[68] Australia - what can surprise you in this country?

Hello everyone!

Last time I wrote about Canada, a country that is prominent (wiodąca) in many aspects: life quality, nature and jails ;) I hope you are prepared for some information Australia. I haven't posted anything Australia-related in a while, so today I want to show you some amazing surprises that you may come across in this country! 

At first, you can take a look at the previous posts I wrote about this beatufil country: Ozzie slang or TOP 10 places. If you have already done so, you are ready to take in a new share of information about Australia!

As you might now, currently Australia has summer. The seasons there are the other way round than on the northern hemisphere (półkula), so when we have summer, in Australia it's winter, when we have spring - they have autumn. In contrary to Poland, the seasons don't start in the middle of the month, i.e. 21. December, but on the 1st of a month: Summer starts simultanously (równocześnie) with December, Autumn starts when March begins, etc. Easier to remember, isn't it? ;)

Another thing you might be already acquainted with (zaznajomiony) is that the traffic is left-hand (lewostronny ruch). There are warnings written on the roads to look first to the right, then to the left and then one more time to the right, to avoid an accident. 

Do you know that approximately (około) 24% of people in Australia were born elsewhere! Three main countries from which the immigrants come are:

• UK and Ireland 6.35%
• New Zealand 1.7%
• Italy 1.32% 

You all have probably heard about the new rule of rounding (zaokrąglanie) the bills to reduce (zmniejszyć) the number of 1-groszy coins in the circulation (obieg). In Australia there are already no 1 or 2 cent coins! When something costs $13.02, it's rounded down to $13, but when something costs $13.04, it's rounded up to $13.05. They also have different notes, which... are made of PLASTIC!

Plastic money are almost impossible to damage, rip (podrzeć), burn or counterfeit (sfałszować). They even have a little see-through (przeźroczysty) part in the corner.

50 cent coin is also unusual - it is edgy (kanciasta).

The notes' values are: $5, $10, $20 and $100.

The coins' values are 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents.

(click the images to enlarge)

Australia is also known for its sunny and warm weather. Do you also know, that due to the high skin cancer rate, kids are taught a Slip-Slop-Slap technique, to avoid detrimental (szkodliwy) sun radiation. What is hidden behind these mysterial S's?

 

Slip on a shirt (nałóż koszulkę)

Slop on sunscreen (nałóż krem przeciw opalaniu)

Slap on a hat (noś czapkę albo kapelusz)

Further on two more S's have been added:

Seek shade (przebywaj w cieniu)

Slide sunnies (noś okulary przeciwsłoneczne)

You can watch both videos HERE and HERE!

What is interesting, Australia has only 3 types of sunscreen filtres: 15, 30 and 30+. The differenc ebetween sun protection of 30 and i.e. 50 is slight, so to prevent from (zapobiec) misleading, you will not find a higher filtre.

Australia is almost famous for its love for big things. You can find there:

• The Big Banana
• The Big Pineapple
• The Big Orange
• The Big Rocking Horse
• The Big Axe (pictured above)
• The Big Lobster
• The Big Prawn
• The Big Golden Guitar
• The Big Merino 

And it's not the end of the list! See HERE for more.

Australia is also a very dangerous place. It's the only continent that is at the same time a country and an island. Because it's separated from everything around it, it developed and preserved flora and fauna typical and uniqe only for this place. There are 1,500 species of Australian spiders and some of them are super-deadly and dangerous for people, i.e. funnel-web (ptasznik australijski) or redback (kuzyn czarnej wdowy).

When you go bush-walking, you should look out for snakes like: tiger snake, brown snake or the taipan, which can kill a person with just one bite. Fortunately, as long as you don't tease (prowokować) them, you will be safe. 

Also be careful when you go for a swim! When you see warnings about Blue Ring Octopus, Blue Bottles, the Box Jellyfish or sharks, better comply (dostosować się) with them, unless you want to end your stay in hospital.

You have nothing to worry about if you read the warnings and don't ignore them ;)

When you want to bake something in Australia and you need yeast (drożdże) to do so, you will have a hard time finding live yeast! Yes, you can only get dry yeast in sachets that you add to all your ingredients. Funny, isn't it?

 

And the last thing... getting a driving license!

Do you know that in order to get a full driving license, you have to hold a provisional licence (tymczasowe prawo jazdy) for at least 3 years? And after getting a full licence, you have to renew it ever 3-5 years and pass the driving exams once again? No wonder why Australia has a low rate of car accidents.
It is also obligatory, that every person riding a bike must wear a helmet. You can get fines if you don't. 

I hope you enjoyed our short journey through Australia! If you have any questions or simply want to know more, just write in the comments!