PUBLIC TRANSPORT - Australia is very big and it is not as easy to commute around as England is. For example, Perth is a long way away and hard to get to. Luckily public transport is available for those people who would rather not have to drive over 4000km just to see the other side of the country. Trains travel between all capital cities and a few 
stops in between. Many people think this is a romantic way to travel. There's bugger all to see outside the train, so gawking at the other passengers is a better option. Some states have trains that go very fast - so fast in fact that they can't stay on the rails. They also charge a fortune for a packet of chips.
Each city has its own unique forms of public transport. In Melbourne for example, trams are still used. In Sydney there is a monorail (the price of which is so inhibitive that only tourists and children under 5 can 
afford to travel on it) and Brisbane has a fleet of catamarans called CityCats. All cities have buses, but they rarely run on time and go to places that people actually need to go, so most people opt to drive cars.
Australia has just under one million kilometers of road - and
over half of that is unpaved, which means its just dirt and rocks compacted by some hoon's 4WD that decided to go off road. Driving in the city is relatively easy, as long as one remembers to follow the speed limit, slow down when you sees a police car and speed up at an amber traffic light. Each state has specific traffic rules. Country driving is slightly more complex and high dangerous (see road kill).
Australia also has airplanes, taxis and flying foxes.
HOWARD GOVERNMENT - See Austria.
ROAD RULES - Each state and territory in Australia has its own road rules, such as sticking to the speed limit, wearing a seat belt and not talk on a mobile phone. However there are several "unofficial" road rules, which one must adhere to while driving in Australia.
In Australia it is customary to flash your headlights if you have passed a speed camera or roadside RBT (random breath test) on the opposite side of the road. If you wait several seconds then flash your headlights, this alerts on coming traffic that there is something up ahead and that they should "slow down" or "act sober".
When driving in remote areas 
drivers should wave to oncoming traffic when they pass. There is no need to go crazy - a small salute with your right hand is sufficient. The hand does not need to leave the steering wheel, even. A small nod of the head can also be included. If the other driver does not return the wave and nod, you have the right to call them anything you want.
Overtaking on long stretches of highway can be dangerous, which is why the quicker it is over, the better. Remember that there is no such thing as "safe speeding" but there is nothing worse than being stuck behind a caravan driven 
20km below the speed limit for over an hour. Make good use of the overtaking lanes, and be sure to memorise which towns and localities are coming up on the road ahead and over take the caravan before you get stuck on a winding road with blind corners and steep hills. If you do happen to still be behind the caravan when it reaches the next town, chances are that the pensioners will be stopping for morning tea at the Rotary Park, so if you can eat faster than they can, or skip a toilet stop all together, you can get back on the road before they do.
IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTRES - Anyone who 
arrive without a Visa, has a Visa that expires, has their Visa cancelled, speaks with a foreign accent, looks foreign or has a mental illness is locked up in the middle of the desert, held away from parents and loved ones and detained there until the government decides to send them "home". "Home" often means a country that will kill them if they return, or a place they have never been to let alone heard of.
MEDICARE - Federal government health care scheme 
that gives you money back from doctors who charge too much. There used to be such a thing as "bulk billing" but doctors prefer to charge you the full amount for making you better then make you stand in a queue for 20 minutes to get some of the money back. Medicare offices can be found in most major shopping centres and can easily be recognised by the dozens of ill, elderly and infirm people lying around the waiting room as if they were all suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning - which most of them probably are. Medicare can be traced back to Gough.
WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY - From 1830-1973 only white people were encouraged to come and live in Australia. This was mostly born out of British Nationalism and anti-Asian sentiments born from the Gold Rush era. Gough moved towards abolishing the policy and succeeded although many would consider that the Howard Government has succeeded in reintroducing the policy. See here.
CENTRELINK - If you want to bum some cash off the 
government, then Centrelink is the place to go. Although the money is technically "free" you do have to spend a lot of time standing in queues and being sent to other counters to have your forms processed (or lost). To get money you first have to prove that you exist by not only appearing at a Centrelink office, but having lots of pieces of paper that say you exist. Once you've made them believe that you are a real person, you can pretty much forget about being treated like one.
You can get cash for lots of things - not having a job, having a kid, having lots of kids, having a house, not having a house, having an education, not having an education, being young, being old, having a sore leg, not speaking English (many of the staff don't, so you'll feel right at home if that is you) and in many cases, pretending that you fall into one of the above categories. Most centrelink offices are partially staffed, with 90% of the staff sitting in cubicals, staring at the roof. There will be one staff member who sits behind the main desk and tells people to move to other queues where they you will wait to see one of the staff members behind the other desks. This can take up to half a day.
In return for giving you money, Centrelink may ask you to look for jobs, or partake in other activities that waste your time. It is actually possible to earn a middle-class wage entirely from Centrelink benefits, although you'd have a full-time job filling out the forms and standing in their 
queues. Their branches are air-conditioned, over-crowded to the point of being a fire-trap and fitted with several televisions that screen Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil on a loop. Many people think that calling Centrelink is a safer option and can help you to avoid the queues. This is incorrect. Phone queues are often longer than the actual ones and there are more departments for you to be transferred to. Also it is harder to get your message across to the staff when you can't point at signs and give hand gestures.
In defense of the Centrelink staff, most of them are hard-working, but all are underpaid and have to put up with constant verbal abuse. Although I suppose when you work for the Howard Government, you can't expect much else.
ROTARY PARK - In every country town you can find a Rotary Park, or occasionally a Lion's Club Park and in exceptional circumstances, both. A Rotary Park consists of several pieces of rusty metal play equipment that are in bad need of oiling. Most parks will contain a set of swings (usually with a mud pit under each swing to make mounting the seat harder), monkey bars (which are too close to the ground, althought the mud under them keeps one motivated enough not to fall off), a seesaw (watch those fingers, kiddies - especially as you seesaw down into the mud), a slippery-slide (either too hot to slide down, or covered in dew with a mud puddle at the bottom), a table and bench (covered in bird poo and mud) and an unknown piece of equipment, which is a combination of goal posts, a climbing rope holder and some sort of exercise equipment. It also has a puddle of mud underneath it. Rotary Parks are good places to stop for a cup of tea and a bikkie although if you are a child who is inclined to want to play in a park and 'stretch your legs' you can forget about doing that - too much mud.
