There is something about the Aussie mentality that took me a while to figure out. And I’m not even sure if I did it by now. When comparing Germany and Australia I always have to account for the fact that my lifestyles are completely different as well and that I get in contact with different people in different environments. Some things still stick out and and one of those things are mistakes.

Travelling long distances on the road in Australia is different. It’s not just the driving on the other side of the road. There is no separate speed limit for trucks, pretty much regardless of their size. That means that if you’re obeying the speed limit or even stay a bit below it you will sooner or later have a truck in your rearview mirror. And if that truck happens to be a road train you basically have 100t of steel and cargo just meters behind your bumper.

Like in Germany, TV ads in Oz are frequent and annoying. Fortunately, some of them are quite funny. Be it groceries or beer or other topics that you won’t see on German TV

As a former English prison colony, Australia inherited left-hand traffic. In the beginning it takes some time to get accustomed to that. Even as a pedestrian you’re affected as the cars are now coming from a different direction. At places with a lot of tourists a big ’look right’ is painted on the street. The cars Australians usually drive are Holden, Ford or something Japanese. Holden being the only Australian car brand belongs to GM.

While you can buy alcoholic drinks in any supermarket in Germany, you have to go to a designated bottle shop here in Australia. They are all over the city, have names like “Liquor Legends” and are often even drive-through. Like groceries, liquor is really expensive here. A pack of 6x0.375l beer costs around $10-$15 and that’s not the fancy stuff. Beck’s and other European beers run at around $25 for a six pack.

Most important thing to know about buying groceries in Oz is: They are eeexpensive here! Being used to the subsidised prices in the European Union, the first visit to an Australian supermarket kind of made my eyes water. Here are some examples for the cost of every day products. - Mushrooms (1kg) $10 - Onions (1kg) $2.5 - $3 - Capsicum (1kg) $5 - Apples (1kg) $3 - $5 - Bananas (1kg) $2.

There are quite a lot of things here in Australia that are different compared to Germany. I’ll write about a couple of them in a series of posts. First thing you notice is the different attitude of people. Imagine you’re walking down a street in Germany where other people come along your way only once or twice a minute. When you look at them, they usually either ignore you or look away.