Mitt Liv I Oz

* The phrase "we've got a great lifestyle" means everyone in the family drinks too much.

* The most popular and widely praised family in any street is the one that has got the swimming pool.

* On the beach, all Australians hide their keys and wallets by placing them inside their sandshoes. No thief has ever worked this out.

* It's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to hold.

* On picnics, the Esky is always too small, creating a food versus grog battle that can only ever be solved by leaving the food behind.

* Whether it's a birthday party, the opening of Parliament, or the launch of a new art gallery, there is no Australian event that cannot be improved by a sausage sizzle on the barbecue.

* There is no food that cannot be improved by the application of barbecue sauce.

* If there's any sort of free event or party within a hundred kilometres, you'd be a mug not to go.


* The phrase "a simple picnic" is not known. You should bring everything you own. If you don't need to make three trips back to the car, you're not trying.

* A thong is not a piece of scanty swimwear, as in America, but a fine example of Australian footwear. A group of sheilas wearing black rubber thongs may not be as exciting as you had hoped.

* Historians believe the widespread use of the word "mate" can be traced to the harsh conditions on the Australian frontier in the 1890s, and the development of a code of mutual aid, or "mateship". Alternatively, Australians may just be really hopeless with names.