I should probably give a quick explanation of the term Pom. I used to think that everyone knew what it jokingly referred to, but unless you're British or Australian apparently it isn't actually common knowledge. A Pom is what Australians call British people who come to Australia. There are different theories as to how the term originated, but nothing conclusive. The most likely theory seems to be the reference to pomegranites.
I'll be honest, when I first immigrated to Australia I wasn't entirely sure what expect, probably something akin to the film Crocodile Dundee. We chose to move to Adelaide, South Australia (SA) and arrived in winter so it didn't initially seem much different to England. It was chilly and rainy, a time of year when lots of things are green and growing, so we weren't yet seeing the yellows that come with the summer drought. The language is the same and South Australians are generally teased by the rest of Australia for sounding like Poms, so the Aussie accent here isn't even that strong. (A couple of South Aussies have even mentioned that when visiting the UK some people there didn't twig that they had Aussie accents.) The only thing at the time that stood out as being a bit different was that the architecture and infrastructure layout had a slightly Germen feel to it. I don't know if that's because SA had a lot of German migrants in it's early settlement or if it's just because Germany is the only other country I've visited that had a similar vibe.
Because there are a lot of similarities between British and Australian culture, it took time to pick up on the differences. Naturally the climate and weather are the most obviously different, more so or less so depending where you are in the country. These differences will also dictate a difference in way of life. Other than a brief visit to Queensland, I've only experienced South Australia, so my comparissons will be biased towards that. The states and territories all do things a bit differently.
My daughters at a South Australian beach
The weather in SA is described as mediterranean but I'd say it's more extreme. It's the driest state in the driest country and in summer can usually go without rain for a month or more. We've experienced some years where it's been 3 months without rain. Ironically the total rainfall here is comparable to the UK, the difference being that most of that falls in winter here (flooding isn't uncommon then) and the summer heat quickly dries up any reserves in creeks or ponds. SA's humidity levels are generally quite low even in winter, so when we experience 18°C it feels much colder than it would in the UK. 35°C here doesn't feel anywhere near as unbearable as it does in the UK. While the UK's season when vegetation grows like mad is the summer, in SA it's the winter when it's cooler and wetter, so thankfully stinging nettles come out in winter when you don't have bare legs.
When you walk into a shopping centre here on a hot day, instead of feeling warm air blowing on you as the doors open you feel cool air. It's like things are reversed and you get hot air blasting you when you walk back out. People who don't have good or any air conditioning at home will sometimes go to the shopping centres to stay cool. Either that or the beach if that's close enough.
On the subject of shopping centres, something that I found unusual when we came here was that they have supermarkets in them. So you'll have your fashion, accesories shops, jewellers, chemists etc, then you can go and get your groceries. It's also not uncommon to see people browsing in clothing shops with a trolley full of groceries.
In the UK practically all houses have central heating and radiators in each room. I've never seen a radiator in SA, but nearly every house has air conditioning. Some houses have such bad heating that it's common for Australians to just dress up warmer when inside in winter or wrap themselves in blankets. Ugg boots and Oodies are also popular here for winter. While Oodies are made more for indoor use in some areas (certainly in my area) you'll see people in the shopping centres wearing them. Indeed you'll also see them in their bedroom slippers, pyjamas and dressing gowns on occasion. In summer some go barefoot, although I don't know how the don't burn their feet on the tarmac. There's a bit of a joke on social media that when you move to Australia your dress sense when you go out gets more and more casual until you're dressing like a bogan.
The closest British equivelent of 'bogan' is probably 'chav'; however, where chav's are more likely to dress blingy bogans dress daggy.
I'm not sure why Australians tend to gravitate more towards casual, comfortable dress, but that could also be due to the heat. A suit is going to get uncomfortable when you're sweating and probably doesn't even look that smart once covered in sweat stains. It will also depend on the area as to how people present themselves. In the wealthier suburbs they will dress smarter and will look healthier in general too. I don't recall seeing such an obvious visual divide in people in the UK unless you're going to a completely different part of the country.
