Article Published by International Student of Australian University.
Are you moving to Australia and don’t know what to expect? Don’t worry. In this article, I’m going to tell you the things that you need to know before you move to Australia. Let’s go!
1. Australia is not as hot as you think it is:
Now when you listen the word Australia, what comes to your mind? Beautiful beaches, beautiful sunny days, people are surfing here and there. Sorry to break it to you but that’s not always the case. Australia gets cold and Melbourne takes it to just another level. When I came here in July it was three degrees at night and it gets extremely cold and windy. As I am writing this in January last week the highest temperature went to 42 degrees and that night itself, it went to 17 degrees and the very next day it was raining. So Melbourne’s weather is pretty crazy. Always keep the following things handy:
- Umbrella,
- Jacket, and
- Tank top
As we are talking about the weather, you’ve got to know how the sun is here. I come from a city where it goes as high as 45 to 50 degrees in summer. But here in Australia, you can get sunburnt even at 30 to 35 degrees. So make sure you have your sunscreen with you when you go out.
2. Even spiders can kill you:
You know what they say, If you make a list of the things that can kill you, it’s going to be much longer than the things that cannot kill you. I come from India and I’ve seen cows, camels and elephants on the streets. But we’re not scared there because we know that they’re not going to kill us.
Here in Australia, even spiders can kill you. This country has one of the deadliest spiders and snakes in the world. Plus, if you go surfing, you have to watch out for sharks. Well, that’s Australia.
3. Australian slang is not normal English
Now, we know that Australians speak English, but they speak English with a lot of slang and you will take time to get used to that slang. They say “G’day Mate, How’s it goin’?“ that means “Hello Friend, How are you?”. Now, this is easy to understand as compared to some of the hard slang like “Arvo” for “Afternoon”, “Barbie” for “Barbecue”, “Bludger” for “Someone who is lazy”, “Durry” for “Cigarette” and the list goes on.
4. Australia has high prices
I’m not saying this because I’m from India and we have comparatively low prices for everything. It doesn’t matter where you come from, when you compare your prices to prices in Australia, you’ll find that prices here are higher. This is because, If you work in Australia, the minimum wage is $21.38 per hour.
So the level of earning is higher than in most countries, and that’s why their spending capacity is higher compared to other countries. So if you talk about breakfast, you’re looking forward to paying at least 15$ to $20 because $5 is just coffee and the same goes for lunch and dinner. At the end of the day, if you eat all meals from outside, then you’re at least spending $50 a day, which is a lot.
5. Time changes in Australia every 6 months
If you’re coming to Melbourne or Sydney, this is specifically for you, because what happens is on the first Sunday of every October, people move their clock one hour forward so that they can enjoy the sunlight for one more hour. This goes on for six months and it doesn’t go dark till 9 PM
6. Efficient Public Transport
If you’re moving to any of the major cities in Australia, you don’t have to worry about that because Australia has pretty decent public transport. Especially, if you’re moving to Melbourne because it has the world’s best public transport. It has trains, trams and buses running almost everywhere in and around the city and the best part is that you use one card to travel on all the public transportation.
For a visual experience of this content, refer to the video below.
