Mary Klepzig is a student at University of Tennessee-Knoxville and an ISA Featured Blogger. She is currently studying and interning abroad with ISA in Sydney, Australia.
Australians are all about funny business, especially if you are from out of town. They have a few inside jokes that are their favorites to play on internationals. If you are visiting anytime soon, you definitely want to know what these phrases are so you won’t be fooled.
1. Drop Bears
People will try to tell you there are these insane ravenous, carnivorous koala bears that will drop down and attack you. They are lurking in trees around Australia scoping out there next victim. You have to be on the lookout everywhere you go. Everyone is in on this joke, and people will tell you about it all the time. If you Google drop bears, there are even websites dedicated to making these things look real – don’t buy it.
For more information, check it out here -https://australianmuseum.net.au/drop-bear
2. Hoop snakes
Australians will make you believe there are these snakes wait in the grass for you. If you step on one, it will curl up like a wheel and chase after you at a high speed. There’s no human to ever outrun it. Once again, Googling it will lead you to believe it’s true – pictures and all. But don’t worry, it’s just another Aussie prank.
3. Australian Snow
This one is certainly less believably once you have felt the depletion of the ozone layer here and received your first sunburn. But actually this one is real. Instead of it actually being snow though, it is instead when the wind blows so hard that the rain is sideways. It happens a lot more than you think it would, and I’ve been caught in it several times. If it “snows” no need to take a rain jacket or umbrella because literally nothing will keep you dry.
So next time you are in Australia, remember these pranks so you don’t look like the silly foreigner! You might actually impress an Aussie!
The world awaits…discover it.