Little Lizard High School Map Download: Fill & Download for Free

Below is a mix of cultural, technological, and grammatical differences among other things. I’ll add more as I think of them.General:If you like swimming, Queensland is a great place to live. Lots of tropical islands to explore, rainforest, and great weather.Mosquitos are quite ferocious at dusk in Queensland, so if you are the type to get bitten easily, be prepared.Size:Australia as a country is much bigger than it is depicted on American maps.Sometimes tourists come to Sydney and plan to drive to Uluru (Ayers Rock) for the day, without realising the distance they have to cover making this impossible.For a comparison:The majority of the population lives on the coast, or within the coastal regions.BeerAustralian Beers are stronger than American, in terms of percentage of alcohol.If you are driving here, the blood alcohol limit is 0.05%, which works out to be2 drinks in the first hour, then one each hour after that for a typical male.For a typical woman it is one drink per hour.There are heavy fines and penalties if you drink and drive here, and speed cameras are everywhere, so a GPS is a good idea. You also will be heavily fined if you hold or talk on a mobile phone while driving, so a bluetooth headset is a good option or a hands free.Wildlife:Kangaroos and wallabies are out and about around dusk and dawn. You won’t see them if you are driving on major roads, but if you are driving on country roads just be careful, as they weigh up to 100kg (190lb), and can write off your car if you hit them.They are known for hopping alongside your car, then without warning jumping in front and being hit.Despite all the nonsense memes on the internet, you won’t get attacked by spiders, snakes and crocodiles if you use a bit of common sense. Sure they live here, but they don’t all live all over Australia.Crocodiles - not found in BrisbaneThis is a picture showing crocodile distribution in Australia:Crocodiles come in two varieties in Australia, saltwater and freshwater.Freshwater crocodiles are dangerous if cornered or threatened, but will rarely attack. They can be up to 2–3 metres long. They are smaller than saltwater crocs, and have a thinner snout. They look like this:Saltwater crocodiles grow much bigger, are dangerous, and should not be provoked. They can grow up to 6 or 7 metres long, although typical size is 4–5 metres.Both species can live in either fresh or saltwater, and are found in rivers, estuaries, swamps, and even in the sea in far north Australia. They live both far inland and on the coast.There will be large yellow & black warning signs if they are in the area.Crocodiles are farmed and exported, and taste a bit like a cross between fish and chicken. They are available for purchase in some supermarkets, and specialty butchers often sell them too (along with emu, camel, goat and rabbit.)Logan (South of Brisbane) has one sighting on the crocodile map above, but there is a interesting read about that to be found here.This was an escaped pet, so it doesn’t really count, but it lived in the river for many years and grew to 3.8m in length, before being shot and later found dead after dying from its injuries.These men are posing beside the already dead crocodile…There are some reports of crocodile sightings in the Gold Coast canal, but confirmed sightings are rare and may be false.Very large lizards are found in some parts of northern Australia.Goannas are quite big, can swim, and are found in Northern NSW and further north, so could be mistaken for a small crocodile.They grow up to 2 metres and look like this:Saltwater crocodiles don’t live in Brisbane, (thankfully) and look like this:If you see a big warning sign like this, don’t swim there, and avoid going near the water’s edge. Crocodiles are stealth hunters, and can sneak up on you quietly.If camping, it is recommended to camp more than 50m from the water’s edge.If you need to go to the water’s edge, don’t stay there long, and do not clean fish or guts near the water’s edge.It is often recommended when leaving the shore, to step backwards several metres away from the water’s edge, before turning your back to walk away as you normally would, as crocodiles can leap out of the water suddenly.A man was snatched from a boat by a crocodile when fishing,however this was not in Brisbane.Jelly FishJellyfish are spotted up and down the Australian coast, from time to time, but are usually the clear “non-stinging” variety.Sometimes after storms, large blue jelly blubber wash up on the shore or float into coastal rivers, that are about the size of a small basket ball. They sting but are not particularly dangerous. They tend to be harder, more like a gel than a jelly, and look like this:Bluebottles are found up and down the Australian coast, but they are easier to avoid given their size, and are painful but not lethal.Bluebottles look like this:They are usually quite small, the gas filled bit is like 2–5cm long, sometimes bigger.If you see one in the water, don’t go near it. Try to push or splash the water away to move it away from you.They are passive, and have a long blue thread that stings if it touches you.The thread dangles in the water and can be hard to see, despite being bright blue.If you see one on the beach, or half dried, don’t touch it, as they can still sting you when it’s out of the water. People sometimes accidentally step on them when walking on the beach.If they are spotted in the water, you will see a sign like this on the shore:If you are stung by a Bluebottle, don’t apply vinegar.Hot water is considered a better treatment based on recent studies :Stingers - not found in Brisbane, but in Northern QueenslandStingers are the more harmful variety of jellyfish, and to prevent harm there are stinger nets in affected areas. Even tiny stingers can be lethal.Watch out for warning signs, if you travel to coastal or island areas inNorth Queensland.If you see a sign that looks like this, ask a local if it’s safe before going for a swim:There is stinger season, which will be well marked if you travel to places that are affected.Deadly stingers include box jellyfish, Irukandji and other varieties found further out to sea.Stinger nets are designed to keep out Box Jellyfish, which have extremely painful stings, and can kill an adult in 2–5 minutes in extreme cases, yet the intensity of their sting varies, and leaves ugly scarring if you live.Vinegar can be used as temporary treatment until an anti-venom is administered.Their size varies, but the box part of their body can be up to 14cm diameter.They have tentacles up to 2m, are clear, and are hard to spot in the water.According to wikipedia, they have eyes and can detect colour, avoiding black andred in particular.Box jellyfish come in many varieties, can look very similar to each