe career success. And then, while visiting my brother in Perth, I saw a pelican flying right at the baby’s head. Game over».
“The fact that the Australians started a war with emus in the 1930s and lost it.”
“I’m an arachnophobe, I’ve been in Australia for two weeks and I haven’t seen a single spider.”
“Penguins. Who would have thought that little Australian penguins were running around there? It amazed me.”
“Absolutely everyone I met was happy. I came from Glasgow, Scotland, and it was a huge cultural shock for me.”
“How incredibly loud the birds sing in the morning (cockatoos and magpies, I still liked your angry cries in the end). And also the fearlessness of parrots. Their bright colors and the apparent lack of a fight-or-flight instinct led me to think that these parrots probably don’t have predators at all. Rosellas (in Canberra) and rainbow lorikeets (in Sydney) just landed next to me and ate out of my hand. It was magical.”
“Colorful flocks of birds. I fell off my bike for the first time when a flock of rozelle parrots flew past me.”
“An ice cream called Golden Gay Time. I was 13, and I couldn’t help but send photos to all my friends.”
“COFFEE SHOPS. God, I was pleasantly surprised. I lived in Sydney for one semester, and wow, your coffee shops are seriously awesome. There were great drinks and delicious food everywhere. I can hardly find coffee shops like you have in every block in the whole city.”
“Beetroot in burgers. Why?” The answer: “I am almost sure that it is written in our Constitution. Besides, it’s the only way to make sure we’re definitely going to eat it.”
“Banter. Australians are surprisingly witty and have a wonderful sense of humor. In addition, they tend to have a rather dark, cheeky taste in jokes. Ironically, Australian comedians are much less funny than the people you meet on the street.”
“I remember getting off the plane and noticing that all the colors were different. It’s as if the sun has become brighter and the sky is bluer (perhaps because we left Germany in winter, and it’s summer in Australia at this time), but also the silvery-green color of eucalyptus — we don’t have that color.”
“The fact that you can get badly burned in the sun in winter. I am a Canadian living in Australia.”
“Before I came to Western Australia, I knew it was going to be huge and hot. However, I was not prepared for the fact that it would be so HUGE and so HOT. Frogs in the toilet turned out to be another surprise, and the increase in the number of frogs when flushing was an even bigger surprise. Because of the frogs, you couldn’t even see the water.”
“I’m an astronomer —the moon is here backwards! In the northern hemisphere, when the Moon grows, it fills from right to left, and when it wanes, it moves in the same direction. But in Australia, the growing crescent begins on the left. It took me a second or two to figure out exactly what I was seeing, and I was just thrilled when I realized why it was happening like this.”
“The absence of kangaroos. I was convinced that kangaroos are just roaming the streets here.” Answer: “You obviously haven’t been to Canberra…”
“Cakes. Everywhere. And this is not a claim.”
“I visited Australia for the first time last year (I’m from New Zealand) for Soundwave (music festival, if anyone doesn’t know). When it began to get dark, bats began to hover around as if nothing had happened. It seemed so strange to me, because in New Zealand you can only see seagulls and pigeons. Bats belong in zoos/caves/jungles/forests, not in cities. Damn you, Australia, you’re creepy.”
“Flies! Flies are everywhere!”
“How incredible is your wine!”
“The fact that almost the entire population lives near the coast. The center [of Australia] is huge and deadly. I don’t know why, but my brain explodes when I see photos with these signs that warn, they say, the next gas station is p***c how far away, so be ready or you’ll die.” Answer: “You have to live on the edge, because there is no water anywhere else. No rain, nothing.”
“My friend recently moved there from Texas and says she was most shocked by how much Australian millennials love the Simpsons.”
“For me (the German), the most surprising thing upon arrival was how frivolously Australians behave with local wildlife. A bunch of small jellyfish in the water near Sydney Harbour? The guy goes into the water, takes one with both hands and comes up to us: “Guys, I haven’t seen these before, does anyone know what kind of jellyfish this is?”».
“I moved to Australia from New Zealand at the age of 14, and what I remember most is how amazed I was at how huge the sky seemed, because compared to where I came from, the earth was incredibly flat and vast. The horizon stretches for an infinity!”
“In the first days after my arrival, I went to buy more suitable shoes and was sure that the saleswoman was flirting with me. I bought something else at another store and flirted again. Another store and the same thing. Turns out they’re not flirting. They’re just very friendly on their own. They smiled and showed interest in me only because that’s how it’s supposed to be here. As a result, I got a job where I had to go house to house selling things, and I was amazed at how rarely people sent me.”
“A liquor store with a cash register for servicing motorists.”
“Australian surfers… My God, my eyes have never seen anything better in my life.”
“I came to Australia from Hong Kong as an exchange student. The first cultural shock I experienced was that Australians often walk barefoot or in flip-flops, I never expected to see so many toes on the streets.”
Australia has the largest population of wild camels and camels are exported from here to Saudi Arabia.
“There is more snowfall in the Australian Alps than in the whole of Switzerland.”
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