Lessons Learned from Australia

Australia isn’t a radically different place from the US, but there were some notable differences and similarities I observed while spending two weeks there.

Public Transportation

Brisbane and the surrounding area easily had the best public transportation system I’ve ever seen. There was an endless stream of buses going in and out of the city, with an easy to use payment system, and relatively low fares. They have a separate “busway” next to the highway, a road only buses can drive on. So even if cars are stuck in traffic, the buses are still able to drive people around at normal speeds.

I was able to explore for 12 days straight and all of my public transportation costs combined came out to be $40 AUD (about 30 US dollars). One day, Mars and I took a train from Brisbane to Gold Coast which takes about an hour by car, and it was about $1.50 one way per person. That’s crazy.

Power Outlets

IMG_3147Every power outlet that I encountered in my time down under had a switch on it. This switch allows you to turn the flow of electricity to that outlet off whenever you aren’t using it, saving energy (therefore money) and making the outlets safer as well. When I told an Aussie that ours were on all the time, she asked “How expensive are your electricity bills?!”

Gas Prices

Gas is expensive in Australia compared to the US. Twice as expensive. While there, my friend filled up her car with 27.65 liters (about 7 gallons) of gas that cost $35.09 AUD (about 26 US dollars). Some quick math, and that comes out to a little over 4 US dollars a gallon, meanwhile the gas station by my house in Dallas sells the stuff for $2.20.

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The majority of the difference in costs comes from a fuel tax in Australia. Their fuel tax when converted comes out to over $1 US dollar per gallon of gas in added price. This tax revenue is partially used to fix their roads, but a few articles I read argued that not enough of the tax revenue was being invested in infrastructure.

Vehicles

One would think that with the high gas prices, people would only buy small, fuel-efficient cars. While there were many compact cars, there were quite a few ridiculously large, jacked up vehicles as well. The black tube on the side of the truck on the right is a snorkel, which allows you to drive through water without flooding your engine. These trucks are a great way to explore the Australian bush, but a silly and inefficient way to drive on the highway (which is where I saw most of these contraptions).

While every country has their good and bad aspects, it’s always interesting to explore somewhere new and compare and contrast with your home country. Have you found something different abroad that you wished we had in the US?