US expat lists things she wishes she knew before moving to Australia

An American expat who moved to Melbourne has revealed the local traits she wished she’d known before arriving Down Under.

An American expat who moved to Melbourne three years ago has revealed the quirky local traits she wished she’d known before arriving Down Under.

18-year-old Lara Fourie moved to Victoria with her family and while she enjoys some of the changes of her new home town, not everything about the move has been welcomed.

Ms Fourie lists expensive avocados and men with long hair as some of her qualms.

”One thing I first noticed is that a lot of the guys have long hair. In America you don’t see that,” she said in her Tik Tok video.

“You very rarely see a guy with hair past his chin but it’s very common here.”

Ms Fourie said before moving to Melbourne, she’d never heard the word ‘bogan’ before, and that magpies were a creature she feared most.

“The equivalent in America would probably be a redneck,’ she said of the word ‘bogan’.

In the video, Ms Fourie called the magpies “hellbound creatures” that will “attack you” by swopping “down from trees and peck at your head”.

Lara warned foreigners of magpies in Australia.

Lara Fourie moved to Melbourne from Victoria and has listed all the things she wishes she knew about Australia before arriving.

The young American said she was also gobsmacked by the price of an Aussie avocado, which she claims are triple the price compared to the US.

“Avocados are cheaper in the States, like in Texas they are 60c,” she said in the video.

“Whereas in Australia they can be $2 or $3 each.”

Earlier this year, another American woman who moved to Down Under also revealed all the things she finds strange about life in Australia in a series of TikTok videos.

Kaymie Wuerfel left her home in Clearwater, Florida for Sydney in January after getting married to her Australian partner.

She said she’s getting used to Australian life amid some unusually difficult times, including the Australian bushfire disaster and the coronavirus pandemic.

While Ms Wuerfel says she’s found plenty of differences between the way Aussies live compared to back home – one of her favourites has been chicken salt.

“I never knew it existed and now I can’t live without it,” she said.

Ms Wuerfel said there were a lot of other things Australians have that Americans don’t, including beeping pedestrian crossing signals, frozen Cokes at McDonald’s, free healthcare and dual flushing toilets.

Ms Wuerfel said one of her biggest complaints about being in Australia is that the Wi-Fi is “so bad” and that Australia eats the country’s “national animal”.

“And why do you eat your national animal? The kangaroo? We don’t go eating the bald eagle, we protect it,” she said.