1. if you didn't already know, since we are on the other side of the hemisphere, the water spins down the drain the opposite way than what we are used to.
2. the light switches are different
3. all the light switches can be turned on and off individually to save on electiricity. and on that same note, Australia is trying to be one of the first "green" countries.
4. if you go shopping anywhere you must pay .10 - .20 cents extra for each plastic bag you request to take your stuff home.
5. the door stops are on the back of the doors and not on the base boards.
6. the toilets all have two buttons (not a lever) to push to flush. there is a "Full Flush" and a "Half Flush" (ha ha - dare to use your imagination to figure this one out)
7. the toilet water doesn't really swirl down the drain... it's more like a half/full water full coming from all sides of the toilet. lol
8. the plugs look like this:
You can also see what the light switches look like and also what the switches look like above the plug outlet to turn each outlet on or off.
9. the voltage that runs through the electricity is at 220 volts compared to the 120 in the USA. therefore, you must bring a power surge protector for anything you bring over or it will blow out.
10. a new word i learned is that they call baby binky's/pacifiers, "Dummy's"
11. i still can't quite figure out how to use their ovens. the first week or two i managed to burn everything or not cook it long enough. this is because the oven is in celsius as you may remember from my previous post. but the biggest reason is because i have no clue what the "bleep" these pictures on the dial are supposed to mean when choosing a 'cooking option'. i finally got smart and googled an oven manual to help me. do any of these mean anything to you?
12. things are spelled here like the British spell stuff. for example: tire is tyre, defense is defence, recognize is recognise, center is centre, theater is theatre. i used to be a pretty good 'speller', but probably not over here.
13. the washer and dryers here are half the size of what we are used to. we already had to do 1-3 loads A DAY and now it is MUCH more often. bless my sweet little hubby for doing the laundry. he is much better about doing it than i am.
14. each of the larger/main city's here have their own city centre. they have EVERYTHING there. the biggest one is the Canberra City Centre which is three blocks long and 4 levels high. it has everything a mall would have plus all your restaurants, grocery stores, kmart, target, bars, banks, tax offices, some churches are held there, you name it. (but it still closes down between 4pm and 6pm along with everything else... strange!)
15. they give you shopping carts, or should i say "trolley's" at the city centers so that you can push your kid around in it or all of your bags at all of the stores you go to. they should do that at our malls in the states.
16. not really a fan of any of their red meat here. it tastes different. not super bad, but not good either. however, it's probably a good thing cause it's better for me if i don't eat it anyway. my favorite was a big, all American cheeseburger, but it will have to wait 'til we get back to the good ol' USA. actually a lot of the food just has a 'twinge of different'. i also don't really like eating out anymore just because i haven't found anything i think is too fabulous (which is probably the best thing that could've ever happened to me
17. they do not mess around with the traffic laws here. there are cameras EVERYWHERE. i rarely see people speeding. i also think it's against the law to talk on the phone while driving. (haven't asked anyone yet about it)
18. if you get pulled over for drinking and driving, it is an automatic suspension of your license with a $10,000 fine and jail. if it were this strict everywhere, i bet less people would do it.
19. some lady got a ticket here for smoking in her car with children in her car that were younger than 18 years old. she then got a ticket for swearing at the cop because you're not allowed to do so around the children. (now i'm not sure of all the details and jeremy will probably correct me on this one)
20. if you see people driving with a letter "L" or "P" stuck to their car, it means that they are "Learning" or have just gotten their "Permit".
21. did you know that the Seinfeld episode where Elaine says, "I think a dingo ate-chyour baby" is a real story from Australia? they have the bracelet from the baby that got eaten by the dingo in a museum here.
22. instead of dialing 911, you dial 000
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