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Australia is a pretty amazing place. There are so many things that are unique to Australia that may take our international tourists by surprise. If you’re visiting from the US, or Europe, or anywhere else, you probably need to read this post because some things about Australia, people don’t tell you.
I’m a British expat in Australia, married to an Australian. I first visited Australia as a backpacker more than 2 decades ago and have been living in Australia, on and off since 2007. We went travelling for almost 7 years during that period, visiting almost 60 countries. Some of these things about living in, or visiting Australia surprised me!
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If you’d like to know more about life in Far North Queensland, Australia, we have a sister site, portdouglasaustralia.com.au . It’s doing really well!
Things To Know Before Visiting Australia
Here are 12 things you should know about Australia before you visit. You should know before you book flights!
We Don’t Have Great White Sharks Everywhere in Australia
As we spend a lot of time with tourists on the Great Barrier Reef, we know that a lot of you worry about sharks, particularly great whites. The notorious great white shark is in Australian waters, but it’s a cold water fish.
This is why you hear of attacks in the southern part of Australia, New South Wales, South Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.
Tropical waters are too warm for them. In theory. So if you’re visiting the Great Barrier Reef from our home, Port Douglas (or Cairns), nobody gives a passing thought to great whites. You are quite likely to see small reef sharks that will be much smaller than you and will disappear fast.
My husband has seen much bigger sharks out there, but most tourists don’t.
Even my own brother is convinced he’ll be eaten by a Great White on the reef and there’s nothing I can do to convince him otherwise. Their distribution map is here from an Australian marine science site. I’m going to send him this post!
We have a post on what it’s like to snorkel on The Great Barrier Reef, plus one about our sharks in the dark adventure. We like sharks, it’s amazing to see them and nothing beats a day on the reef. We’ve snorkelled and scuba-dived all over the world, our home reef is magic.
Spiders and Snakes are Everywhere in Australia
Australia is home to some of the most deadly snakes in the world, taipans, brown snakes and rough-scaled snakes, for instance. We also have huge pythons, and plenty of them. The deadly funnel webs and redback spiders are here too, plus a few tarantulas. But will you see them?
You’re very unlikely to see a snake or a spider on the streets of any town or city in Australia. They don’t like people and cars.
I’ve lived in Australia on and off for almost 20 years, travelled around with a backpack and camped in every state except Tassie, and I’ve never seen a redback or a funnel web. Which I’m really pleased about, I’m terrified of spiders!
I’m from Europe, we see a lot more spiders in homes and gardens back home than in Australia. We have spider season, autumn, they come indoors back home.
But, if you venture out into the countryside or Outback, maybe the Daintree Rainforest, then you’re much more likely to see snakes and spiders.
Since moving to a 5-acre farm property near Port Douglas, we see a lot of pythons and a few venomous snakes. In Port Douglas, we’ve occasionally seen tree snakes and pythons in gardens and wild areas, always at night. We’ve seen the odd golden orb spider too.
What of the enormous huntsman spider? I’ve seen less than ten in all of my years in Australia, never in the house.
Also remember that all of these species are regional, some are in the tropics, some in the cooler south. Check what venomous creatures are in your region and if you see a snake – just leave it alone and get out of there!
Oh, you need to know about gympie gympie, stinging plant. Some plants are out to get you too.
Dropbears Aren’t Real
A friend in South Africa sent me a text the other day. She’d been watching something about drop bears in Australia on YouTube. Were they real? No they’re not. I was surprised that anyone believed that!
However, Australia does have its own version of bigfoot, the yowie, and I’m inclined to believe that this “mythical” creature or spirit, is real.
Also, koalas are not bears and they stink. I’ve never seen one in the wild.
There Are More Dangerous Things in The Water Than Sharks
In tropical water, in summer, there is a risk of deadly jellyfish. The two we really worry about are box jellyfish and the tiny Irukandje. Both can kill you. Does this mean you can’t swim in summer? No. We still swim, and tours operate to The Great Barrier Reef year-round.
I’ve read wrong information on this from search engines, AI, and other travel bloggers. We most certainly can, and do, swim in FNQ in summer. We often swim on Christmas Day.
On beaches you will find stinger nets, swimming enclosures designed to keep people and jellyfish segregated. On the reef, you will wear a stinger suit. That’s how we do it.
You Can’t Swim on Some Beaches Because of Crocodiles
I have seen a family of European tourists heading to the beach in swimwear, carrying towls, in the Daintree Rainforest of Far North Queensland. Had somebody not stopped them they probably would have marched straight past the memorial bench to a local lady who had died there, and gone to feed the crocodiles.
I’ve also seen people snorkelling in The Inlet in Port Douglas. This estuary is where Lady Douglas takes visitors to see the crocodiles.
If there are crocodiles, and there are in the north, you can’t swim. Port Douglas Beach, Four Mile Beach, is considered safe and people swim at the top end near the lifeguard station.
You Can Go To The Beach in Summer or Winter
Because Australia is so huge, different parts of Australia have different seasonality for the best beach weather. North Queensland is hot year-round, so winter is a popular time to visit, swim at the beach, or snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef.
