Transcript of AE 1043 - 10 Things You Need To Know Before Coming To Australia

G'day, you mob. We're back again. Today, we are reacting to this video "10 Things You Must Know Before Visiting Australia" by Tristan Kuhn on YouTube. Let's get into it.

What's good y'all? Tristan here and today, I'll be sharing with you 10 things you must know before visiting Australia.

So, as you can tell, Tristan is from the US, and I have reacted to a few of his videos. He's obviously spent a lot of time Down Under in Australia and has done a lot of content based on his reaction as an American to Australia. So, that's why I love reviewing his videos. It's interesting to see his take.

All right, first up, you must know what these flags right here mean. The problem with these flags is if you're not from Australia, you probably have no idea what they mean. But if you're from Australia, they're so common knowledge that you just assume everyone knows what they mean. These flags right here show where it is safe to swim. So, if you're on the beach looking to hop in, go look for these flags, there'll be two of them.

Anywhere between those two flags is where it's safe.

So, those two flags are the surf lifesaving flags that you will see at main beaches around Australia, where there is a surf lifesaving club or surf lifesaving presence. If you see red and yellow on the beach, it's going to be associated with surf lifesaving.

But if you see those flags on the beach between those flags is where the surf lifesaving club and officials or surf lifesavers, "officials", that are involved have designated as safe along the beach. It changes from day-to-day. Rips can move up and down the beach, these are areas of calm water that look inviting but will suck you out to sea and you can end up drowning.

In fact, a lot of foreigners and Australians drown in rips every single year. So, if you go to the beach and you see these flags, swim between them or just ask a surf lifesaver or someone else at the beach where it's safe to swim, don't just go into the most inviting looking place.

Australian oceans are no joke. They have some of the strongest rip currents in the world, and every single year, some tourists make the news for not following these rules getting taken by a rip current five miles out to sea. And you don't want to be that tourist.

A good show for you to check out, especially if you're learning Australian English is Bondi Rescue. So, Bondi Beach is probably the most famous Australian beach... In the world? In Australia. It's just the most famous beach. And they have a surf lifesaving club there that has its own TV show.

And if you've watched the series, you will see that people quite often each season end up drowning because they don't heed the warnings, they don't follow the rules, they don't look at the flags. So, check out that show. There's also a lot of laughs on that show. There's a lot of unique characters that pop up on the beach.

Now, number two, when you're in Australia, don't speed. I can't emphasise this enough, they have speed cameras all over Australia. They are super strict. If you're going just a couple of km or miles over the speed limit and pass one of these, they'll take a picture of your licence plate and mail you a very hefty fine in the mail. I had a friend who didn't know about these, and he accumulated about $3,000 worth of tickets in just two months...

Jesus Christ, two months. Yeah, so I mean, first and foremost, if you come to Australia, don't speed. Don't speed. Like, don't break the law. If you have to drive fast, drive the limit, right? Otherwise, get a plane or maybe hire a helicopter or a speedboat. I don't know. But yeah, Tristan's not a fan of the speed cameras and the police presence around Australia, as he's mentioned in other videos.

But there is a lot of it. You're going to see police using radar guns. You're going to see cars parked on the side of the road with cameras in them that take photos of you. And you're also going to see speed cameras along highways and freeways that will snap photos of you if you go anywhere over three kilometres over the speed limit. So, I mean, it happens to all of us, you know, sometimes we have lead feet, and we push down a little too hard.

I've been fined a few times in the past but try and avoid it where you can. You'll get done and it costs a lot. Fines can be hundreds, thousands of dollars.

Also, don't be on your phone because they have phone cameras as well, so they can tell somehow if you're on your phone and you'll get a ticket for that as well.

These just came in recently. In fact, I noticed the- A story the other day in the newspaper showing that I think around Sydney, they have these cameras now that look down over the car. And if you have your phone in your hand, on your lap, if it's anywhere that's obviously you using that phone, the photo will be taken and obviously they use an AI or something to be able to pin these photos down and then send you a fine for using your phone.

So, another thing to be aware of. Again, if you're going to use your phone in your car, have it up on the, what do you call it, up on the windscreen or on some sort of a mount? And have organised whatever you're going to do with your phone before you start driving. Okay? Because yeah, in Australia, you will get fined if you are using your phone in your hands whilst driving.

And three is don't be upset and just expect to pay extra for sauce. Not if you're at a nicer sit-down restaurant, but if you're at any grab and go place, burger joint, you know, fish and chip shop, anything like casual food, they're going to charge you for like any sauce.

