Today, 5 May, 2012, is our "Toothbrush Anniversary" of the day we arrived in Australia. In other words, it's been 6 months since we've been 'Down Under'. (I don't know if toothbrush is the correct term but it seems fitting). That means we're 1/8th of the way through our 4 year Visa (not that we're counting). In honour of this event I thought I'd talk about some of the major differences that we've encountered while living in Perth versus living in Calgary. Truth be told there are many more similarities than differences but these are the ones that stand out for me.
Weather
If you don't like the weather, wait 5 months.
Calgary has basically two seasons: summer and winter. Spring and fall are both very short typically. Perth also basically has two seasons: hot, dry summer and cool, wet summer.
We arrived in Perth in November, which in upside-downland is considered end of spring/start of summer. From November to March it probably rained twice and not for very long and not very much. Otherwise, it was hot and sunny. Temperatures went from the mid-twenties to the low-forties. There were a few days and nights that were uncomfortable and I think we slept with our screen door open for the first 4 months of living here. Now we are in the late Fall (or Autumn) season heading into early winter. The daytime average high in winter here is something like 18 degrees. It does rain much more here in the winter but from what I'm told, other than the occasional storm, the rain is fairly tame. Perth has a Mediterranean climate and probably the best climate in Australia. The eastern coast of the country (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) had very wet, cool summers this year. The North East section of Australia (Port Hedland) was hit by several cyclones (hurricanes south of the equator). Those cyclones actually create a high pressure system in Perth and make it quite lovely.
So, the weather here is fantastic.
What this means is, among other things, the flora and fauna are much different. Most trees don't lose their leaves here in the winter with the exception of a couple. This particular leaf is from a tree that is quite prevalent in the CBD. The leaf looks a little like a maple leaf but I'm fairly confident that the tree is not a maple.
Daylight Savings
The state of Western Australia does not recognize daylight savings. The state government has tried to push it through via a referendum at least twice and it failed both times. I've heard a few excuses for the failure. These include a negative impact on farmers businesses, general confusion about the how and when of changing time, people concerned about excessive use of electricity and concern about resetting alarm clocks. In any case, there are only two Australian states that don't observe daylight savings and WA is one of them. If I recall correctly I think Saskatchewan is the only Canadian Province without daylight savings. That seems fitting. If you took Saskatchewan and plunked it down in the middle of the ocean you'd basically have Western Australia.
Coffee
There are lattes, espressos and capucchinos available everywhere. Most people have an espresso machine in their home. But you can not get just a regular brewed coffee. Worse than that is that it is difficult to find regular coffee beans for home. Most of these are espresso beans. It took us several weeks just to find a brewing coffee maker, so needless to say, the selection and quality (and price) isn't great. I don't think we've had a good, regular cup of coffee since we've been here. If you try to order a regular coffee when you're out it's practically impossible. Everywhere they use espresso beans and a "short black" includes steamed milk. But possible even worse than this is they don't sell coffee cream. They sell regular milk (which is I believe equivalent to 2%), hilo milk (skim) and whipping cream. There is really nothing else. So, in order to get the semblence of coffee cream we tried mixing whipping cream with milk. It was okay but very fattening and not quite right. Who knew we could be brought to our knees by a drink? (slight hyperbole)
Internet
3G is relatively new to Australia. While Calgary has a great deal of 4G coverage Perth only has about 50% 3G coverage. In a lot of places it's 2G. The internet coverage in the city is awful. We live in a very highly populated area of the city about 20 km north of the center of the city. We are too far from the network switch to receive all of the TV channels via internet. So, even if we wanted the most expensive TV package we couldn't. This is something that we took completely for granted in Calgary even though it's relatively new. Also, the PVR's here are terrible.
Telephones
A lot of homes don't use landlines as they are very expensive. It seems that most people use their cell phones as their primary method of communication with the outside world. That's fine except the phone plans here are much different than the Canadian phone plans. In Canada, you get a set number of minutes per month on your cellular plan. Here you get a set dollar amount. So, for instance you may get $100 dollars per month of calling and texting. What does that mean? Well it depends on the carrier and what kind of calling and texting you're doing. Most standard calls (anywhere in Australia mind you) are about $1/minute. Text are much less. International calls/texts are more expensive. So, you need to do a little math when choosing a plan that best suits your needs. However, the internet fees for cellular phones are cheaper here. That may be partly because they haven't invested that much in internet coverage across the country.
Food
Everything is expensive and despite a climate where you can grow almost anything, it seems as though very little is grown here. For example Kiwi's are imported from Italy and Oranges from California. Whatever produce is grown in WA is marketed as such and the prices are even more expensive.
Cars
Clearly the biggest difference with driving a vehicle is that they drife on the left side of the road. That has actually been a fairly simple adjustment to make. The only real difference in driving is that here it is generally illegal to turn left on a red light expect in certain marked intersection. In terms of vehicles on the road, it's about the same as back home with a couple of notable exceptions. Here there are very few pick-up trucks. However, a very popular vehicle in Perth is called a "Ute", or utility vehicle. A Ute is basically a two-seater pick-up truck that is low to the ground and has an engine disproportionally large to the size of the vehicle. They tend to be fairly fast, loud and, despite it's utilitarian-based name, useless. As a result, they tend to be popular with younger men. Motorcyles here are also quite popular and there seems to be a general understanding that if traffic is moving even slightly slower than the posted speed limit, that they are allowed to drive between lanes.
The climate here causes some other differences with vehicles. Of course, there are no block heaters on vehicles here. Also, they use water for windsheild washer fluid and coolant. Frankly it doesn't do as good a job of cleaning the windsheild.
Also, you can not legally drive in Western Australia until you are 17 years of age. You can get a learners permit at 16 and drive with an adult in the vehicle but if you do you must display you're "L" badge. It's a placard with the letter 'L' on it to signify "learner". Once you do turn 17 you are considered a "provisional" driver for one year and you have to display your "P" plate on your vehicle. "P-platers" have different rules: they are allowed fewer demerits and the alcohol limit is 0%, whereas for the adult driver it is .08%.
Finally, pedestrians are fair game here but despite this there is a great deal of jaywalking that takes place. One of the more difficult adjustments has been making sure to look the correct way when crossing the street. It is deeply engrained in us to look left then right. I've had to retrain myself to look right then left. This still does not come naturally. It is still a conscious process even though I do it several times a day.
Language
Obviously, Australians talk funny. They have their accents, their local dialect and words that sound like they were invented as a joke. All of this is fine. What is not fine is their incessant need to give everything nick-names. For instance:
McDonalds- Maccas
Football- Footy
Rottnest- Rotto
Fremantle- Freo
Mosquitos- Mozzies
Woolworths- Woolies
In addition there are some phrases that are so prevalant here, yet different than what we're used to, they are very noticable. For example:
"Mate"- everyone is mate. You don't have to be someone's friend. It's the equivalent of saying pal or buddy to absolutely everyone you speak to on a casual basis. It is very prevalent and noticeable. I knew that "mate" was a big thing here but I thought it was an exagerated stereotype. It's not.
"How ya going?"- People don't say "how are you" or "how you doing" but rather "how ya going". It's no more right or wrong but we're not used to it and it sounds odd everytime.
"Ta"- I think it means thanks. They're both one-syllable words but apparantly that was too much for Aussies and it still needed to be shortened.
Acronyms- Everything has to have an acronym. "POM" stands for prisoner of motherland, i.e. english person. "CBD" is central business district, not downtown.
Part 2 will follow in a few days. I'm going on a business trip to China tonight which should prove interesting.
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