My wife lived in Australia for a bulk of her life in Australia, and one of the things she constantly mentions is how meat pies and Macca's were how she gained a lot of weight during her first two years living there. She always says if we visit Australia sometime in the future, I absolutely have to try meat pies and Macca's, and that American McDonald's pale by comparison.

Putting the above unnecessary information above, is there a key difference between NZ and Australian meat pies?

Hey everyone,

I’m considering a career change from culinary to a field that better utilizes my skills while offering a better work-life balance and higher pay. I'm thinking about transitioning into HR, possibly within the same industry, as I believe a degree isn’t necessary for entry and there’s potential for upward mobility.

Is this a good direction to pursue, or do you have any suggestions for other jobs I could consider that don’t require formal qualifications or only need a short course, but still offer promising career opportunities? Thank you for your input!

I hope it's okay to ask here, I wasn't suere where else to ask and I need advice. I am planning on making an appointment for a mental health care plan soon, as I am severely depressed and have a lot of trauma that needs sorting. In the past, when I've asked for a mental health care plan, I've answered no to any questions regarding suicide, as even when I was feeling bad I didn't even want to consider it. However, things have been worse lately and the honest answer to the question of if I've had suicidal ideation is 'yes'.

If I answer yes, will anything happen? I need to mental health care plan to see my therapist and I don't want to lie to my doctor either. However, if being honest gets me sent to a hospital against my wishes, then I will have to lie. I need the mental health care plan though, rather urgently.

Sorry to ask this question, but I really needed to hear from other Australians.

My husband doesn't think there is a class system in Australia. He thinks because anyone can come into money and basically buy their way into places there isn't a true class system here.

My friend is leaving Singapore for good and back to home (Australia). What's a good recommendation for a farewell gift? 45, male, enjoy trekking, diving, beers.

Silly question probably but I've heard this expression a few times. Other than, I like the thing that you did just now, does it carry a more deeper meaning in Australian culture? It's an expression I've mostly heard since moving to Australia so just want to be sure as when I've heard it, I feel there's a little more to it than just gratitude for one thing. Thanks!

Hi! I did calisthenics for like 8 years on and off and was trying to find stretching routine videos, but all that’s coming up is the other kind of calisthenics.

Does anyone here do or maybe have a family member that does cali and know any good YouTube videos or instagram accounts, etc that have stretching routines?

I remember some of it but not enough and much prefer calisthenics style stretching routines yoga and such.

Thanks!!

Hi My facebook account has been hacked. I cant get into it at all. Doesn't recognize my login or password. My friends have been scammed as well.

What can I do to get my account back ? Or do I create a new account ?

Thanks

Hello you beautiful people!

We are from Switzerland & will (rather spontaneously) come to your beautiful country for around 2 weeks (mid Nov) :). My father (who passed away) always wanted to go there - so this is even an emotional trip as well :)

As you can imagine (I mean...I'm swiss 😂): your country is BIIIIG for me. What I particularly love when travelling is discovering nature, landscapes, animals, hiking and local food. We will travel with a mini camper (Autobarn Stationwagen, so the simplest of the simplest I guess), starting & returning point will be Perth (so it has to be a round trip).

So this is what I created myself (you see, I'm ready to put some effort into this as well 😜):

12-Day Camper Trip Suggestions from Perth (Nature & Budget-Friendly):

1. Northern Route: Perth – Pinnacles – Kalbarri – Hutt Lagoon (Pink Lake) – Lesueur National Park – Jurien Bay – back to Perth. Supposedly known for stunning coastal views, unique landscapes, and plenty of wildlife. Has anyone done this route? Is it as relaxing as it sounds?

2. Southern Route: Perth – Margaret River (wine region) – Dunsborough – Cape Naturaliste – Busselton – Walpole (Tree Top Walk) – back to Perth. Said to be famous for dense forests, amazing beaches, and possibly even some free parks. How’s the experience? Is it worth the extra driving?

Alternative Question: Is there a route from Perth to Esperance and back that’s doable in 12 days without feeling rushed?