Like it doesn't matter, barbecue sauce, ketchup, like whatever you want, mayonnaise. If you're at a place like KFC just gives you like a little packet of it, this is going to be about 50 cents, but if they give you a little side dish with it, it's going to be about one to two dollars

I'll tell you a trick here, if you go to anywhere like KFC, McDonald's, any of those sort of large chain takeaway places. If you want to get sauce for free, look for the youngest person working the till who looks like they have the least experience.

And then after you've ordered and you've paid, then ask, oh, by the way, do you mind if I grab some sauce? Tends to work more often than not that they'll just give it to you, and they're not going to put it through the till for 50 cents.

Very clever, boys.

But yes, he's mentioned this before in other videos, Australia is renowned for having these kinds of takeaway stores like fish and chip shops, burger shops, and they will package the sauce in small plastic containers that they then sell for anywhere up to several dollars.

For you to do, my trick is order your food and then go to the supermarket whilst you're waiting for your food, buy a bottle of sauce, mustard, whatever it is that you want to put on your food, and you'll probably be able to get it for about the same price as that tiny little 20ml, 50ml container of sauce at the takeaway store. But yeah, it's a way for them to make extra money. It's just what they do. What do you expect? What do you expect?

You don't have to tip there, so you're good on that end.

That's it, you can save all the money on tips and spend it on sauce.

At number four, if you are going to be buying alcohol or going to clubs, you might want to bring your passport with you if you're not from Australia. This varies greatly, depending where in Australia you're at, so for example, when I was in Melbourne, they were really strict on it. Certain liquor stores, certain clubs, they would not let you in without a passport.

It's not so much about a passport, it is about having valid identification. Obviously, a passport works as ID, but if you have a learner's permit, probationary permit or a full licence in Australia, often if you have a student card from a university that has your birthday on it, they need to see that you are over 18 in order to enter a lot of these places where they're selling alcohol, as well as buying alcohol in these places.

And the staff, at least the ones that are well trained will ask you for identification if you look younger than 25. So, it doesn't matter if you are 30, if you are 18, if they perceive you to appear younger than 25 years old, they are legally required to ask for identification. And if they don't and you turn out to be under 18 and you get into the club and for whatever reason, there's a police presence that finds out about that.

They can be fined tens of thousands of dollars and have their alcohol licence taken away from them. So, that's why it happened. So, okay. So, yeah, have ID on you if you want to enter clubs and drink in any of the major cities. Well, probably anywhere. So, just have it on you at all times.

There in Victoria, that is the law. But at the same time, there are plenty of bars and clubs and, I don't know, bottle shops and whatnot, where they'll serve you with just a driver's licence. But those places are kind of bending the rules...

They're not bending the rules. They can use a driver's licence. They don't need your passport; they just need identification that states your age. Some ID if it's from a different country may not work, so be sure that you've got something that is either your passport that is obviously accepted everywhere or specific identification from Australia. Okay. And if you're worried about it, check with someone.

...Like Queensland, where I never was asked once for my passport, so it really varies greatly. Now, number five is get used to swearing. If you hear people saying like bad words around you, don't be offended by it. Cussing is just a big part of Australian culture, and it's used a lot more there in just everyday language.

It's interesting that he said "cussing". So, this is a verb that Australians won't tend to say. We're not usually going to say, "to cuss".

You have to use so many cuss words?

"To cuss". We're usually going to say, "to swear, to swear". Okay. So, yeah. But he's right, there are loads and loads of Australians who swear like crazy. It's not every single Australian, but you're definitely going to hear it quite often. And that tends to be a stereotypical difference between America and Australia. You will hear us drop the F-bomb and the C-bomb...

(beep) dog (beep).

...You know, one of the worst words in the English language much more frequently than Americans. Not necessarily in anger, but you'll hear swearing quite often in Australia. Okay. Again, this is not a suggestion that you should swear, but just be aware that that's going to happen. And it's not always that someone's, you know, having a go at you, they're not angry with you. That's just how they express themselves, especially tradies.

Number six, expect and be ready to pay at the counter when ordering food at restaurants. So, it's really common there not to bring your cheque to the table. So, either they might go to your table, get your order and whatnot, you eat. Then when you're done, you go to, I don't know, certain checkout place to pay.

Or sometimes you go up to the bar or like ordering station and you'll tell the bartender like your order, like your food order, not drink order. And then they'll put it through and bring it to your table. But don't end up like me sitting at your table, like, what is taking so long? Like, waiter.

