Centrelink will be busy in the future

Hi my fellow Australians. I just had my first driving lesson today. While on the highway, my instructor instructed me to move to the left when safe. All of a sudden, an audi car behind me kept flashing high beam lights at me. I was confused because in my own country, it means "get the f**k out of the way!" or "move your arse faster, you are too slow!"

But my instructor says, in Australia, it is a respectful gesture to signal you that it is safe to move to another lane.

So, I want to ask, is it true that it is a signal telling you that "it is safe to do it"?

Something to be proud of.

Tried to open a book newsletter website (ramona books newsletter, to be specific) and safari said it was an adult age restricted and to access it I have to fucking upload my ID to my apple account to see all the ’adult’ websites. Good fucking lord, can’t even read book reviews in peace anymore.

This largish Dugite was lucky enough that I was the one who came across it at a camping and recreation spot as I don’t think there would be many people who would attempt to free it, understandably so.
I was in disbelief really, I had a close look, it was well and truly stuck.
I figured well it can’t bite me, but still with my safety as a priority given it’s extremely venomous, I used everything I had to protect myself.
I got a pair of pointy nose pliers and went to work slowly and carefully widening the opening, I was surprised how much I needed to widen it to free it.
The snake had as much of its body in there as the can is long, once freed it most likely had the bright light stun after being in total darkness for who knows how long.
It just stayed still for a good couple of minutes or so constantly sticking its tongue in and out and then slowly made its way into the bush.
Happy to have helped the poor thing.

I’ve noticed that in Australia phone calls seem to get results where emails don’t. A few examples from my own experience:

Dental cancellation: I emailed to cancel my appointment and got no response. I then realised my first email had gone to their headquarters, so I sent a second one to the local practice. Still nothing so I had to ring them whiich is just time consuming.

Price list: I emailed several dental practices asking for their prices. One never replied, even though I saw their email screen open when I visited in person.

Job applications: I sent several enquiries for jobs I were well qualified for and heard nothing back. Out of frustration, I rang a different employer instead. I was offered an interview the next day, and then the job. Like wtf?

Is this just how things work here? Why is the phone so much more effective than email, and are there any tips for getting a reply by email?

Just a heads up this is more so a rant of my recent experiences with the GPs.

To give you some context, 6 months ago I started having tiny red dots clustered all around my eyes. They first appeared after going to the bathroom or strenuous activities and would gradually fade away after a few days. After goolging it seemed like they could be pressure related petechiae. It didn't happen frequent enough for me to worry about it though.

Then a few months later, I noticed it was becoming more frequent and I would wake up finding them on my cheeks as well even without apparent triggers. Then a few more months later, they started popping up almost every day and the areas spread to my neck, sometimes my arms but more sporadic or when I carry heavy bags. Recently I scratched my neck because my hair was itching it and they popped up again in large numbers. This is when I finally made the GP appointment.

I made double appointment and showed the GP my neck and a photo of it. He spent literally less than two seconds looking at the photo, didn't look at my neck at all, heard the word 'itching' and immediately started writing down a cream he recommended me to put on because it's an allergic rash.

The next 5 minutes was me trying to convince the GP why it is unlikely an allergic reaction. The whole experience was so dismissive and maybe even humiliating.

Hearing a lot of stories across the years, I get the whole healthcare system is failing both doctors and patients, and that doctors are trained to find clues and facts from the patient's account. But now having to go through it myself made me realised that isn't it equally as important to hear what your patient is telling you? Why are GPs working almost against their patients rather than advocating for them? I can dismiss my own health problems I don't need you to do that for me. Are Australian GPs on average just incompetent af?

They keep talking about redeveloping it into housing ala Pentridge

But nothing ever happens

https://www.realestate.com.au/news/prison-union-slams-nsw-coalition-plan-to-replace-long-bay-jail-with-housing/

I've been thinking about how much everyday life in Australia has changed over the past few years.

Rent, groceries, electricity, fuel... it feels like almost everything takes a bigger chunk out of your pay than it used to.

Something that really stands out to me is the price of cigarettes. I know smoking isn't healthy, and I'm not suggesting anyone should take it up, but the cost is honestly staggering.

For people who already smoke, it's become a pretty significant expense on top of everything else.

And it's not just cigarettes. Even grabbing takeaway, going out for a couple of beers, or buying everyday essentials feels like something you have to think twice about now.

What concerns me is how much people are having to change their lifestyles just to keep up with basic expenses.

I'm curious how other Australians are dealing with it.

Have you noticed yourself cutting back on things you used to buy without thinking? Are you shopping differently, switching to cheaper alternatives, or simply going without certain things altogether?

And for those who smoke, has the rising cost actually changed your habits?

Genuinely interested in hearing different perspectives, whether you're a smoker or not.

Feels like the definition of what's considered a "luxury" in Australia has changed quite a bit.

I have start off with; I totally get burnoffs, regardless of scale, I understand how important they are, I'm not trying to say we should just stop altogether, but it seriously gets to a point. There'll just be moments on completely blue, sunny days where there will just be yellow, smoggy clouds blotting out the entire sky for miles, or massive waves of smoke will just roll in... And there's always smoke on the horizon, too. It's not very pleasing to be honest with you.

These could be photos you have taken, or something from the Internet, that are uniquely Australian.

Examples are Australian scenery, wildlife or tourist attractions.

You can either post them as comments here or make a standalone post with the tag [Wonderful Wednesday].

Was at service nsw yesterday renewing car rego and drivers licence, wasn’t really paying attention to the music until “I see you baby, shaking that ass” and “my anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns hun” came on. Couldn’t help but laugh, was someone taking the piss by putting their own playlist on or is it just random or what? Think some of the old people in there were probably disgusted but I got a laugh out of it.

I've been living in Australia and honestly, the cost of everyday life has surprised me more than I expected. 🇦🇺

Rent, groceries, fuel, transport and bills all seem to add up so quickly. Even when you're trying to be careful with money, it's easy to spend more than planned.

I've started comparing prices more often and thinking twice before buying things I don't really need.

I'm curious how other people here feel about it.

Have you changed your shopping habits because of the rising cost of living? Are there certain things you've stopped buying, or do you just look for better value these days?

Keen to hear everyone's experiences from around Australia.

Curious what this sub views as the stereotype of the typical young aussie cobba these days.

When I was young, us cobbas had a team, we had a ute and we loved the piss.

These days young blokes have no ute, have no team and musical tastes revolve around tiktok dance challengers rahter than footy anthems. Instead of piss, we got maytes having matcha offs.

There is nothing wrong with change, I am just cruious what even we see ourselves as these days!!!