Early Observations

Having been here for just over 3 months I guess I'm qualified to make a few observations.

The 1st thing I would say is that Australia seems to be still searching for it's own identity. At the moment, Australia is culturally somewhere between UK and USA...the UK connection is obvious, but I'm not sure where the US link comes from since there really isn't that many Americans here - perhaps TV?

The service is generally very friendly and efficient, much better than England, but without the 'in-your-face' nature of US service. However, the banks are AWFUL. Go into one of the Citibank branches and attempt any transaction and they will direct you to a telephone so that you can speak to someone in the Phillipines, go into HSBC & despite having a UK account with them for 16 years it is almost impossible to open one in Australia.....and it does not get much better at the domestic banks. Customer service is shoddy, REALLY shoddy.

Cars drive on the left (as in UK) but there are very few roundabouts (similar to the US) and everything is metric (French?).
Most of the cars are automatic - which as it turns out is not a bad idea given all the traffic lights & junctions you have to stop at. And the road signs are terrible.... often they come AT the turning rather than before and sometimes even AFTER.... missing your turn can be a nightmare.

TV shows are pretty much split between modern US crime shows (CSI, etc) & old UK comedy (Benny Hill, Frank Spencer) whilst the adverts are most definitely more of the American ilk... in fact they are awful & lack any sort of intrigue or comedy value - the Gusiness adverts would most definitely not go down well here.
A typical example would be an ad for a shop selling doors; bloke comes on screen and shouts "Doors, Doors, Come and Get your Doors.....Doors, Doors, We sell Doors"...then reals off a load of prices. To the point or what?
And of course the adverts also fall the annoying US habit on TV shows with the show about to finish, then adverts, then show returns for 20 seconds plus the titles.....why oh why do they do that? Just finish the damn show!

The language is also mixed; rubbish is garbage, shopping centre is a mall, and petrol is called gas (actually it's more difficult to get diesel here than it is to get lpg). The Australians also make up their own words for things....one which seems to appear in the Press a lot is ICE (actually crystal meths if you're from UK). On that subject a lot of fuss tends to be made out of small events here... the 'Police Update' page seen in most papers tends to have petty things in it, like a window getting smashed...hardly newsworthy!
And just like in the US there are a limited number of regional accents. In fact, here there seems to be a 'city accent' and a 'country accent'...nothing else. Compare that to the UK where you can drive 30 miles in the UK & be faced with huge differences (Scouse - Mancunian, Geordie - Teesside (yes there is a difference!)).

Bill Bryson makes an observation in his book, that stepping outside the major cities is like stepping into 1958 in the USA. Well, I'm not old enough to know what 1958 was like, but I know what he means, and to be honest you don't even need to leave the City. Whilst Sydney does come across on the surface as new & vibrant, there is something distinctly 'old school' about it. Maybe it's the old ferries still in regular service, maybe it's the many high streets which hark back to a by-gone age with butchers, bakers, fishmongers, ironmongers and several laundries (rather than just one out of town supermarket - it's actually quite a nice thing but not as convenient & also makes eating at home as expensive as eating out...on that subject books are damn expensive too).
Or maybe it's the complete lack of political correctness (not sure how people get away with using the terms Wogs or Chinks in today's society) - given the amount of British TV on here I'm not at all sure why Alf Garnett isn't on the box he'd go down a treat with some of his views. Not sure how the politicians are surprised that race riots happened a couple of years ago.... it may have been the result of a life saver getting beaten but my guess is it's been brewing for a LONG time. Did you know that it wasn't until 1967 that the Government included Aborogines in the census? And that up to the 1960s Queensland used a text book which described Aborogines as 'feral creatures'?

What else can I ramble on about? Well there's the rum & coke on tap (or served in a can if you prefer), the random names for beer measures (schooners & midis as well as pints), the fact that nearly all Australians think we like warm beer in the UK, that bars ask you to leave the moment that you appear even slightly drunk, some hotels have condoms in the mini-bar (any ideas?), most bars have an abundance of 'pokies' (in fact gambling is often the only way some bars stay in business - but it is still sad watching some people feed in their wages), and most of the beach fronts really do not make the most of their location. Bondi is a prime example for this, known around the world for it's beachfront yet how many bars or restaurants are located there? 3 and one of them is terrible....

Finally, I can't fail but mention the apparent love of queues and queueing! The English have a terrible reputation for enjoying queueing but I can promise you this pales in comparison to the Aussies. Go for a bus & you face a queue (actually refreshing after the scrambles on London Transport), post a letter & you can queue for up to an hour!, go to the local store & you face a lengthy queue, want to ask a question at the tourist information? You'd better queue..... gain entry to a bar? You'll be queueing. Why so many queues exist I'm uncertain, maybe it's lack of staff, or the fact that when you do get served the service is exceptional..... but let me tell you, it's damn annoying! One day, Lucy & I are going to go and stand in the street to create a random queue, just to see if anyone lines up behind us. (This was one of Lucy's time-fillers on her way home from school!)

Oh, and I'd better not forget the flies. They haven't been too bad of late, and I'm told they are much worse in the Northern Territories, but believe me when I say they are persistant. No matter how many times you try to swat them away they will attempt to enter your mouth, nose, ears, basically anywhere with moisture..... and for a laugh try opening your mouth to drink some water... you'll be blowing out flys for a week.