Five things that are better in Australia:

(These are just my opinion and for fun!)

1. Butter. I didn't realise that in Australia we choose to buy unsalted butter for cooking, but everything else is salted. Here it is the other way around. That means even spreadable butter is plain. It isn't the same to enjoy a buttery piece of toast here! Thankfully we brought the Vegemite ;) {Perhaps that is one thing here that could be termed "healthier"?!}

2. Chocolate. This is one area I am not eating too much! Fancy chocolates aren't so bad but still not nearly as good as in Australia.

3. Coffee. I feel like people here drink coffee for the sake of coffee. American coffee is double-roasted (i.e. tastes bitter) and strong. Also more people drink it black or usually with very little milk. In Australia coffee is more "connoisseur-ish" - there are many types, it is creamy and comes in all different strengths and ways. Lots of places here will only offer the equivalent to perculated coffee if they aren't a place that specialises in coffees, and everyone seems fine with that. If you went out for breakfast you wouldn't be very likely to order a latte! To me it's a bit like eating cooking chocolate v.s. Lindt. Once you've had Lindt you don't want to eat cooking chocolate ever again, although if you just want the chocolate flavour and it's easier you might settle for eatting the dark cooking chocolate...American coffee is like dark cooking chocolate ;)

4. McDonalds. Long trips + 3 little kids = more visits to McDonalds than I can count. McCafes!!!! Real ones with toasted sandwiches! How I've missed you! McCafes here just mean they do hot drinks from the main counter :( Also in Australia they seem to have a more "attractive" looking menu - Jonathan often would order a fancy chicken burger in Oz which always looked quite good - turkish bread, fresh salad, chicken and real (looking) cheese. If I had seen that on the menu here I would have ordered it a dozen times! And chicken nuggets at McDonalds Oz are real chicken...

5. Bread. And cheese. The bread we initially had at Jonathan's mom's I calculated to be just under 8% sugars. Obviously not all added but it is very sweet. Sugar is also not very salty or strong and is coloured orange. I'm not used to it so I find them both a bit sweet for a sandwich or toast.

Five things that are better in the US:

1. Drive through ATMs. Admittedly this is coming from a mum of three small children who doesn't want to get them all out of the car just to get cash out. How handy that would be on Sundays when we realise we are low on cash, or when we wanted to grab some money out to give someone or go out for dinner with people...

2. Water fountains. Go to mall/shops/park there is always a waterfountain. Obviously some of them you might want to give a wide berth but a lot of them are kept clean and nice and you can fill your waterbottles....

3. Cheap food. Cheap fresh food. Bananas 59c/pound. That means it costs us ~$1.50-1.60/kg. Yum!!!!

4. Central heating. I know it's not unique to here but I'm going to miss this in the rental later...

5. In-sink-erators. Goodbye clogged sink! All food garbage can go down the kitchen sink, and then when you turn it on the scraps disappear and are appropriately disposed off. I think I'd love this for egg shells when I'm cooking!

A few interesting differences...

There are lots of places that have signs out the front where the letters are slotted in and out (like the old lecture signs) advertising what they have as specials etc. This ranges from hardware shops, to fast food and everything in between.

Burgers here have to have ground beef. There is no such thing as a steak burger, chicken burger, bacon and egg burgers....they are simply sandwiches.

Cafes are hard to come by. Because there are so many big chains, if you want take-away your options are burgers, burgers or more burgers. And the odd hot-dog or pizza place. Everyone does fries i.e. very thin, no thick chips like KFC or Red Rooster sells. No chicken places (no roast veg and chicken). Unless you want to sit down for food in a restaurant (you can find Asian etc. and I'm sure they would do take-away like Australia) there are no cafes to get gourmet sandwiches to go or stuff like that. Even in a food court in the shops, they mostly have chains (New York Fries, McDonalds, etc.) although they do have a little more variety. Nothing like a Dome or Coffee Club here. They do have Subway though!

I forget how much money there is in Perth, particularly. Almost everything we have is neat, new, clean. People update their signs and things. Here lots of things are older, lost their sheen and not so fancy!