One of the benefits of travel is, of course, encountering new people and learning about their cultures. This can be a profound experience, but just as often it’s funny, as different ideas of ‘normal’ meet. Here are a few funny/just different things I’ve seen in Australia:

The Freshmaker of Australia

Orange air spray in the toilet: Almost every toilet I’ve been to in Australia has a little spray can of orange-scented air freshener. Several of the toilets I’ve been to haven’t been ventilated at all, so it makes sense that you’d want to put something other than poop fumes in the air in that enclosed space. But several toilets have open windows and seem to be ventilated fine, so why the can? Does poop have to have an orange flair to it here? Whatever the reason, there’s a can in every can.

Breakfast in aisle 1

Eggs in the aisles: I haven’t seen this in every grocery store I’ve been to here, but in several, the eggs aren’t refrigerated at all. This just about blew my mind, y’all. Eggs in the regular aisles?! You might as well leave meat out of a cooler! I’m pretty sure eggs left out of a fridge hatch overnight and next thing you know, you’ll have baby chicks chirping around the cookies.

He needs a little laser gun in his hand.

Lasers in the streetlights: At busy intersections, there are crosswalk “walk/don’t walk” lights, just like in the States. They have a similar red man standing and green man walking. But Australian crosswalk lights are better fitted out for people with visual impairments. When the crosswalk is red, there’s a steady “blip blip blip” sound, and then, wonderfully, when it changes to green, there’s a shooting lasers sound. It’s like, “pew pew pew” and you’re walking across the street like a sci-fi hero. I love it.

Images mine except for the last one.