I'm grateful for any feedback, suggestions, route optimizations, critiques or even completely different approaches — open to any tips you’ve got!

So the total leave period is around 6 weeks including the company shutdown

Canadian here. Since I've been here, I noticed a significant proportion of trucks have snorkel kits installed, which is uncommon in Canada. What causes the need for all these trucks to have snorkel kits here in Aus?

I'm a dual citizen of bothe Aus and the US, but I stupidly forgot about renewing my Aus passport and now it's expired. I'm planning to renew it ASAP but here's the thing - my Grandma in the US is very sick. As in given a fortnight at most and probably less than that. And I need to get over there before the 6 weeks a passport is estimated to take.

I know you can apply for an emergency one on compassionate grounds but you apparently need proof and I don't really know what that means - if she had already passed I guess I could show the death certificate but how do I prove that she's just terminally ill?

My question is - can I travel out of the country on just my US passport? The Home Affairs website says that I shouldn't. But not that I can't. I'm more than willing to go through some extra effort/expense to get over there earlier but I just don't know what I might need to do. I should also mention that my passports were linked last time I travelled, so I guess they'll be able to see that I am an Australian citizen but just with an expired passport - I don't know if that makes it better or worse. Also I do intend to stay longer overseas than my passport would take to arrive, so I might be able to re-enter the country with a current passport.

Yes I realize I'm an idiot for letting my passport expire in the first place.

TIA for your help

I'm a 66 year old bloke, who has always worn hipster briefs, but of late, I've had my balls getting squeezed when I sit. I guess my sack is stretched with age.

Diving in & relocating them with my hand is frowned on in public.
I'm thinking that more supportive undies my help. I've seen those trunks with the ball pouch, but dunno how they'd go.

Advice please.

I ride my motorbike to work 5 days a week, about 4km away from home which takes me about 12/13 minutes (work is in Surry Hills, Sydney)

I am not even joking when I say there is not one day when one or a mix of these scenarios don’t happen:

• cars not indicating when changing lane
• cars not even looking if there’s motorbikes when changing lane (resulting in me breaking hard to not get hit)
• cars stopping on an empty road without indicating/ hazard on
• cars not looking twice at intersections
• pedestrians crossing in middle of the road without checking of any incoming traffic while staring at their phones

The list could go on..

While I can understand we can all make mistakes, what baffles me is that no one ever apologises with the hand gesture!!!!

I have been riding in Australia for few years now and I’m starting to feel quite unsafe/concerned on the level of total unawareness of drivers and pedestrians.

Do people get their driving licence from Mickey Mouse?? Can people stop looking at their phones for 5 seconds when crossing a road??

Do you have dinning table? We don’t have a real dinning room as I do family daycare, but we have the table. It never gets used, it’s literally a dumping ground for EVERYTHING! I want to get rid of it, hubby doesn’t.

I bought one of the maccas grimace hats for myself (it's purple grimace on one side and then it's reversible, so the other side has yellow mcnugget buddies).

I showed it to my relatives overseas via video chat.

And they were so impressed with it lol. They live in SE Asia in a poor country. It's a tropical humid hot country near the equator, so the hat will help them avoid sunburns as well.

And they want me to buy one hat each for them. But the thing is, I have 40 relatives overseas that want one. Relatives from my mums and dads side. And then obviously even more relatives that my mum and dad don't personally know.

I mean, the profits of the hats are going to the maccas charity. And I'm buying the hats, it's not like I'm asking maccas to give it to me for free.

The hats are $9.95 each, so it will cost me $398. I'm not concerned about the price, I just feel kinda embarrassed to ask for 40.

But I feel like I'm going to be judged for buying 40 hats.

Should I just tell my relatives "no"?

I’m moving out and work full time and I found those pre made type food things and it’s 150 bucks for 15 meals which would be my dinner + lunch for the week is that good value $10 a meal?

I'm an international student in uni lucky enough to land a mining internship as a geo here in Australia, with a rotation on-site and at the office.