In your average cafe or restaurant, you know, takeaway store that sells pizza or fish and chips or burgers or something, they're not going to bring the bill to your table. They're either going to get you to pay before you sit down, or they're going to get you to come up after you've had your food and pay then. If you go to a sort of high-class restaurant, it is very common that they will bring the bill to the table.

So, you're not going to have to get up and pay because it's seen as a kind of cheap experience if you have to do all that yourself. When you go to an expensive restaurant it's expected that the waiters and the staff are going to do everything for you. Okay. So, there will be places that you can go where they'll bring the bill to your table.

The other thing that's interesting here that we talked about last time is that you don't have to tip in Australia. You can tip, you know, there is a tipping culture to some degree, but it's not required. And this is because we have a minimum wage that's pretty high.

When I was working at a restaurant, I was getting paid about $25-$26 an hour, so I didn't need tips to get by. In America, their minimum wage is much lower and a lot of the time tips that are received for service make up the bulk of their wage. The other interesting thing here is that as a result...

And no tip!? No tip!?

...Waiters in Australia won't tend to be as polite, as attentive as American waiters because they don't have to work for those tips, they get paid by the hour.

Enjoy your soup.

Number seven, and this is a big one. So, if you're about to go to the bathroom, make sure you check carefully in the toilet before you sit down. Australia is known for their abundance of super venomous snakes and spiders.

Yeah, can you imagine waking up early in the morning, sitting on the toilet and then this popping up between your legs?

Okay. So, I mean, this is true, but it's not true everywhere. So, if you're anywhere in Australia, don't just freak out thinking there's always going to be a snake in your dunny, right, in your toilet. That is something that has never happened to me down here in Victoria.

Maybe it would happen if you went camping somewhere and it was an outdoor toilet and it was the middle of summer where it was really warm and somehow a snake from the bush got into the outdoor dunny. But it's not that common in the colder areas of Australia.

If, however, you start going north along at least, especially the East Coast and you start going into northern parts of Queensland in particular, yes, you're going to come into contact with snakes much more frequently because they're more abundant and because of the temperatures being warmer, they're going to be around more frequently entering your house.

And for whatever reasons, toilets seem to attract a lot of animals, probably because of the water. There was an interesting story I saw a while back, though, and I think this was in Victoria, where a tradie was bitten on the penis two times by probably the same redback spider in a porter loo that was used on a worksite, and he had to go to the hospital twice in order to deal with that.

So, yeah, there are plenty of animals that do end up in the toilet. If you're really worried about it, just look before you sit. Maybe I should have said, look before you (beep).

Snakes like to curl up in the toilets for warmth. The last thing you want is a venomous snake coming out and biting your arse. I'm just kidding. None of that is true.

It is. It's not going to be a venomous snake. I think a lot of the time, though, with these snakes that they're going to be pythons that you will find, okay. Things like carpet pythons or diamond pythons, or yeah, they'll be pythons. Don't worry about it. Don't freak out. Maybe there'll be green tree frogs, too.

The truth is that Australia isn't that deadly, and you shouldn't be worried about the venomous animals there at all.

You're much more likely to die in a car accident than you are from a snake bite, a crocodile attack, a jellyfish sting, a spider bite, any of that stuff. You are much more likely to die from a dog attack, from you driving a car and hitting a kangaroo and then driving off the road. So, yeah, just put things in perspective. You're very, very, very unlikely to die from spiders, snakes, crocodiles, sharks, any of that stuff.

Matter of fact, you are way more likely to die from an animal like a horse, a cow, a bee, even a shark attack than you are to die from a snake or a spider in Australia.

I think horses actually end up killing the most Australians each year, and it's probably not that the horse is actively killing them. It's that they're falling off the horse, knocking their heads and then subsequently dying. But yeah, horses, if anything, next time you get on a horse, you should imagine it's like 70 times worse than being near a venomous snake.

Every American I knew when I was about to leave was, oh, watch out for the snakes, watch out for the spiders. There's so many poisonous stuff in Australia. I do tons of hiking, and not once have I seen a poisonous snake or spider in my time in Australia. Want to know some facts? Not a single person has died from a spider bite in Australia in over 40 years.

There you go, I think the last time someone died of a funnel web spider bite was back in the 70s or 80s. So, yeah, it was a long time ago. I've used this graph before and yeah, check out the most common killers on there. It's horses, cows, mammals- Other mammals, hornets, wasps, bees and then sharks. And this is over a 10-year period. So, it's not even 70 people dying a year from horses, cows and other animals.