other but are different, and while still potentially lethal, other varieties allow for longer time to get treatment if stung (~40minutes).The type on the left below is most dangerous (2–5 minutes to get treatment):Brisbane is by a river, not by the sea, and South of the region where stingers are a problem, so you don’t have to worry about stingers there, but if you go traveling to areas further North in Queensland then you will see warning signs if they are present, such as this:Irukandji are very small, and look like this (those are matches on the right):Technology:From a technological perspective, you might get a few surprises if you enjoyNetflix, Amazon, Newegg, fast internet speeds at an affordable price, connected in a timely manner, cellphone coverage (we call them mobile phones here) andfree WiFi hotspots in cities.Netflix and Amazon in America are pretty much unrestricted, but in Australia there are all types of DRM and geoblocking to get around, and there are many books, products and tv shows that are not available here. I don’t use Netflix, but I read about people complaining about how there is so little content here versus the US.If you bring any DVDs or Blurays here they won’t work unless you get a region free player.If you are buying software, or computer hardware you will notice how we get shafted compared to the rest of the world, regardless of the exchange rate. ie it’s always expensive compared to the US.Our internet services are usually capped in terms of how much you can download. TPG is a decent internet company, for a decent price. Telstra is usually the most expensive option, followed by Optus, but they offer similar or worse service and deals.Telstra own most of the infrastructure, so if you need an internet connection, expect a wait time of 2–3 weeks before it is installed. If NBN or fibre is available in your area, go for that instead.Food:We have a wide variety of food here, due to a large mix of cultures, Brisbane is quite culturally diverse, Sydney and Melbourne more so. There isn’t as much Mexican food available here, but Thai and Indian are often very popular choices. Chinese food is a mix of “real” Chinese and “Western style” Chinese cuisine.American style coffee isn’t very popular here. The coffee we have here is considered vastly superior, if you like Italian style coffee. Starbucks was popular for a brief period when it first arrived, then were forced to shut down 60 stores because they weren’t that popular versus the type of coffee people prefer here. More info here.Weather:The Queensland (QLD) weather could be a shock, depending on where in the US you are from. In summer it can be very hot. The sun in Australia is much stronger than many expect, which is the reason so many tourists turn pink and burn.SPF 30+ sunscreen is the minimum used for protection, if you have fair skin, SPF 50+ or zinc sunscreen can be used instead. Zinc sunscreen is the white coloured stuff you see on this man’s face:It also comes in other bright colours, if you want to make a statement:Swimming shirts, or “rash vests” are increasingly popular to wear at the beach or for water sports, in addition to wearing sunscreen. They look like this picture below, and come in long sleeve varieties as well. They are made from a quick drying synthetic fabric, are very stretchy and quite comfortable.If you have fair skin, a swimming shirt will provide water proof, long term sun protection, and are much more reliable that using sunscreen, which often washes off, or is absorbed even if it says waterproof for 4 hours on the bottle.Sunscreen has an expiry date, and old sunscreen doesn’t always work as effectively.If you are outside for 10 minutes or longer, a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen is highly recommended. Winter doesn’t get very cold, you won’t ever have to worry about shoveling snow.Cars:The cars we drive are right-hand drive, and we drive on the left. If you’ve never been to Australia before, just be careful when you cross the road, as most tourists look left before crossing the road, when here you should look right.A lot of American cars are not available here, but you do see them from time to time. We have a lot of European and Asian car brands here.Our public health system is pretty decent, so if you have to go to hospital or sustain any injuries here, it is much cheaper than in the US system. Our system again is similar to Canada’s.Metric system:kilograms (kg) instead of lbcentimetres (cm) instead of incheskilometres (km) instead of mileslitres (L) instead of gallonsMore listed here.We use the metric system, so if you aren’t familiar with it, have a read first as you will see it used pretty much everywhere. We understand both systems, but the default is always metric. If you want a conversion, type it into Google and it will do the calculation for you.Fuel /Gas:When buying fuel, we call it fuel, petrol, LPG or diesel. If you say you’re going to the “gas station” here it’s called a “petrol station”. The term Gas is used to describe gas bottles such as propane (for BBQs) or LPG (for cars).School:Vacation = Holiday.School = up to the age of 18College/University = over 18Humour & grammar:Our humour is different. In Australia it is considered normal to make fun of each other, our leaders, and our country. Our humour is very similar to Canadian humour.We have lots of u’s that are not in American English, but if you leave them out, nobody cares. Australians read American English all the time, and are very forgiving of spelling and pronunciation.We might comment on your accent, but you will probably comment on ours being quite flat by comparison. There is a lot of slang used here that can be confusing at first, but they have books at the airport if you want to come prepared.Freedom of speech is a US thing, and while you can speak freely in Australia, there are restrictions, and due to our multi cultural mix, some topics that are ok to discuss in some cultures are highly offensive in others. You’ll get the idea after a week or two of the differences here.Political system:Our political system is quite different too. Many people I know ignore politicians completely, because 90% of what they say they will do, they do not once they are in power.The battle between either side is to stay in power, not to help the country or solve the people’s problems. There is a website that someone made listing all the promises that were made before the election, followed by how many had been addressed, and the vast majority were broken promises.Question time in Australian politics often feels like a heated teenage argument ina high school, and ranges from embarrassing to shameful when watched,versus what we see reported in footage of question time held in other countries.For more information about Australia, click below:Further reading…