While I'm really excited, what scares me is that I've never done FIFO before, and even if I'm on a pretty good roster, I do not know whether I would be able to survive 12-hour work days knowing how uni already stresses me out even if I have much more free time.

I've already interned full-time elsewhere in Europe (diff work culture) in academia, albeit unpaid which is the norm back in the EU unfortunately. While my supervisors told me I did well, I did jackshit and I was mostly in the canteen spamming the free coffee and cookies and I do not know how that'd translate in a completely different industry where at least I can walk around and do more fieldwork.

I do plan to move around (within Australia but moreso around the world) if I decide to go full-speed ahead of this career trajectory. But again, I really do not know how uni compares to office/FIFO work.

What is the typical resume for a prime minister? Where do they usually come from? What about state premiers?

I am American, and our presidents tend to go governor->president or senator->vice president->president. For governors it’s usually senator->governor or state attorney general->governor

According to other Australian's who is the most hated Australian of all time and why?

Edit: living or dead.

Shower head broke the other week. Having a browse in bunnings, contemplating getting a rain shower with a hose head attachment. I like to have a warm shower, and then turn it down to cool off in the warmer months. My thoughts are normal shower with the hose head and cool off with the rain shower. I live in brisbane, so you know the climate.

Hello everyone,

I’m excited to share that I’ll be starting a new job on December 2nd. My future employer has a shutdown period from December 23rd to January 4th for the Christmas vacation (7 working days and 3 public holidays). My last day at my current job will be November 29th, and I have accrued 14 days of annual leave.

I’m considering not using my leave and opting for a payout instead to help cover the two weeks during the Christmas shutdown. I also plan to take unpaid leave at my new job during the shutdown to accrue annual leave for travel later next year. I understand that this approach might result in higher taxes and that superannuation won’t be paid out.

Do you think this is the best course of action? Should I consider using 4-5 days of my leave instead? I’m fine with coming into work now, but if taking leave is more practical, I’m open to that as well.

Thank you for your advice!

What phone games app do you know to play pool or chess with Aussies and you can chat with them? Like Plato

What is it like? I'm about to do my work experience in one soon and I'm kinda scared

We regularly get posts about moving to Australia and rather than clutter up the sub with repeat questions we’re providing this weekly megathread.

Ask our community any questions you like here in the megathread.

Aside from our sub the best place to start is the ‘Moving to Australia’ page of the Australian Border Force

Also worth checking out the r/AusVisa subreddit.

External sources of information

Australian Border Force - Moving to Australia

This covers:

• Studying in Australia
• Working in Australia
• Bringing your family or partner

Subreddit sources of information

We also suggest search the subreddit for 'Moving' and similar terms.

Here’s some posts that contain useful information and some detailed responses.

• American moving to Australia - Need to know the boring stuff
• Questions from an American moving to Australia!
• Thinking of moving to Australia, job question
• Moving at 19
• Where, oh where, do we move to in Australia?

Given how hot it is ?

If it matters the man in question has an average built , no 6 packs but no (large) belly either

hey all, I will be filing a tax return next year for the 2024/25 financial year however won't be in Australia at the time. for context I'm an international student and since I'm graduating this December I'll be moving back home and will have to file a tax return from my home country. Does anyone have any tips to make the process from overseas easier? From anyone who's done it is it difficult to do It from overseas? Do I have to keep my Australian bank account open in order to receive the return? Also any recommendations for good tax agents I can use from overseas would be helpful as well. Cheers!

Hello fellow Aussies,

For Master of Public Health, I got the ideal CSP offer from UWA but full fee offers from Unimelb and ANU. In the interest of future financial debt of HECS-HELP vs FEE-HELP, since I am flexible to move anywhere across the country, should I undoubtedly, logically go for CSP?

Unless I can persuade both universities to change their minds? ANU Admissions even said they will only know if their MPH will be on CSP late in the year, that's why I got a full fee offer. Really? I have some inkling universities are semi-independent entities, but such difference in handling CSP is eyebrow-raising ...