Five unique Aussie things that have shocked British expat
A British woman living in Melbourne has laid out all the things about Australia that have left her baffled or bemused.
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Despite the many similarities Australia shares with the UK, there are still a plethora of traits that are uniquely Aussie according to one British expat.
Robyn Turner, a Brit who currently lives in Melbourne, shared the top five Aussie things that have shocked her on her viral TikTok series, “Australian things that send me into a coma as a Brit”.
And top of her hit list was the classic Aussie goon bag.
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“You can get boxed wine in the UK but it is not the same here, it is cheap and it tastes like acid … it’s perfect if you’re backpacking or you’re like a teen or uni student. Apart from that, I would not drink it,” she said.
Number two was that all-encompassing word: Lollies. The Brit said the fact that all sweet confectionery is labelled as lollies, and not just lollipops, “threw me off”.
She was also taken aback by the fact we don’t have one or two cent pieces, making our wallets lighter but also meaning purchases get rounded up or down to the nearest five cent.
“If you’re buying something that is 1.98 or 1.99, you will be paying two dollars if you’re buying in cash. Card, you’re fine, but with cash you’ll be getting rounded up to nearest 5 cent,” she explained to her viewers.
And while Australians may quibble from state to state over the correct term for them, the takeaway favourite potato scallop/potato cake, was praised by the expat, who described the greasy treat as “phenomenal”.
“They are amazing, so good, my mum’s cousins introduced them to me and they are phenomenal, I love them so much,” she said.
In previous videos, the Brit has also talked about seeing Aussies walk through a supermarket barefoot, saying: “You’ll never catch anyone that wasn’t on a beach with bare feet in the UK.”
Ms Turner said she lived in Sydney when she first moved to Australia, with the city’s hot summer days reaching up to 42C getting a special mention from her.
“It wiped me out, it absolutely killed me.”
She was also perplexed at the Australian postal system, perhaps not quite realising the huge distances parcels need to travel when compared to her home country.
“What do you mean next day delivery is not really a thing?” she said in a video.
Originally published as Five unique Aussie things that have shocked British expat