Author: David Ritter
Source: ABC.net.au
January 18, 2013

IN 2012, I CAME BACK TO live in Australia after five years in London and the transition was not without some shocks. Of course, we still have much in common with what used to be called 'the old country', but there is also plenty of mutual incomprehension. It is not just the clichés - marmite or vegemite, warm beer or cold, whether to shed your clothes in the park when the mercury hits 21 - there are also more unexpected moments of cultural dissonance.

Take the oceans. My good British friends dream about Australia's glorious oceans. Our magnificent coastlines, from Ningaloo in the North West to the Great Barrier Reef in the North East, are the subject of jealousy and fantasy.

And when they've saved up their holiday pennies, the Brits flock to our coastline, joined by holiday-makers from all over the world. I've lost track of the number of Europeans who have told me with excited eyes that they had been to the Great Barrier Reef and clearly been touched with a sense of awe that had never entirely vanished.

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