AUSTRALIAN STEREOTYPES
By Cayla Graner
Stereotypes are found on every continent. The French are rude, the Americans are all fat, Chinese people are all smart. One cannot truly understand or interpret stereotypes until you have completely immersed yourself in that country’s style of living. When I was getting ready to go to Australia in 2017, I had this stereotype in my mind that Australia was full of blonde haired, tanned skin, blue eyed men and women who surfed a lot and were laid back. As I was there though, I realized that yes, there are Australians that fit this stereotype, but in reality Australia is filled with unique people from multiple different backgrounds Here are 5 stereotypes that I heard from the states or that I personally thought before I went.
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Australia is known for their huge spiders, but a friend once told me that it’s the small spiders that are the dangerous ones. Not sure how that made me feel better…
This is partly true. All Australians get a month off of work as their summer holiday and most of them only work 30 hours a week. Of course there are exceptions, but it seems that the phrase, “Work hard, play hard,” is very much true in Australia. It is common for Aussies to surf in the morning before heading on to work, or hit the beach after a long day at work.
The most dangerous animals in my opinion were the seagulls that would swarm the beaches and literally steal your food right from your hand and then poop on you.
Aussies are fun, friendly, and very carefree! I was in a grocery store once and the cashier was having a fun long chat with the customer and was bagging her groceries very slowly. The customer was engaging in the conversation and didn’t seem to mind how long she was standing there. This seemed so weird to me, because in America everything is about being fast and the workers hardly ever take the time to talk to you.
Kangaroos and Koalas are not everywhere! In fact, in most areas of Australia it is illegal to hold or have a koala. I had to travel all the way to Cairns just to pet a koala. And despite what Aussies tell you, “drop bears” are not a real thing. So if they try to trick you into believing they fall from the sky and attack you, you can be prepared to get them back. And never call them koala bears, I was reminded multiple times that they were not a species of bear.
The one thing about Australia that is fast however, is how they get around. The bus and train are used for travel, but most of the time walking is preferred. The Aussies are very fast walkers and they will even walk on the escalator.
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Definitely false!! I lived in Sydney for three and a half months and although my roommates saw a few bugs and snakes, I was never in contact with any animals. There are birds that fly and walk everywhere, but the dangerous spiders and snakes aren’t everywhere you walk. S ON D ER · 19
Sydney is a very urban place, so there aren’t a lot of creatures. Of course there are poisonous creatures in Australia, but you really have to travel outside of Sydney to get to them.
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This is pretty true! In Sydney, there are a lot of places to walk and bike instead of taking the train or bus. Of course I don’t know what other places in Australia are like, but I can say that Sydney is pretty fit. The portions of food are a lot smaller than in America, and the ingredients are a lot healthier. Almost everything you get has avocado, pumpkin, or fruit in it. There are a few chains in Sydney, but there are mostly local places to eat. And even the chains that they do have, like McDonald’s, have a healthier menu with better ingredients.
