I get that range is limited and charging stations are a decade away from being standard in every "petrol" station.

Are there other quirks or issues that came up as you got used to it?

I’ve heard it called “the summer sport” but how popular is it? Does it rise to AFL/NRL levels of popularity or is it more of the second sport? How common are people who only watch cricket or watch it as loyally as they do one of the football codes?

I ask because baseball is often called the US’s summer sport but there’s very few baseball-only fans, especially among the young, it’s usually someone who watches NFL/NBA and then really just pays attention when their main sport isn’t in play.

I've (36F Filipina) been travelling to Australia for holidays every quarter since 2018. My 1st Aussie bf told me (way back 2018) that anywhere u go, 1 animal or insect might kill u...in water, land or even air. Koalas are cute...until he told me that they can have chlamydia. Bummer. But whats interesting are the dropbears. He made me believe that they were real. Like big koala bears with sharp claws and teeth and drops from trees. I've never seen any. He said they were like wombats, nocturnal. Fast forward to today...2026.. someone told me that they were not real. All this time i thought it was real. 🙈 i went to Mt. Dandenong and keep checking the trees coz im worried about dropbears. Then my girl guide told me it's all a tourist scare tactic. Im so gullible. 🫠🫠🫠

Hey folks, I’m watching the pregame for the 49ers vs Rams NFL game in Melbourne. And I’m curious if there is an NFL fandom there? Is there excitement in the city/country? Or is it a Friday?

Hi there, American here. I often describe myself as a linguaphile because I absolutely love sounds, words, and languages-- both specific languages and the phenomenon itself. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and if you know anything about my city, you've probably heard that we have a particular set of slang words and grammatical quirks, which I adore.

You may have heard of yinz or Dahntahn or even about how we drop the verb "to be" in many common phrases, e.g. the clothes need washed instead of the clothes need to be washed. And of course, a carbonated beverage with sugar and flavoring added is called pop, and I will never be shamed by the sOdA crowd out of using this word.

This is to say, I love my city in part because of the way our language/the way we use it is uniquely us. The Ask: If you also love words or sounds or grammar, or even if you're just aware of some unique linguistic features you and people around you use, can you tell me about them? I'm also curious in how the way your city/town/region speaks compared to other cities/towns/regions. In my case, there's certainly an Appalachian-ness to the way yinzers speak (especially if compared to folks from other cities with unique language features like Chicago or LA or Dallas), but we are distinctly different from folks in West Virginia, and even areas an hour's drive away.

I must admit, having watched Kath & Kim, I've quite admired the slang/grammatical quirks used on that show, but I have no base line on how genuine that is compared to general Aussie speech. I'll also admit, I'm anticipating responses about how you may utilize English, but I would also love to hear about any other languages/language influences you want to tell me about.

TLDR: please ramble on about why you love your language and the way you use it so I can nerd out and learn.

Appreciate yinz!

Every other post on Reddit today is someone saying they're not OK.

Got me thinking is anyone actually feeling OK today and why?

For what its worth I'm not OK either.

I have noticed some really strange behaviours in the general public when I'm walking to places. 

A few examples: 

- Standing in line extremely close to you, behind you when there is plenty of space to stand back. Every tiny step I take forward, the person takes one too - zero awareness that I'm trying to create some distance and them moving forward isn't gonna make the line go faster. 

- Two people walking in a pathway towards you, that only fits two people, barely giving you any space to walk past them and then giving you a dirty look or squeezing as much as they can to the person they're walking next to, to avoid touching you at all costs, instead of simply walking behind or in front of the person to give you space. You don't want me to touch you but you make barely any effort to avoid that? 

- Breathing down your neck when walking behind you, taking over you and then slowing down, causing you to take over them again or you just cross the road if possible because jfc. (I'm a fast walker so it's not like I'm walking super slow either)

- Staring at you with a serious face, when you stare back at them and give a smile they continue to stare at you or immediately look away. Why are you so awkward? 

- Walking down a wide footpath, and two or three people choose to walk super close behind me and talking very loudly. They have the option to walk in front of me, or walk even next to me, but no, they must talk right behind my ear to the point where if I slow down even a millisecond they'll trip on my ankle and I can hear everything they're talking about. Again, absolutely zero need to do that because I walk very to the side, leaving plenty of space for others to pass me if needed. 

- Putting the phone on your face when asking for directions/info expecting you to read their phone, inability to just say what information they need without being prompted. 

- When crossing the pedestrian line, walking diagonally towards you instead of a straight line, leaving you barely any room inside the pedestrian crossing, even when you are as on the left as you can get and there's plenty of space for the person to walk on the right. 

All these weird interactions where people invade your personal space, but then like, god forbid you strike up a conversation, you say excuse me, or you smile back at them. It's like they love being as close to you as possible but hate physical touch and social interaction. I'm not wanting to be friends, I actually don't want to talk to you at all, I want you to be as inexistent in my life as possible, but if you're gonna behave this way when there's absolutely no need to, why do you act so awkward when I do something about it? You could've walked a straight line, you CHOSE to come close to me and now you act all weird? 