Have you ever noticed how different countries have different things they see as reflecting your status? For example in the UK the type of car we drive is often the way people judge us, while in France it doesn't matter what car you're driving it's how you dress. In Australia it's where you live and where you went to school and what you drive, except their vehicle hiearchy is different to Britain's.
In England sporty cars are held in high regard on the road. When I drove my little fiesta I was constantly being cut up, less likely to be let out from a side road in heavy trafic and more likely to be blocked if I needed to change lanes. When I drove my husband's RS Turbo it was like I was suddenly royalty! Everyone jumped at letting me in and I didn't get cut up once. In Australia the Ute is king. Anything that is traditional car shaped will be cut up by everyone else, including others like it. Bigger vehicles will basically bully their way in front of you and Utes respect only other Utes. In fact they are so sure of their superiority that they will sometimes even take on the big trucks/lorries, which doesn't always end well. Naturally here my husband has a Ute and wonders why he gets cut up when he has to borrow my car.
I drive various vehicles for work and their size dictates how often I'm likely to be cut up. The smallest car is bright red and sometimes other drivers don't even see it, despite looking straight at it, until I'm nearly on top of them. My own car is black and is still seen more than that one, so I can only assume it's because it's a bit bigger. People still don't like it being in front of them, though. My daughter's car is a bit bigger again, and is tolerated a little bit more by other road users, but only a little.
The food here took some adjusting to. The first place we ate out at that was recommended to us by a local we found the food very bland. Many of the European types of foods here are much blander and the range of Indian style foods is more limited. In recent years we've been able to find Indians which have better flavour and spicier food, but I think that's only come with demand as we have gained more immigrants from Asia.
On our first visits to supermarkets here I had to do a double take when I saw the bottles of cordial, because for a moment I thought they were toilet cleaners, they were that brightly coloured. I hadn't seen food colourings so bright since my childhood and I have to say I didn't miss it. I used to like mayonaise back in England, but here it has sugar in it. Cadbury's chocolate was one of my favourites, but in Australia it tastes like it has antifreeze in it. Apparently they do actually add something which is a kind of antifreeze in order to stop it melting too easily in the hotter temperatures.
It's not all bad, though, Tim Tams could quite possibly make up for any food faux pas Australia has ever made. I once said that we had nothing comparible in the UK and was horrified at the suggestion they were like Penguin biscuits! While the concept might be the same and they might look similar, Penguins can't hold a candle to the Tim Tam.
The proximity to Asia means that we get a wider range of ethnic foods here than you get in the UK. Sushi is practically a staple here, as are Vietnamese dishes like banh mi, noodle bowls and rice bowls. Recently I've also been hearing a lot of praise for restaurants offering athentic cooking from some of the African countries in the bigger capitals. I'm not aware of Adelaide having anything like this yet, though.
Australians may speak English, but sometimes you can get tripped up or have some embarassing interactions due to differences in word meanings. When we first arrived my husband had to get a medical check to start work. The nurse asked him to take his top and pants off and got all flustered when she came back in to him naked and trying to cover his bits with his hands. If you aren't familiar with British English we call undies pants. Australians, like Americans, call trousers pants and we didn't know that. Thongs here are what we call flip-flops in the UK and it took a while before I could comfortably call them that and not feel like I was discussing underwear.
I have had to learn to call plasters bandaids, otherwise I get a confused stare if I ask for one. Something that often amuses me is the propensity for Aussies to add 'ie' or 'y' to the end of some nouns. For example they call 'bikers' 'bikies'. To me adding that suffix makes things sound cuter, so adding cuteness to what are generally big, imposing looking people makes me chuckle. They do not, however, view them as cute. In fact they are often seen as potential criminals due to some gangs dealing in drugs and there are laws against them gathering in their club colours; essentially anti-association laws.
I know we have a quite a few people here on Hive who have experienced different countries either by living in them long term or visiting and I'd really love to know what your experiences have been. What's the good, the bad, the ugly, the amusing and even the surprising? I love to hear about different cultural experiences from different perspectives. Please, please share either in the comments or with a post of your own and don't forget to tag me if you do a post.
