There are more bookshops in Perth (Australia?) than you can shake a stick at. The first second hand bookshop I found I got excited and noted its location so I could go back there. Then I realised there are bookshops absolutely everywhere, including second hand bookshops in the suburban shopping mall! On a walk through the Perth CBD I passed 7 bookshops in as many minutes, including two second hand, one specialist, one discount and three mainstream. Bibliophiles buy your plane tickets now!
This bookshop is on a main shopping street in Perth CBD
2) Locks (and indicators) are weird
For some reason (maybe because we're upside down(!)) locks seem to go the wrong way round here. This means every time I unlock a door I have to turn the key TOWARDS the door jamb which to me is counter intuitive. I get it wrong every time, especially in the car, although Steve has mastered the lock. He has not mastered the indicators though which for some reason (despite having a right hand drive car (like in the UK)) are on the opposite (right hand side) of the steering wheel. I've lost count of the number of times the wipers have gone on when we want to turn right!
3) The law on sale of alcohol is all wrong.
The licensing laws here are weird, you can't buy alcohol in supermarkets or even anywhere other than bottle shops, but you can buy alcohol in "drive thru" off licenses. I can't get my head around that as driving and alcohol is pretty much the only no-go area for alcohol sales in the UK (no alcohol is sold in service stations) and it seems like the Ozzies are being prudish about selling wine with food in supermarkets only to be careless about drink driving!
A drive through off-license...
4) Charity shops are commercialised
When buying some much needed clothes in "Salvos" a big charity shop over here I noticed that the shop assistants seemed remarkably professional and, well, non-retired. I couldn't resist asking if they were salaried, and yes, they are - so all the charity shops are run like businesses over here and I reckon they are a big improvement over the UK versions, well run, lots of good stuff, staff who know what they are doing and most importantly, a brand that is well respected.
5) BBQs are free!
Woo-hoo! Just take your snags (sausages) to the park and fry 'em up on the free gas powered BBQs the council has generously installed. Maybe Hyde Park should think about doing this, it certainly prevents those blackened patches of grass where everyone runs their disposable barbie!
6) The Ozzies are schizophrenic about water conservation
So Western Australia is very short of water and they are trying to conserve water, (every toilet has a full and partial flush setting for example) but on the other hand they have sprinklers to water grass on roadside verges, and the radio tells you when you're going to need your sprinkler, which seems silly for a country with a water shortage...
7) Cheque, savings or credit anyone?
For some reason when you go to the ATM or use your Ozzie bank card to buy stuff you have to select what type of account you want to use: for some reason we have been told to select savings in the shops and credit at the ATM, but as far as we know we only have one account. If anyone can tell me why we have to do this I'd love to know.
8) Everything is supersized!
As they say, a photo speaks a thousand words... Those are tyres from a monster truck, compare to the normal sized truck carrying them and the guy standing alongside. How big must the truck be...! They use those trucks in the opencast gold mines in Kalgoorlie.
No, it's not a can of paint, its a tub of feta cheese!
9) They love surfing so much they even cast their waves in stone!
Here we are at Wave Rock, WA. It's formed from granite by some kind of obscure erosion. It's a good 3.5 hours from Perth, through 350kms of endless wheatfields and small towns, like Corrigin, where there's a dog cemetery, a fluorescent yellow salt lake, and Wickepin, where AB Facey comes from (good book: A Fortunate Life was written by him).
We stayed in the bush overnight sleeping in the car, but were completely unprepared as we had no cooking equipment so were forced to drink beer and eat chocolate for dinner. It's a hard life ;-)
Cowabunga!!!
The salt lake near Corrigin
10) And finally a joke, courtesy of Murray from work
Did you hear how there's no television in Afghanistan?
They've had a total Telly-ban.
Boom boom
Sign in a shop window in Wickepin (pop. 679) reads "Grandma-in-law said, 40 years ago in 1958, Every bride should have a little brown jug in her cupboard."
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