Since all good things have to end, I thought I’d change gears a bit and write a few musings from Down Under. As most of you know, I’ve been down here for the last two-plus months, more visiting family and friends than looking deeply into the wine industry. This isn’t to say we haven’t imbibed.. My son-in-law has Champagne taste and, unlike most of us, has a Champagne budget to match, so we’ve consumed some wonderful and very expensive wines. Many were from the 1990s and were absolutely superb. The two major varieties were (as you’d suspect) Cabernet and Shiraz, and some wonderful blends of the two. All of the wines were from South Australia, mainly Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Clare Valley. It’s completely beyond me that, after growing Shiraz in the North Bay for at least 20 years, we’ve been unable to make any that even come close to matching these. I should probably say that just about all the wines were released at $100 or more per bottle and are now worth at least five to 10 times that. I almost felt guilty drinking them, but I sacrificed, knowing that someone had to do it.
More about the wines later. Now, let’s take a look at some lifestyle differences and similarities I noticed. There are lots of similarities but a couple that stood out include the disgusting ever presence of cell phones and people using them anytime and anyplace. At a recent dinner of about 10 friends, the host and one friend spent the entire evening playing with their phones, comparing apps and just being rude. (No different than the good old United States.) Tattoos and wife beater shirts are very prevalent also, just like any mall attire back home.
As for differences, there are many I’ve noted over the last 14 years of visiting down here. In no particular order, here’s the way I see it.
Cars and drivers. The typical Aussie driver, young or old, male or female, makes Italy look like a nursery school. You literally take your life in your own hands—and I develop a severe case of white knuckle disease every time I get into a car. To avoid this, we take a bus or tram everyplace since they have great public transit in the larger cities. (Our home base is Adelaide, South Australia.) On the positive side, however, all of their cars are equipped with turn signals—you know, those things on cars that are supposed to tell other drivers what you’re doing—and they always use them. This explains the popularity and functionality of roundabouts. We in America are too stupid to figure out that blinkers are mandatory and they actually do keep the traffic flowing. The last thing about traffic is the fact that, as a pedestrian, you’re really taking your life in your own hands. Pedestrians are considered moving targets for the cars. And, remember that the cars are always coming from the other way than what we’d think at crosswalks—frightening!
Gas prices. What would happen at home if gas prices jumped $1 per gallon overnight on Thursday and dropped by about $0.85 on Monday morning? We arrived on a Tuesday and petrol was $1.28 per liter. There are 3.875 liters in a gallon, so that’s $4.84 per gallon. (The Aussie dollar and the American dollar are virtually identical now so don’t worry about converting there.) On Friday evening, the petrol was $1.52 per liter, or $5.75 per gallon. On the following Monday afternoon, it was back down to $1.32 per liter. This is a weekly occurrence. We, the American public, would go absolutely berserk if that happened at home. The obvious moral to that story is to buy gas during the week. By the way, diesel never changes and stays at about $1.55 per liter or about $5.87 per gallon.
Alcohol prices. While we’re on prices, food is generally more expensive. But when it comes to alcohol, the descriptor is: Oh my God, that can’t be right! Just a few examples. Local wine is pretty much similar to ours but that’s where it stops. A 24-bottle case of beer starts at $35 and goes up with higher-end labels. A single example of hard liquor is more frightening. A 700mL bottle (smaller than our 750mL) of Gordon’s Dry Gin is $29.95—on sale. That very same product in a 1.75-liter bottle (2.5 times as much) is $12.99 on sale weekly. The entire liquor industry is controlled by a duopoly of supermarkets: Woolworths and Coles, with a little competition from a few small chains such as BWS, Dan Murphy and the Thirsty Camel. Hence I had to give up my nightly gin and tonics so I wouldn’t go broke, but it did let me taste some really nice white wines like dry Rieslings from Clare Valley and also Tasmania. There’s also no shortage of great New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
Fashion. The fashion is similar to ours and, since it’s summer, they’re writing new definitions of “short shorts” and “short skirts.” They seem to be about the width of a man’s belt and leave little to the imagination. It surely must have some impact on the high numbers of teen pregnancies. Also, years ago, Australia was considered the home of people who swam, played tennis, ran and so forth, and who were considered to be very healthy. I’ve noticed over the last couple of visits a growing number of very obese people (even young ones), more female than male. It’s almost like they’ve discovered fast food. I swear the national diet is all based around chips (French fries to us). And I realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but Elle Macpherson, where have you gone? There are beautiful young females all over the place but it’s as if when they turn 25 they disappear, move away or join the obese crowd.
A quick couple of closing ones: Donuts are $2.70 each! And six-pack cases of wine are becoming the norm—something I’ve been pushing for a long time—especially as I get older and can’t lift a full case anymore.
Well there’s a lot more but I seem to have run out of space and I don’t want my editor to use her red pen too often. So go do your homework and throw in a bottle of Australian wine once in a while.
