It is hard to believe I arrived in this strange land three years ago!  Time flies when snakes and spiders are trying to kill you.  Just kidding, I’ve only seen one snake and while I see a lot of spiders around, none seem to move at all.  Of all the things I thought I might generate a phobia of in Australia I would never have picked birds.

That’s right, birds.  I am now slightly terrified of birds.  All it took was continued swooping over 3 holes of golf by a small bird to now make me think every bird I see flying is going to come straight for me.  Sara can attest to my flinching. Birds here are also very plentiful and make so much noise.  There are magpies, angry cockatoos, squawking lorikeets and whatever the bird is that makes a “car alarm” noise.  They like to start when the sun comes up, which is 4:45am in Brisbane in the summer.  Woo.  Give me a pregnant poisonous snake under my fridge any day.

Even after all these years its hard to get onboard with the lingo. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to just say “G’day mate” to a stranger and just don’t think to do it.  It still surprises me when someone says it.  I do say “Cheers” a lot now.  I also got called out recently by an American visitor for saying “windscreen” instead of  “windshield”.  So some stuff is sticking.

Things I miss:

• People – that’s a no-brainer
• Retail competition – there’s just not enough people here to have to the Walmarts, Targets and Amazons or more than 2-3 types of any given product
• Funny ads – not a lot of creativity in the TV commercials here
• Central heat / AC – why Australia, why?
• Stable housing location – after not moving for 11 years, we’ve moved 3 times now
• Cheap beer – but the craft beer offerings are getting better
• Good weather radar – radar is terrible here and not very useful locally
• Normal, non-swooping birds

Things I don’t miss:

• Prescription drug and political ads
• Snow/ice (cold weather in general)
• Traffic
• Crowds
• Signing credit card receipts
• Tipping and tax added after the total
• Dollar bills, bland money

Things I’m indifferent about:

• Which side of the road / car to drive on – I believe I’m masterful at driving wherever.
• Long flights – after 7 transpacific flights, what’s another 14 hour flight?

So, I haven’t gone full ‘Straya yet, but I’m slowly getting there.