Mar 28 2009
World Blog Surf Day - Living as a Brit in Australia
Today, I am participating in World Blog Surf Day, a virtual world tour of expat blogs. World Surf Day has been organised by Golden Prague as a cool way of traveling the world at no cost and seeing it through the eyes of the expats who live in each country.
If this is your first visit to a World Blog Surf Day site, continue on the journey by clicking the link at the bottom of this blog post. And now for the blog post….
Strangely enough, I feel more at home living in Australia than I did living in continental
Europe. Although Australia is a lot further away from Britain, the culture is quite similar. I say ‘similar’ because it is not the same. There are lots of differences but the similarities help me to feel at home here.
Added to this, there are many things that are an improvement upon the UK! Of course, the weather is the first thing that comes to mind and, it’s true that, on the whole, the weather is better than in the UK.
However, the weather can be very changeable and that is something that helps me to feel at home! The winters here in Sydney are colder than I thought they would be but are still not as cold as in the UK. I like the fact that there are still four seasons here – this would probably not be the case in the hotter parts of Australia, such as Queensland and Perth, so I am thankful that we ended up in Sydney!
Photo Credit: ♦ Joe’s
There are little things from the UK that I miss. Hot buttered toast spread thickly with Marmite. Vegemite does not taste the same and there is also an Australian Marmite, which tastes nothing like the Marmite I’m used to and is actually quite disgusting!
Roasted lamb served with real mint sauce is another thing I miss. They sell mint jelly rather than mint sauce here and it tastes rather sweet. I prefer the true minty taste of Colmans Mint Sauce!
You can buy British Marmite and Colmans Mint Sauce at a handful of British food shops here but they are very expensive as they have to be imported in relatively small quantities.
Thankfully, you can buy Tetley’s tea (my favourite cuppa!) in Coles supermarket here, so there is no need to miss out on several cups a day (you can tell I’m British!)
Another thing I sometimes miss about the UK is the shops! Before I moved to Australia, I read somewhere on the Internet that you should stock up on clothing from Marks and Spencer’s before moving here, as there are no shops like M&S here! And, it’s true! There are lots of clothing shops but I haven’t really found one that suits me, and, with children, I don’t have lots of time to go from shop to shop.
There are some shops that I’m familiar with, such as The Body Shop and Borders (I love Borders!), but I miss Boots and Superdrug (Priceline isn’t as good!). Having said that, there are some new shops that I’ve discovered and now like, such as Kmart! And, I can’t really complain as there is a good range of shops here – I used to live in a continental European country where the shops are much worse!
Those are just a few of the similarities and differences between Australia and the
UK. I’m now going to hand you over to someone who has done the reverse of what I have done.
Kylie has moved from Australia to Europe - Switzerland, to be precise, and she is working as an au-pair there. She writes about her experiences in a very entertaining way on her ‘A Swiss Story by Kylie’ blog. Click here to see what she has to say about living as an Australian in Switzerland.
I quite like vegemite, but not marmite, but have the same problem here in Prague like you in Australia, it is sooo expensive! One thing that really puts me off of visiting Australia are the spiders - I am arachnophobic
Great post, Roz! I do find that being an expat helps me appreciate some of the better things about my own country, too.
(By the way, Kmart is an American invention, I believe–and it is one of the things I miss about my home country!)
Hi Romancing Italy - The song is “Down Under” by Men at Work. I guess it’s responsible for introducing Vegemite to the world!
Hi Golden Prague - Interesting that you like Vegemite better than Marmite! The spiders that you encounter everyday aren’t much different from those you encounter in Europe but you do have to be careful not to touch them in case they are poisonous. I think that the cockroaches are much worse, although having a huge huntsman spider in the house was also a frightening experience!!
Hi Martin - Yes, I think lots of us Brits miss Marmite. I don’t want to think of what it’s made from!!
Hi Jennifer - Yes, Kmart is an American invention and one I like, although Kmart Australia also sells lots of Australian products.
Hi Just a Plane Ride Away - I’m sure the shopping in the USA is much better than in England. On my visits there, I have enjoyed the huge variety of stores with long opening hours and good value prices compared with the UK. Hope you enjoyed your cuppa!
Hi Garry - I would guess that your shopping choices are pretty limited in Barbados and that must be hard to get used to. I know what you mean about having a break from the sunshine. Today, it’s raining heavily here for the first time in ages and I am secretly enjoying it (not that I would enjoy it if it carried on for days, though!)
Hi American in Britain - Kmart Australia is owned by Kmart (USA) and I think it’s broadly similar in that the stores sell a wide range of goods, although many of the products on sale here are sourced in Australia. I guess it makes sense considering the fact that importing anything to Australia is so expensive. Wal-mart hasn’t reached Australia yet, perhaps because the two biggest Australian supermarket chains (Coles and Woolworths have such a big hold on the market).
I’m glad you like the pictures and I hope that you get the chance to visit Australia sometime soon.
Hi Roz,
I’m a little late officially visiting and commenting for World Blog Surf Day!
I’m very glad to never have been exposed to Marmite / Vegemite: I’ve heard horror stories about these items. I’m now wondeirng which it is my parents used to have with their lamb chops (that would send my brother and I running away because of the smell): mint sauce or mint jelly?
I very much prefer shopping here in the US than in Malaysia, because back “home” it’s difficult to find clothes for the “large petite” woman :p
I’ve only been to Sydney and Melbourne… I have a friend in Brisbane, and another who is awaiting a PR and really wants to make a new life for herself down under. Perhaps my next return to Malaysia will include a swing by to Oz?
*lynne*
Hi Lynne - Thanks for your comment. I hope that you get the chance to swing by Oz on your next visit to Malaysia.
On the subject of mint sauce/mint jelly, we had mint jelly with our lamb for dinner tonight, as the only local shop that sells mint sauce closes at 1pm on a Saturday for some reason. Mint jelly just does not taste the same to me and, even worse, it is loaded with sugar!
Hi Dayflyer - Thanks for visiting and commenting. It’s great that you feel so at home in Greece - there must be lots of differences between Greece and the UK.
I know exactly what you mean - there is something sooo comforting about melted Cheddar cheese on toast, isn’t there?