Australia - 'England-upon-Mediterranean'?
One thing I often say when I am describing my impressions of Australia, is that it's kind of like 'England-upon-Mediterranean'. By that I mean that it feels kind of like England - the buildings, the language, the shops, the queues, and so on - but it's sunny! And there's good food and wine 
The state assembly building is classic 'Empire English' architecture, but there are palm trees in front of it. You can do barbecues in the middle of 'Winter'. And they celebrate Christmas on the beach
It's more than that though: other things happen that remind me I'm on a different continent altogether - I see a black and white bird and I think it's a magpie, but it let's out a melodious squawk and fans its tail feathers and it's most definitely not a magpie! The trees and plants are nearly all different, even an ant I saw yesterday at the bus stop looked different to any I've seen before. The sky is blue, the night sky is full of stars and you can see the clouds drifting off over a large land mass inland.
Talking of bus stops, another difference here (though this is somewhat like UK), is that the bus drivers are friendly. They say good morning to you, or 'G'day mate', when you get on the bus, and of course people respond; many people getting off the bus will call out "Thank you driver!", or some variety of that. People in shops, or wherever, are helpful and friendly, and will try to help you out.
OK it ain't perfect, no doubt if I lived here I would meet grumpy Aussies, and encounter dense bureaucrats as there are anywhere. But generally Australians do a good job of making a nice social environment to spend time in.
One thing that was not so nice was the Friday-night-when-everyone-is-pissed experience in town. That also reminded me of the UK but not in a good way. Anyone who has lived in the UK will surely know that feeling when you are going home late at night and there are loads of noisy drunk people around; of course most of them are just having a good time, but I've seen too many fights and problems happen in those situations to ever feel at ease - unless I'm drunk enough myself of course!
Anyway, generally it's very nice here and, as they say 'No worries!'
The state assembly building is classic 'Empire English' architecture, but there are palm trees in front of it. You can do barbecues in the middle of 'Winter'. And they celebrate Christmas on the beach It's more than that though: other things happen that remind me I'm on a different continent altogether - I see a black and white bird and I think it's a magpie, but it let's out a melodious squawk and fans its tail feathers and it's most definitely not a magpie! The trees and plants are nearly all different, even an ant I saw yesterday at the bus stop looked different to any I've seen before. The sky is blue, the night sky is full of stars and you can see the clouds drifting off over a large land mass inland.
Talking of bus stops, another difference here (though this is somewhat like UK), is that the bus drivers are friendly. They say good morning to you, or 'G'day mate', when you get on the bus, and of course people respond; many people getting off the bus will call out "Thank you driver!", or some variety of that. People in shops, or wherever, are helpful and friendly, and will try to help you out.
OK it ain't perfect, no doubt if I lived here I would meet grumpy Aussies, and encounter dense bureaucrats as there are anywhere. But generally Australians do a good job of making a nice social environment to spend time in.
One thing that was not so nice was the Friday-night-when-everyone-is-pissed experience in town. That also reminded me of the UK but not in a good way. Anyone who has lived in the UK will surely know that feeling when you are going home late at night and there are loads of noisy drunk people around; of course most of them are just having a good time, but I've seen too many fights and problems happen in those situations to ever feel at ease - unless I'm drunk enough myself of course!
Anyway, generally it's very nice here and, as they say 'No worries!'
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