Rental prices, portion sizes and cafe scene: TikTok star shares realities of Australian life

A social media influencer has revealed five culture shocks she experienced when she first moved to Australia. FULL DETAILS

A Gold Coast TikTok star has revealed the five culture shocks she faced when she moved from Canada to Australia.

Ioana, originally from Montreal in Canada, shared her views on Australian life through her @ioanaonthecoast TikTok account.

The influencer said the first culture shock came when she first moved to Australia and thought rental prices were monthly, not weekly.

'Um no, they're weekly.' TikTok star Ioana describes how the price of rentals was a major culture shock for her. Picture: @ioanaonthecoast

Ioana describes her dislike of Canada's portion sizes. Picture: @ioanaonthecoast

“I’m from Montreal where sometimes you could get places as low as $600 a month,” she said.

“Rental prices in Australia are crazy unaffordable.

“I live on the Gold Coast now and it’s not much cheaper it’s actually on par with Melbourne at the moment so yeah.”

Ioana praised Australia’s “balanced” portion sizes compared to Canada.

“Portion sizes in Australia are a lot more balanced, a lot less gross,” she said.

“I actually had reverse culture shock when I went back home a month ago because I had breakfast in Montreal and this was literally what they served me and I didn’t even get the whole breakfast in the photo.”

The third culture shock was Australia’s coffee.

“Australia has some of the best coffee I’ve ever had in my entire life,” she said.

“The cafe culture here is insane.

“I’m from Montreal where the cafe culture isn’t that bad but yeah North American filter coffee can suck it.”

'No one should be eating this much food.' Picture: @ioanaonthecoast

The influencer said food served on the Gold Coast made more sense. Picture: @ioanaonthecoast

Ioana said it was “pretty cool” to not have to tip but the bigger culture shock came from the cost of living.

“Everyone is kind of paid a living wage,” she said.

“The median salary is a lot higher than in North America and that’s why the cost of living is much higher because people make a lot more money.”

The last culture shock? The freedom to not wear shoes.

“I think this is more of a Queensland thing but being barefoot everywhere,” she said.

“I can’t talk because I was literally barefoot walking to my car, but Queenslanders love to walk barefoot everywhere.

“I’ve seen people half naked at the store just in their bikinis, uh barefoot, dripping everywhere and no one has said anything.”

What do you think?