It's over a 10-year period. But yeah, don't freak out about animals in Australia. You're much more likely to die by other people, cars, diseases, heart disease. Freak out about that. Next time you go to McDonald's, maybe, you know, have a panic attack. Put things in perspective.

Now, number eight is you need to know that driving on the left side of the road, most likely the other side for you is easy. People often really worry to drive in Australia, to rent a car, and I'm here to tell you, don't be. Myself and tons of backpackers and people that I've met, we all rented cars and it's so easy. Like, you instantly adjust to it.

Like, in your lane and you just, I don't know, just the way the lanes go, it's not hard to switch to the other side like you might think. The only thing that'll probably give you trouble is when you're going to hit your blinker or your windshield wiper, you're probably going to accidentally hit the other one because they're switched. Besides for that, you're all good.

This messed me up for a long time. I had a BMW when I was younger, and for whatever reason, I think because they're European cars and they just take the entire steering rack and put it on the other side of the car. The indicators and the lights were on the opposite side, so I had to get used to doing that.

And so, even though I was driving and knew how to drive, I was constantly screwing that up, especially when I changed cars after that back to an Australian sort of model. But yeah, in Australia, we drive on the left. It's not that difficult. You can rent cars pretty easily. In fact, if you guys want a little tip, you can actually get free access to rental cars.

I'll put a link up here. There are a few websites, and they require people to drive the cars back from where they've been taken to the original city that they've come from. So, if someone hires a car in Darwin and drives it to Perth, quite often, they will allow you to use the car for free or even a few dollars a day to drive the car back from Perth to Darwin.

So, it's an easy way to get access to wheels for free and to go on a little road trip, you know, so check it out. But yeah, just take your time getting used to driving on the left in Australia.

Now, number nine. This is probably- It might be the most important one on this list, and that is that Australia is really big. Don't think you're going to see it all in a one-week trip. Saying you're going to go to Australia and hit maybe four or five of the big cities and the Great Barrier Reef.

That's literally like coming to America and like, oh, I'll just do a little trip to go to New York and then we'll hit northern and then Southern California, and we'll hit Vegas and Florida. How about Washington DC? They're really far apart. You need time for that. So, if you're visiting Australia, either lot yourself a good bit of time or stick to just one or two areas.

There's pretty much going to be two things that you can do here. You can either go to the West Coast and, you know, start in Perth and then drive north, and there is pretty much, you know, nothing in the way of other big cities when you go north.

Or you can come to the East Coast and either drive west to Adelaide or drive up and down the east coast, where there are all the major cities. You're going to have Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, all the other cities Bundaberg, Mackay, Cairns. Yeah, all the way up the coast there. So, you can see quite a bit on the East Coast if you want to go on a road trip.

But yeah, you're not going to see all of Australia in a week. In fact, I think there was someone who set the record recently for driving around Australia, doing a loop of the entire continent in the fastest amount of time, and it was a bunch of guys in a four-wheel drive, and I think it was five and a half days.

I'll put it up on screen. But it was a crazy effort, and they were just driving 24 hours a day unless they were obviously, you know, at a pit stop or putting fuel in the car. But that's how big the place is. Insane.

And number 10, locals will appreciate this one. That is that if you go to Australia, do not call the city in the South "Melbourne". That's not how they pronounce it there in Australia. It is Melbourne. Mel-bin, not Mel-burn.

A little tip here, it's not Mel-bin, it's Mel-bn. So, use the schwa sound instead of the /ɪ/ short like vowel sound from "it or bit or sit". /ɪ/. It's /ə/ okay. Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne. But yes, we get ticked off quite a lot of the time when Americans seem to mispronounce every city in Australia, the animals in Australia, all sorts of things. They would just butcher the words. They'll say, Mel-born...

Where in Melbourne can I buy a neti pot?

...They'll say Can-beara. They'll say Bris-bean, kehrnz and things like koo-a-la, ee-moo...

Koala and a bear... About the emu Wars...

Yeah, it's crazy. That's one of the biggest pet peeves that I think of Australians when Americans are involved. It's the pronunciation of the different places. Any Americans listening to this podcast or watching this video, work on your pronunciation, guys. We still love you.

...Will love the (beep) out of this. So, you want to sound like you're a little bit educated and know something about Australia. Don't call it Mel-burn...

Exactly, exactly. Just take a little bit of time to learn the pronunciation of these places and then just crush it and you'll blend right in. So, that's it, guys. If you enjoyed this video, make sure to check out this one over here and I'll see you next time. Bye.