My wife and I went on our very first long vacation to Australia!

I’ve been away for over three weeks. For the first time in our lives, my wife Marnie, and I took a long vacation and traveled to Australia. It was my first trip off the continent and I expected the 13 hour flight from Las Angeles to Sydney would seem unending.
In fact, it was quite the opposite. I slept for most of the trip.
In many ways Australia is very similar to Canada. We are both former colonies of Britain. Many of our customs and both our governments are derived from the British model. As in Britain, you drive on the left side of the road. In North America we choose to drive on the right hand side.
In Canada as we walk down a sidewalk, we choose to walk on the right side, while Australians will walk on the left. Just walk the opposite way, and someone will stop you with a “Mate” or Chum and explain the walking pattern.
As you talk, they will quickly pick up your accent and flip a coin in their head to ask the question “Are you American or Canadian?”, being fully prepared to apologize if their pick of nationality is incorrect.
As Marnie and I walked around Sydney, with our city map in hand, any moment’s hesitation to consult the map, immediately brought a local offering directions. Australians are very friendly.
One of the things that surprised me was the number of signs that are on the highway to remind foreigners that you drive on the left side of the road. Every pullout on the Great Ocean Road had a pair of signs in each direction to remind you of what side of the road you should be on. They really want North Americans to drive safely.
They also have a lot of signs encouraging drivers to get off the road and have a power nap.
Round-abouts are very common in Australia and instead of “Yield” signs, “Give Way” signs replace perform the task.
The day after landing in Sydney, I discovered that there was a tremendous price difference in the price of food. We had gone down to Sydney Harbour to do some exploring and I really enjoy a large black coffee. It is part of my routine in Fort Frances to pick up jumbo or extra large coffee on my way to work.
At the coffee bar on the at the ferry terminal, I ordered my extra large black coffee or “Long Black” as it is known in Australia and paid $5.20. Here I pay $1.50.
Bananas were on sale at “Coles” for $4.29. Lamb was a bargain by our standards.
At the liquor stores, that are privately run, you could buy a good bottle of Australian wine from $2.29 all the way up to several hundred dollars. “Yellow Tail” wines cost about the same in Australia as in Canada.
In Cairns, they have rain days while here in Canada we have snow days. Marnie and I got to experience the Monsoon season. In a suburb of the city, a suburb received 762 mm of rain in a 24-hour period while we were there. Cairns was cut off from the suburbs. And the Pacific Highway was closed down as were the railways.
The schools were closed because the buses couldn’t run.
The next day another 100 mm of rain fell. The people of Cairns took it all in stride. Sixty inches of rain in February and March is the norm.
It’s a wonderful country facing many of the same problems we face in Canada. I’ll talk about that next week.
–Jim Cumming,
Publisher