From sdangelo Tue Mar 14 12:35:31 PST 1989

My mother is an Aussie, and I was an Australian citizen until I
turned 18 when I chose to become an American.  Anyway, it was a
fun trip (even with all the relatives).  

First of all Australia is big.  We spent all our time there in
and around Sydney.  It took 8 hrs in a car to get to the next
city up the coast, Newport, so we never made it up to the barrier
reef area.  

Sydney is an extremely beautiful city.  There are malls and shops
under the streets and stupendously tall skyscrapers, but the best
part is that it is all CLEAN.  That's right, no smog or dirt
buildups.  The countryside was also reminecient of the east coast
(like ohio or pensylvania) because of the green plant life and
rolling hills they called mountains ("and this one is over 2000
ft!"... snicker).  The beaches were awesome.  Even the popular
ones looked like untouched tropical isles and the waves were big.

Anyway, I'd be glad to talk more about the trip with anyone that
asks, but I though everyone might like a little grammer lesson. 
While down under I came across a number of interesting terms and
words.  I've compiled a few of them here:


AUSSIE               AMERICAN
-----------------   ---------------------------------------------
bindies              thorns that grow in almost all the grass
bistro               restaurant with cafateria like ordering
bubbler              drinking fountain
bush walk            hike
cotton               cotton thread
cotton wool          cotton material
dear                 expensive
fag                  cigarette
fairy floss          cotton candy
flat                 apartment
fortnight            extremely common term for 2 weeks
iced chocolate       a sundae
jam                  jam or jelly
jelly                Jello
joggers              tennis shoes
jumper               sweater
knickers             knee length pants
lemonade             7-Up or Sprite;  Nothing like our lemonade.
lollies              candy
nappie               diaper
nursing              just holding a child (NOT breast feeding)
passion fruit        common fruit down under
petrol               gasoline
punchy               silly or tired
ring you             give you a call
rubber               an erasor
savory biscuits      crackers
sloppy joe           sweatshirt
sweet biscuits       cookies
swimmer              swimsuit
stuffed              offensive term meaning 'dead'
sultry               humid
wooh wooh            equivalent to "the boonies"
Zed                  "Correct" pronunciation for the letter 'Z'


Some other notes I took:

Beaches:       Often topless
Books:         Generally run $6.95 to 12.95 in paperback!
College:       Government gives $90 a week allowance for college
               students!
Driving:       really weird on the left side of the road.  Also 
               everything in in KPH so when you see speed limits
               posted at 100 don't go in MPH!
Drug stores:   called "chemist shops".
Electronics:   VERY expensive.
Gambling:      Minimum age was 18!
Gasoline:      Cost 55 cents a LITRE  (approx $2/gal)
Lightswitches: up turns them off (in general)
Restaurants:   Don't serve ice water.  Tips are not allowed.
               Cokes always served in cans, NOT in glasses.
Stop Lights:   Red, Green and Amber.
Toilets:       The water spins the wrong way :-)


This may not seem all new or revolutionary, but at least it
should be interesting.

Stephen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How can you tell when an Australian is dressed formally?"
"He's wearing black thongs!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~