In the south, summer is beach time. If you’re touring the whole of Australia take this into account. Don’t try to camp in North Queensland or The Northern Territory in summer, it’s way too hot without aircon. I know, I’ve done it.
And of course, Christmas is in summer.
Also, remember that not all beaches have surf, those classic surf beaches are down south. We have a big old surf barrier up here, The Great Barrier Reef.
What is Australian Food?
Does Australia have its own cuisine? Not really, Australian food is a blend of foods brought by the immigrants that call her home. You’ll see a lot of pub food, things like fish and chips, burgers and chips, parmy and chips, and so on.
You should be able to find decent seafood in most coastal places and there are plenty of restaurants specialising in Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, Indian, and so on.
The more off-the-beaten-track you get, the fewer food choices you will have.
Modern Australian food tends to use native ingredients, things like lemon myrtle, wattle seed, and sometimes emu or kangaroo. Australian seafood like bugs and barramundi are popular.
Do we eat kangaroo in Australia? Yes, but not as commonly as other meats. You’ll see it in supermarkets, in pies, sausages, and on restaurant menus. It’s good, a bit like venison, a very lean meat.
Australia is a country of meat pie lovers. Talking to American visitors, they don’t seem to know what a meat pie is, I think they associate pies with sweet desserts. Try the pies! You’ll find beef, chicken, bacon, seafood, kangaroo and sometimes crocodile. Europeans will be very familiar with savoury pies, not so much our American visitors. Some aren’t even familiar with sausage rolls!
One pie or pasty I’ve never been able to find in Australia is a cheese and onion pasty, as we have in Gregg’s back home. Every time we go home to the UK the kids will get something from Greggs. You can get Pot Noodles here though, and Marmite is sold as “Our Mate” because of copyright.
Australia produces both tea and coffee and Australians (particularly those from Melbourne) are a bit coffee-obsessed. But you won’t be able to find an Americano, here you need to order a long black, and it’s not quite the same.
Australia is Huge!
Don’t ever underestimate distances in Australia. You can drive for 24 hours straight and still be in the same state.
To drive from Sydney to Melbourne would take about 9 hours, Sydney to Cairns, 29 hours, Brisbane to Cairns, 23 hours.
You really don’t want to run out of fuel or water in The Outback. It stretches on seemingly endlessly.
Getting around Australia by internal flights is expensive, as are the trains, and not everywhere will have a train station. There is a lot of long-distance driving in Australia. We have to drive 2 hours to our nearest shopping mall or cinema.
Because of this vastness things like wifi coverage, phone coverage, even the postal service, can be spotty. We have a 10 km drive to pick up parcels from the post office and no phone signal at our house.
Australia Gets Cold
This sunburned country has winter, and snow. You can ski in Australia. On my first visits to Sydney and Canberra, I was constantly cold! Australian homes don’t have such good heating and insulation as we do in cooler countries. I don’t know why.
Probably the same reason we don’t have aircon in London, for the one week of the year we need it.
If you’re heading to the south of Australia in winter you will need warm clothes.
If you’re heading to anywhere at elevation in winter, I’m thinking The Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, you can even get frost. Those jungle waterfalls and rainforest streams will be really cold!
Australia Has Had Terrible Bush Fires and Floods in Recent Years
Australian news often doesn’t make it to the US. Bush fires have been bad, and so has the flooding. It’s unlikely to affect you as a tourist, but smoke from bushfires has darkened skies in Sydney and Cairns Airport was briefly closed by flooding at the end of 2023. It’s best to look into adverse weather possibilities. You can always email us if you have any worries or concerns, we’re here on the ground.
We have a post about that cyclone in 2023. We were cut off for 8 days.
Australian Wildlife is Everywhere
Kangaroos and wallabies are hard to not see! They’re on the outskirts of most towns or cities. If you’re driving country roads, particularly at dusk or dawn, there’s quite a high risk of hitting a kangaroo.
Be careful, you can buy kangaroo-repellent devices to put on your car and in our experience they do seem to work. We’ve only hit 2 kangaroos in the last 3 years of country life.
I’ve seen 1 wild echidna and 1 wild wombat, ever.
You will see incredible bird life if you go looking, Australian parrots, lorikeets, parakeets and cockatoos are here in huge numbers. They come in flocks to strip fruit trees bare. At night fruit bats (flying fox) do the same here in the tropical fruit zone of Queensland.
Aboriginal Australia Is Still Here
Australia’s native people are still here and the land is split into areas traditionally owned by particular groups or tribes. Our area is on Kuku Yalanji land, for instance.
You will see Aboriginal art and hear traditional music. Even in Sydney you’re very likely hear a didgeridoo on Circular Quay.
There are Aboriginal festivals and celebrations. I’ve been to an Indigenous dance festival deep in the bush, it was an incredible experience.
Please respect the native people and their culture. Learn more by taking a tour with them to see rock art or sacred sites, you can find out more about their traditional ways and Dreamtime stories. In The Northern Territory we visited the place where the Rainbow Serpent is said to sleep. Read about that NT trip here.
So there you go. I’m here to answer any questions you may have. I’ve visited every state except Tasmania. I plan to fix that soon. Are there any other popular misconceptions about Australia that you can think of?
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