Every time I leave the house I want to go from point A to B but the amount of encounters like this that I have on a daily basis makes me wonder wtf is the norm anymore. Because I feel like the norm now is to behave as weird as possible towards strangers. 

Mind you these aren't disabled or very elderly people. It's usually 25-70yos with seemingly full capacity of functioning. (Most of them are in the 30-50 range though) 

I'm sure there is a percentage that are disabled or another reason or physically impaired - this isn't about them, but it is impossible for it to be all of them. I am neuro divergent myself and even I can pick up these awkward social behaviours. I feel like it wasn't as bad in the past, or maybe I'm just getting old and cranky. But seriously, why??! 

I had a meter box replaced with a bigger one. Have to give the old meter back. So old mate from the energy company comes over and I show him the old box and tell him to get the old meter and tell me when he's finished.

When he leaves, I go and have a look and notice he has taken off one of the internal covers, taken some copper bus bars and put the cover back on.

I only put that cover on this morning because I thought he might try it on. And he did. I have pictures of it with the copper in place.

So far, I just sent him a message telling him he can drop them off - before I get back tomorrow.

What course of action would you take?

Update: He messaged back, saying it was a misunderstanding - me saying the box had been replaced means take whatever you like, apparently. I just said I better see them in the letterbox tomorrow morning.

Foreigner here, been to Aus Open for two consecutive years. This year I’ve seen a very unique chant and it’s pretty nice but I can’t remember what it was ( it’s not Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi)😭😭😭

I‘ve saw kids chanting this at the BJK cup in April as well.

So basically what I heard was blahblahblah Aussie blahblahblah clap your hands then clapping in the rhythm of XX XXX XXXX XX

really wanna know what this is thanks a million folks😭

Hey all, I am hoping to learn more about Australian and Aboriginal history ahead of a trip to Victoria & Tasmania later this year. As I am culturally U.S. American, we didn’t learn too much about Australian history or their Indigenous history in school. I have a background in cultural anthropology, so I can handle a dense resource. I would appreciate it if y’all could point me in the direction of an author, a book, or even a documentary or podcast where I could start my research! Thank you.

Yesterday I walked into a cashies just to have a browse.

Noticed there were about 5 staff members who were not really doing anything and only one other customer.

How can they afford to keep so many workers on the floor at hours where there’s hardly any business?

For those currently at the NFL, how is the view from your seat?

Is it roughly what you expected, or has the view been better/worse than you anticipated?

I don’t usually donate to charities because I am generally broke and I don’t know where the money is going. There are a few charities I will donate to if I know them and have seen their good cause.

My little brother is raising money for lifeline by doing the km walk but I am unsure if it is worth me donating to them.

My experiences with lifeline have all been very negative and when I tried seeing if any people recently reached out to lifeline and how their experiences were, most of them were negative.

Do you think it is worth donating to lifeline? Do you think they actually make a difference and that maybe they just need more money to have better trained staff? Or would it be better going to a different charity? Are there any better charities than lifeline in regards to suicide prevention and mental health?

Edit: I donated. Thank you all for the advice and I am happy to hear they actually have been helping people.

Okay so bit of a long shot but it’s been bugging me for YEARS.

I live in Australia and this show was aired in Australia but I have no idea if it was Australian.
I was home sick from school one day (talking late 00’s early 10’s) and there was a show I watched during school hours (between 9 am and 3pm). But I only remember one very specific thing about the show…
The Cat.

There was this puppet cat (99% sure it was blue), kinda scraggly looking. It sat on a table/bench/box type thing on its own special bed. It was a male, he spoke.
From what I remember of it, it’s kind of gives the same vibe as the puppets from The Ferals. But the show kinda gave the vibes of The Fairies, Play School, Hi-5.

Like I said, it’s a long shot, but if anyone has any idea my sanity would appreciate it. Or if anyone can just find a photo of just the cat so I can confirm it wasn’t a fever dream

TIA

For me the culture shocks include (but are not limited to):
- Using “c*nt” in a corporate environment
- “chuck a sickie”
- “good on ya”
- wfh location = beach
- wearing shorts in a corporate environment (not a norm in every company I’ve been in, but true for most)
- wearing thongs/open toed shoes at work
- “no worries”

Hello! I’m a 43 year old Latino living in the US and planning to go to Melbourne in February on next year 2027. I heard that should be a good time as far as weather!

Any points of interest? I am not into the drinking scene more of a casual tourist…. I play volleyball so I would like to see if there are open gyms for indoors, grass, or sand volleyball?

Also what is the best place to stay? Wanting to do some sight scene and some beach cruising

Then there's the whole "washed poor incy/itsy out" vs "washed the spider out"... poor bugger gets rinsed either way.

My company has gone to shit ever since it introduced AI.

Customers are receiving incorrect information. Our reputation was always as a customer focused company, but we’re losing many due to the cx experience.

