Wonderful and Wacky Land of Oz

Something very unsettling about Australia is how very similar it is to the United States in many ways. Australia has KFC, Aldi grocery stores, Target, Pottery Barn (but they call it Domayne), 7-11, ETC. Sometimes we would be walking along and forget we were half way around the world from home. Their TV shows are mostly all American too. American Idol, most daytime soaps, Deal or No Deal, ETC. They do have some of their own shows, but primarily they watch American T.V. . Do not get me wrong, Australia is still very different in many ways, but there were moments that were almost eerie, and I had to take a step back to realize where I was.

One major difference betwixt the US and Oz are the prices of things. Australia is EXPENSIVE. My husband who always complains about prices in Paris, said he would never complain about Paris again because Australia is just THAT EXPENSIVE. A MAC lipstick that is $14.00 dollars at your local Nordstrom was $40.00 in OZ. Granted, prices were in Australian dollars (the AUD), but while we were there the difference between the US dollar and the AUD was about 6 cents. That is insane. Also at 7-11, a 12 oz Diet Coke was around $4.00. Damn. I never even found out what gas/petrol was there a gallon, but everyone drives.

The Australians have parental warnings before every show except cartoons. They warn of the tone, language, content, etc. What I find strange is their commercials. Some of them are QUITE naughty, and they have no warnings. There was one commercial in particular that played over and over. It took my husband and I a few minutes to get it, but once we did, he thought it was the funniest thing ever in the whole world. It is the video at the top of the screen. I am sometimes not successful at imbedding videos into posts so I hope it works. It is quite funny, but naughty none the less. Those crazy Aussies.

Have a wonderful day!