Knowing Yours Ps and Qs (and Xs) in Australia

Australia’s Hugh Jackman may be one of the world’s favourite actors, but even he can upset people occasionally. While filming Wolverine in Japan, Jackman took a well-earned break to visit a spa. Unfortunately he didn’t realize that even though he was in the men-only section, he was still expected to keep covered up. After about […]

Buying a Home from Australia’s Batwoman

No matter where you go, there are some parts of life which are the same all over the world. Arguably one of them is the fact that while many people aspire to own their own home, the mechanics of buying and moving into one can challenge the most patient of people. A lesser-known fact is […]

Climb every mountain

Australian teenager Alyssa Azar, aged only 16, is currently in full-time training to become the youngest person ever to conquer Mount Everest. She’s already been to Everest base camp twice and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Perhaps surprisingly, Australia’s mountains tend to be relatively small, compared to those in other parts of the world, but like much […]

Rugby – A Ruffian’s Game?

Although the “gentleman’s game” of football is arguably the most popular game in the world, its spin-off, the “ruffian’s game” of rugby has plenty of followers in Australia and other countries across the globe. While the first recorded instance of an international rugby match was between England and Scotland (in 1871), nowadays national rugby teams […]

Australia – The Creative Continent

Australia is known as being a country where people tend to be chilled out and can take a joke. Sometimes these jokes can be very creative. Recently Melbourne resident Tom Overend returned from an extended holiday to Vietnam and Cambodia to find his bachelor bedroom transformed into an enchanted castle fit for a fairy princess. […]

The wonders of Australia

Australia is home to some of the most iconic places in the world. Whether it’s the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the man-made world, or Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Wolfe Creek Crater in the natural world, Australia is full of places which are literally like nowhere else on earth. Some of […]

Fashion down under

Australian fashion-lovers have two new reasons to celebrate. Firstly celebrated fashion label Saint-Laurent will open its online store to Australian shoppers and secondly Sarah Jessica Parker has announced that she will be opening her own fashion line, focusing, naturally on shoes. While other celebrities have had questionable reactions with their forays into fashion and beauty, […]

Canberra – The compromise capital.

It’s not unusual for countries to move their capital cities. Russia’s capital was formerly St Petersburg, Turkey’s was Istanbul and Scotland’s was Dunfermline. It is, however, unusual for a nation’s capital to be decided as a compromise. In this case both Sydney and Adelaide claimed the right to be capital of the new country and […]

Australia – Growing with conviction

There’s a lovely story (which might even have some degree of truth) about a middle-aged Australian lady, who received an unexpected bequest from a relative in England. When she remarked to the lawyer, who brought the good news, that she didn’t know what to do with the money, he suggested that she use some of […]

Australians are socializing everywhere

Australia has the reputation of being a sociable country, so it’s hardly suprizing that social networks have been enthusiastically adopted there. What may be surprizing is just how enthusiastically they have been adopted. The 2013 Yellow Social Media report shows that the march of the smartphone continues in Australia. For the first year smartphones have […]