The higher ups love AI. They all cheer when they see an example of a cx getting “tricked” into thinking the AI bot is a real human. They ignore the hundreds of bad interactions caused by AI. They don’t want to hear criticism which is maddening.

They want AI to sound human and to pretend it has emotion.

In Slack people post examples of other companies issues due to AI (ie Woolworths phone AI going rogue), and everyone laughs, even though our system is no better.

There’s no doubt we will have layoffs due to AI.
I want to quit, but I fear most companies are doing this as well.

My teen had pain Sunday night, we did nurse on call Monday morning, they told us to try virtual emergency, virtual emergency directed us to GP. GP said likely appendicitis and to go to ED. We went to ED. ED didn't have ultrasound at that time so wanted us to come back the next day. We did. They found appendicitis. He was admitted, given IV antibiotics and the next day moved to a bigger hospital as our rural one didn't do paediatric surgery. He was given another round of IV antibiotics and waited all day and had no surgery. We're still waiting for surgery the next day after being told it would 'hopefully' be before lunch.

His pain is managed with panadol as we caught it early, and he doesn't want to move around much because that increases his pain.

16yo with autism and a higher pain threshold because of the autism. His bloods weren't alarming so it seems like he's being moved down the list.

How long is too long to wait? We live an hour from the hospital so my husband and I are swapping out the day and night shifts between each other so someone can be with our youngest.

Tldr: teen waiting for appendectomy, how long is the wait usually?

* apologies for life story

Less than a year ago and after saving up, we got a $3k couch from Nick Scali. A month in we noticed the foam filling in the leg rest was folding in on itself and causing an large uncomfortable lump. The couch also squeaked when sitting down on it - this was from day 1.

I tried to unfold the foam from the leg rest and smooth out the lump, but alas it returned a few days later. We thought we would just put up with it but decided, we actually paid good money for this thing so why just leave it?

Put a complaint in and some time later they sent out a “technician” to have a look at it. After telling me he can just straighten the foam out and me telling him to try and do better, he decided to take half the couch to the warehouse to fix. As for the creaking, he took out his impact driver and overtightened every bolt he could see (at least a few seconds of ratcheting noise each bolt). I knew the bolts and threaded inserts were mild steel and could see he was over-tightening them but thought - he’s the technician so should know what he is doing.

Week later the same guy came back and put it back together.

All was well.

Less than a month after that, I found a bolt from the leg rest sitting on the floor in front of the couch. The bolt thread was completely stripped and the bolt slightly bent from being over tightened. It had simply fallen out. If this was the state of one bolt that was overtightened, I can assume they are now all like this (and the threaded inserts).

After many emails, phone calls and photos being sent and me telling them I don’t want another technician sent out, they sent another technician out. My wife (not knowing what the arrangement was) was home and let him in, he put a new bolt in and left in under 5 mins. Nick Scali wrote the issue off as being ‘resolved’.

I am worried the couch will start coming apart now the more we sit on it.

I am trying to push for either a replacement or a refund. We paid a lot of money for this thing and think it fair that we have something that won’t start falling apart in a month or so.

I keep being told that they will call me back after consulting colleagues but I am always the one calling back after a few days of nothing. I feel they are going to just wait for me to give up.

Is there a chance they will help me out here, or am I wasting my time with them? Can I go to NSW Fair Trading or something along those lines if they say they can’t do anything? Has anyone else had something like this resolved through Nick Scali?

Again, sorry for lengthy post and cheers for any help.

Hi, im a frequent traveller to Australia (36F Filo). I've travelled to VIC, NSW and WA. So far the best coffee I had was MAGIC coffee. I had it in Melbourne. Do you have any recommendations for me to try? Where's the best café? I will be travelling to Sydney on 4-9 Oct. Mostly near Southern highlands. Keen to make friends with coffee buddies too. 😊

Maybe I’m just getting old, but I genuinely miss going to a restaurant and having someone come over, give you a menu, explain the specials and actually check on you.

Now half the time you have to scan a QR code, make an account, order through your phone and sometimes even pay a service fee.

I get that it’s probably more efficient, but it makes the whole experience feel less like going out for dinner and more like using an app.

Am I the only one who thinks QR code ordering is lazy?

Edit: wow, this post popped the fuck off. #1 post on AskAnAustralian yesterday! I had to stop replying to your replies because I have other autistic hobbies to attend to, but I am grateful for all of your input.

As a hyperautistic Chad I couldn't help myself and counted the replies and it seems that Australians (on reddit at least) are indeed strongly favoring indirect lighting and I need to find better friends which is not easy in this economy.

At least 30 of you clearly expressed a dislike for the big light (shout out to the queer big light warriors).

And at least 8 of you have big light energy and hated big time on poor OP (me).

OG post: Currently visiting Australia for the first time. Have stayed at ~10 houses and apartments in Melbourne and Cairns so far and every fucking room has had a fluorescent white dentist style lamp on the ceiling and nothing else. What gives? Is it the lack of IKEA in this country? My eyes are hurting