People are ever so friendly and polite. Wherever you go, they will say good morning or good afternoon and it is always “Sir” or “Maam”.
Most things are cheaper – up to half the price!! But then we have to account personally for the exchange rate from the US dollar to Aus Dollars when we buy.
There aren’t bakeries, newsagencies, bottle shops, grocery stores just around the corner – quite strange!! One has to travel to shopping centre and even then, there are no newsagencies!
Light switches go from down to up and not up to down like Australia and electrical power points don’t have an on/off switch at all.
It is against the law in most of the states of the US to hang your wet washing outside!
We can’t quite get used to the tipping system and are still trying to work it out plus whatever we buy, a 6% sales tax is added onto the price displayed.
We found it difficult and inconvenient not having our own transport. Taxis and buses were readily available but it would have been nice to have our own car!!!
Street addresses are North West/South/East Street and 1st 2nd....Street, really weird and hard to adjust to especially when I have no sense of direction!!
We found that Australian wine was readily available and at very reasonable prices. I made it a habit of buying ‘Yellow Tail’.
Accents – Mal and I are still trying to get used to accents and the way of talking. I think many of the people we come into contact with think of us as being aliens and find us quite difficult to talk to and understand. And most people assume that we are from England!
