10 Annoying Things About Australia: An English Person's Guide

So Australia is super pretty, breathtaking in places, and perfect for a first-time traveller. But with that good comes the annoying, and it can take some adjusting to when you're English...

There are numerous cultural similarities and on the East Coast you will come across many of your fellow Europeans, but still, Australia has its funny little ways and a bold specific personality of it's own.

During your time here prepare to pick up new phrases that will sound super odd if you utter them back in gloomy old blighty, and you will soon learn to live without TV because, well, it's really really poor!

10 Annoying (but totally bearable) Things About Australia:

1. Supermarkets close super early and don't sell alcohol. 5pm on a Saturday? There's simply no accounting for the desire that might strike me at 5.05pm whereby I require 1 fruity cider and a vat of ice cream. Distressing.

2. There's many big cars. Mildly intimidating as a foreigner driving around in rental cars, Aussie's love their pick-up trucks, and they love getting up your bottom on the highway.

3. Hostels rarely succeed in having the backpacker trifecta; decent (hopefully free or cheap) wifi, air-con and a kitchen that actually has utensils in it. Hiring a saucepan for $10? Takeaway it is then.

4. Going back to that need for decent internet, WIFI in Australia is incredibly overpriced, especially for travelers trying to save a buck staying at camp-sites. Sort it out Australian internet bosses, or at least tell someone to hurry up on inventing those wifi tree's.

5. You are no longer English here, you are now a Pom/Pommy/Pommy bastard. Forget about even telling them your given name. And if you take a dislike to your new nickname, prepare for them to add 'Whinging', to that Pom.

6. Australian TV is basically American TV. Adverts every 5-6 minutes, programmes that take basic concepts to their extremist of lengths, and just a bizarre slew of programming, you better hope you don't run out of movies on your hard-drive on those quiet or rainy days.

7. The fish and chips vastly suck. How many times I have longed for fat soggy chips laden in salt and vinegar, delivered in a hot soggy bag, and I've been given dried out skinny fries in a box. Endless disappointment.

8. The Australian weather is incredibly overzealous. 25 degree's at 7am? Cheers sun.Then again, waking up to sunshine is pretty nice...

9. People talk funny and are mildly confusing. Be prepared to be told you are "too easy" but don't be offended, it just means "that's great". Or is it "not a problem", I can't be too sure.. and then there's the shortening of every word in the world, which usually results in the addition of syllables plus a 'y' at the end of each word.

10. The sea has this way of being so warm, like a bath, that it's almost not refreshing you know?

AH, WHO AM I KIDDING, Australia is actually pretty bloody brilliant!

10 Awesome Things About Australia:

1. The people are friendly, chatty and outwardly positive. Maybe its all the sun and warm weather they get because they are far more chilled and easy-going than people back home.

2. Waking up to blue skies is the norm, and when you do get storms, they are usually quite spectacular and often short-lived.

3. Life is lived outdoors all year long, whether its taking in the beach views, or catching the waves when the swell picks up. The lack of TV or other entertainment as a traveller on a budget is more than made up for by the numerous fun outdoor activities on offer, from adrenaline exploits to a relaxed stand-up paddle-boarding stint.

4. People have more space and room to move and breathe, unlike the more over populated areas we both come from, crammed side-by-side in little old England.

5. Healthy (and tasty) food options are abundantly available, with food market culture alive and thriving.

6. Its often easy to move place to place, with some public transport working out incredibly cheap; we travelled 2 hours out of Sydney to the Blue Mountains for $3 each at the time.

7. Its a traveller/tourist paradise, fusing modern attractions and numerous tour options, with its natural wonders and national parks.

8. It has a rich indigenous culture and sparsely untouched beauty lies intact, making it a land of diverse geography and history.

9. The contrasting wild-life on offer combines cute with deadly,from roo's, possums and Koala's, to snakes, spiders and croc's.

10. Its such a perfect place to begin your travels, as you are able to ease yourself into experiencing different cultures by first being amongst one, very much like your own, but with an entirely different landscape and lifestyle on offer.

What do you love (or hate) about Australia?

Thanks for reading!

Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!

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