Aussie here!
Here are a few fun facts!
Despite the stereotype, we don't all get around in singlets, thongs (flip flops to Americans), and hats with corks on them. Calling each other 'mate' can also be seen as an insult, depending on the tone of voice.
Its very hot here, so thongs are common footwear. You can grab cheap pairs everywhere for as little as $2. If you have a 'blowout' (your thong breaks at the strap on the bottom) you can patch it up with a breadclip from your loaf of bread.
All of australia isn't the outback. There is a part in Western Australia called The Nullarbor Plain that is completely flat land with almost no trees. There's one road that goes through it with no speed limit (usual is 110km on a highway) that is packed with emus.
Koalas are cuddly, but they will slice you open with thier claws. Never hold one because of this reason. They'll shred your skin climbing up you. Also, fun fact, 90 percent of koalas have chlamydia, so never put your face near one.
Kangaroos are the same. They'll tear you open with thier back legs if they get close enough to kick you. Kangaroos can be sweet and nice to feed, but the big ones are so dangerous. There's a video getting around of one trying to choke a dog because it got too close. They also are a pain at night because they'll just jump in front of your car out of nowhere. They can easily total a car if a big enough one is hit.
Cassowaries are incredibly massive birds with a huge stony looking bone on top of thier heads. These bids have glossy black feathers with little bits of yellow and red apart from the blue up near thier faces. Usually seen in zoos, these birds are one of the most dangerous to come across because they can kill you with the boney plate. In zoos, they only care about food, but they can dissembowl you with thier massive claws and plate if they wanted to.
Australia has 8 states. Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and a tiny one called the ACT, or Australian Capital Territory.
Australia has the most venemous creatures in the world. Spiders and snakes are the most common around here. You want to shake out your shoes if you leave them outside just in case a Redback or Redbelly curls up inside!
Lamingtons are amazing in Australia and are usually commonly eaten on Australia Day (January 26th) along with Pavlova. Lamingtons are vanilla spongecake rolled in chocolate and coconut. Some other fancier variants include strawberry jam and cream in the middle in lines (jam, cream, jam)
Pavlova is a massive whipped meringue that is topped with all sorts of fruits. Sometimes you can do chocolate-topped ones, but the fruits are the most popular. Passionfruit juice is added over the fruit commonly.
Vegemite is our Aussie spread, but needs to be used very thinly. It's quite strong and salty if put on thickly; almost like soy sauce. Fresh buttered bread with a fine scraping of vegemite tastes the best.
Our leaders are called Prime Minister. We change Prime Ministers so often that ambulance services don't use the question 'who is the prime minister of Australia' when trying to identify if someone has memory loss anymore.
Rabbits are illegal to keep as pets in Queensland unless you are a magician. A stupid law but true. I've never seen a magician up here, but there are no rabbits. Heaps of cane toads though, which are deemed free to kill because they are such a pest.
Slang is huge here. It's used in everyday conversation and is natural. A service station is a servo. Afternoon is arvo or arvi. McDonald's is Maccas. U-turn is chucking a u-ey, or a u-ey. Cigarettes are ciggies or smokes (older people may still use 'fag' for one). Illness is a sickie (or used to describe not going to work 'having a sickie'). Ambulance are Ambo's.
We love anything with o on the end 😂
Old slang is rare to hear and usually only used by older people.
A 'shiela' or 'bird' used to describe a girl, but no-one uses those anymore. Shiela may pop up here and there, but not usually in conversation.
The word Mate is a wierd one. Your friend here is more likely to be a c*nt than a mate. C*nt is used as endearment by some people in the same way mate might be. In others, c*nt and mate fall into offensive territory. Mate comes off sarcastic when used wrong.
Offensive gestures to avoid is a simple one. A peace sign backwards towards the person is more of an 'up yours'. If you blow a raspberry and move the backwards peace sign up, that's a definate 'get f*cked', although people don't use this way anymore.
Another of the same meaning is swiping the tops of your fingers outwards towards the person from under your chin. It's barely used, but it's another 'get f*cked' gesture. The deaf community use this one to mean 'f*ck you', so it's clear what it means in both terms.
Another is holding just your pinky up (fist closed) with or without a little wiggle. It was popularised in an ad about speeding where the slogan was 'speeding? No-one thinks big of you' a few years back. Usually used to mock people speeding or acting like idiots, it pretty much states that they have a small d*ck and aren't as hot as they think they are.
We have an anthem called 'Advance Australia Fair'. Usually only sung at school assemblies or events, this song is sung about our bountiful lands, amazing seas, and hearts our people share as Australians. Our mostly blue flag has the Southern Cross star arrangement on it that is a common tattoo. The southern cross tattoo can be seen more as tasteless or bogan than patriotic because of how overused it is. It was very common to see in the early 2000s.
The legal drinking age here is 18. Guns are illegal completely, and age of consent is 16. You can even get a tattoo at 16 if a parent of guardian is with you, but you can legally get one at 18 by yourself. You can start driving at 16 and 9 months, and go up to 90km on Learners license.
Aussie fables are funny.
There is one of a Yowie monster that lives in the mountains. This one isn't as popular as the others since it is quite old now, but we do have a chocolate similar to a Kinder called a Yowie that is based off the monsters.
The other is the 'Drop Bears'.
Made up to scare tourists and just poke fun at others not familiar to our animals, the Drop Bear is the most common one to tell. It's essentially a rabid koala that drops from the trees to try and kill tourists. It may also be rabid, but is always violent.
The Drop Bear, paired with 'riding kangaroos to school/work' is a common one used to mess with tourists.
The only war we've directly had in the country is, get this, 'The Great Emu War'.
Yes, Emus. The flightless birds.
Because they were so rampant in 1932 and destroying crops, some bright spark armed with guns decided to start shooting them, and the emus won.
Barely any emus were killed because they are tough. There was reports that packs of them had thier own leaders at one point as they spread and continued to destroy crops.
Emus have massive talons that can disembowl you, plus the fact they can easily get 7 or more feet tall when fully grown.
Surprisingly, no-one died in the month long operation where the emus kept breeding and spreading further, deeming the 'War' a failure.
A cartoon called Koala Man touches on this in a humerous way too.
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