I'm in Australia for a week.

I like Australia a lot. With the exception of the Sydney Opera House (which wasn't designed by an Australian), the architecture here is predominantly square and solid. Square architecture means practical people. I like practical people.

Interior designs are mostly very practical too. You don't often find arty farty bath taps here or complicated plugs that stop working after a year. Most of the taps I've seen are the chunky screw-down cross-shape. Turn and deliver. Bath plugs are made of heavy duty rubber and fit. Floor drains can cope with overflows. You can have fun in bathrooms here. They expect water and are designed to handle it.

In the apartment where I'm staying for the next few days, the bathtub even has a small ledge built into it, just under the taps. At first I thought it must hide a concealed drain but no, it's just a ledge. Then it dawned on me - it's a built-in foot-rest! Maybe I've lived in Bali too long and these are commonplace in the world now, but this is the first time I've ever seen one. It wouldn't surprise me if it's an Australian thing. It fits so well with the relaxed culture.

Australia is also the easiest place on Earth to get stuff done. What can often take days of phone calls in other parts of the world to fix a simple problem can usually be accomplished here in minutes with a cheery "No worries!" from the friendly human representing the big corporation you are asking to connect your broadband, deliver your parcel or book your flight. Feng Shui is all about harmony and flow. People think of it as being only to do with building design, but getting things done with the maximum of ease and the minimum of fuss is feng shui in action.

This is a country that tells it how it is, epitomized by a national campaign launched in the late 1990s with road signs everywhere that said: "If you drink then drive you're a bloody idiot!" (It worked too - the death rate from drunk driving fell by 46% over the next 8 years.)

It's a country that's also a continent, and home to five of the ten deadliest creatures in the world - the most dangerous snake (the Inland Taipan), the most dangerous shark (the Bull Shark), the most dangerous spider (the Sydney Funnel Web), the most dangerous crocodile (the Salt Water Crocodile) and the most dangerous Jellyfish (the Box Jellyfish). That keeps people very down-to-earth and in touch with their own mortality.

And it's a country with a great sense of humour, famed for its hilarious advertising. I leave you with my all-time personal favourite, 'The Jacuzzi Cannonball'. It reminds me a lot of my husband, Richard (you've guessed it, he's Australian, although he doesn't drink).

Copyright © Karen Kingston, 2009

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