Things I've learned about Australia so far

I wanted to learn as much as possible about the nation I'll be visiting in just two weeks. At first I just wanted to find hostels in Sydney and which cities were worth a visit. I've since narrowed it down to hanging around Sydney to get my bearings, flying to Melbourne, renting a car while there to go to Phillip Island, then getting back Sydney in time for my flight back (more likely the day before it). Why?

• Canberra reminds me of Albany. I'd better email rednikki to see why she thought it was so hot. So far it looks dull and not worth the day trip the way the Blue Mountains are.
  
• Wollongong seems to be their answer to "what sucks like Dante's home town?"
  
• I really frickin' hope I can find soy patties when I arrive. The first few things I plan to do are take a shower at the airport, drop my bags in a locker downtown, get some real food while I'm walking around choosing a hostel, and then grab my bags to drop them off. After that, it's time to find a supermarket and see if I'm going to be roughing it with roughage.
  
• Australia only began to be colonized in 1788. That means nothing British is older than the U.S. Constitution.
  
• States don't seem to get along the way they do here.
  
• They have these vekakte things called ice bars. This came from New Zealand, which I guess is another nation lacking snow shovels. They serve very cold vodka in a bar kept at 23F (-5C). You're only allowed in for half an hour because of safety regulations and you are given a furry parka. These guys would wet themselves to see my driveway in January. I'm thinking about having a vodka party on my back porch next winter just to spite this. Still, I may go to the ice bar to prove I'm not deluded.
  
• Australian Football League, a.k.a "footy", is deep into the season. I would like to catch a game at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds while I'm there. It looks like cricket season is just over but I'd still like to see at least a pick-up match.
  
• They drive on the left and the driver sits on the right-hand side of the car. Thank goodness the clutch is still the left foot.
  
• They use "liters per hundred clicks" in place of MPG as a fuel efficiency measurement. This means the number isn't just converted to metric: the value is inverted (higher is lousier cuz you need more liters to get yea far). My car get 29 MPG highway and 23 MPG city-only; these come to... umm... paper here and... 32 over 55 as a factor (58.2%) and that's 16.87 L/km hwy & 13.38 L/km city. Now to make the number work it's 100 divided by that number and I'm seeing 5.93 L/100km hwy & 7.47 L/100km city. In contrast a Mini Cooper claims to be 7.3 L/100km which seems not so hot. Maybe my numbers are funky.
  
• Mindblowingly, all the trunk space measurements on the web sites are still cubic feet. Huh?
  
• My New Beetle (which I will have owned for eight years the day before I leave) is considered a sedan and not a subcompact there. This is much like in the UK. I'd like to rent a Beetle if I can help it because I'll have less to overcome about differences in clutching. Then again I may get so comfortable that I forget it's not my car and do something silly.
  
• Speaking of silly, I wonder how easy it would be to score tasty out there. I mean, I'd have no contacts but that never stopped me before. Then again, absinthe is legal there (but the thujone content is controlled, much like the deal in the UK).
  
• Sydney has all sorts of neighborhoods. The city seems to be split by Parramatta Road, a major drag. North are one set of suburbs and south are different ones. I have yet to learn whether this is a Sunset Blvd type of split or route 9 split where it's just impossible to find a crosstown road.
  
• The Italian neighborhood in Sydney is a borough called Leichhart, named for a Prussian explorer that died before colonization. I guess one group of Europeans is the same as another if they don't speak English.
  
• There really is a beach called Manly. I have yet to find a Butchy or Swishy Beach.
  
• Australia has a race problem, too. They had a referendum in 1967 to give franchise to aboriginees. They're celebrating the fortieth anniversary with, shyte you not, "Sorry Day". At least the question is up front.
  
• "Meds" is a brand of tampon. Thus "I gotta take my meds" means something ridiculously different down there.
  
• Oh yeah, they have geeks. Let's hope there are enough of them.
  

It's going to be fun and I still have a bunch to learn about the culture. Hitting the ground will do a lot of the trick.