December 1, 2010
G'Day, Mates.
The Spring season is upon us. The Aussies measure it from the first day of October rather than from the Equinox. Summer comes the same way here, down under, measured from the first day of December instead of the Solstice. I assume it is a traditional thing.
Time changes here too, like it does back home, so that we are now into daylight savings time and light lasts just that much longer into the evening. The computer can't keep up with the change, particularly when the time doesn't change back home. I have those 24 hours clocks set to San Francisco, New York and Canberra. But none of them tell me the correct time since Daylight savings started down here. Currently we are 19 hours different from San Francisco, but the clocks say more.
This year has been the wettest in a very long time. I claim to have brought it in from San Francisco, but probably not; the country has suffered under a drought for more than 10 years, so the rains are a god-send and probably part of nature's cyclical plan. People are generally happy about it, because the temperatures remain rather temperate than hot, as it was this time last year. Well, maybe everyone except the farmers who are bringing in the crops now. Prices will shoot up in the supermarkets soon.
Speaking of prices, goods do seem to cost a bit more down here than back home, by 5% to 15% more. It's across the board, though there are some peculiar differences, which I'll have to mention in another post.
The price difference wouldn't be a bother, except that the Australian dollar has reached parity with the American dollar since I have been here. Last August 2, the AUD could get only $.89 American but it has inched up to $1, since then. Fortunately, it may be on the way back down; tourism and exports are down as a result.
Lynn wanted me to talk about "regular daily life" down here. What's a day in the life like, she asked. So while we are speaking of money, let's start there and I'll use the next few blog posts to outline other interesting tidbits about life in Oz.
The paper money is quite pretty, shades of iridescent reds, blues and green with pictures of famous writers, politicians, military and social heroes, and of course, the Queen of England. The latter is the "ruler" of Australia, and her representative in Australia, the Governor-General, must approve and sign every law that is passed by the Parliament. But that's a discussion for another day.
The bills all have an oddly shaped transparent plastic piece embedded somewhere in the bill. The portraits are punctillated, like those on the US bills. The drawings alongside the protraits tell a story about the person's endeavors and, if you still can't figure out who it is, the person's signature is displayed clearly there for you to read. The mandatory signatures by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and by the Treasurer are also there to see, with those cryptic numbers that somehow identify that bill, and that bill alone, from every other.
The standard denomination that comes out of the ATM machines is the $50 bill, rather than the $20. That's because everything is so expensive. One hands over $50 bill for just about everything one buys it seems. "Petrol" (that's gasoline for the car, for you Americans), is at about $1.25 per litre, about $5 a gallon. So it takes about $50 to fill the car.
The coins are rather different than American coins. The 'gold' coins are dollar coins; the smaller of the two types worth $2 and the larger worth $1. They are rather thick coins and are easily told apart by feel. The $2 coins are easily lost in the folds of a pants pocket, and easily dropped on the ground by accident as you fumble to find the proper change. I know; I found a $2 gold coin in the parking lot just yesterday. Made my day.
The other coins are silver colored, but reverse the trend set by the gold coins. That is, the smaller ones are indeed worth less than the larger ones. The smallest denomination is $.05, and nobody seems to call it a 'nickle'. When a price in a store lands up at say $.82, you are allowed to give the shop-keeper $.80. But if it ends up at $.83 you have to fork over $.85. That's just the way it works.
$.10 is the next bigger, then $.20 and $.50. There is no "quarter". The half dollars are big and bulky; nobody likes carrying them around, but because of the gold coins, it ends up that everybody carries around lots of metal in their pockets and purses. Because I don't expect a dollar to be anything other than a $1 paper bill, I still can't figure out whether the shop-keepers are giving me the right change or not. There are no $1 and $2 bills. The paper money starts at $5, then $10, $20, $50 and $100. I don't have wealth vast enough to encounter a bill larger than that.
It is interesting to see that lots of items are priced around the $3 range, things you would think would be about $1.50 or so. It is as if people don't want to waste your time breaking down the $2 coins with all that change, so they'll take your $3, thank you.
Cheers. And g'day.
