Bull Rush: A schoolyard game (that goes by a thousand other names too) played on a square area. Kids line up on one side, while the person who is ‘it’ stands in the middle. All at once they have to run to the other side and cross the line without being tagged by ‘it’. If they are tagged they must stay in the middle and help to tag the runners. The runners keep going until there is only one person left and they are the winner! I remember playing this until it got banned from my school for apparently being too dangerous.
Damper: A simple bread made of flour, butter and milk that bush folk used to make back in the day.
Home and Away: An extremely popular, extremely long running Australian TV series showcasing Australian beach culture. Stone the flaming crows! Loads of Australian artists began their career here, like Danni Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Chris Hemsworth, Guy Pearce, Isla Fisher, Melissa George, Julian McMahon and Ryan Kwanten.
Melanoma: Ok, so this isn’t really an Australianism but loads of people I meet don’t know what it is. Melanoma is an aggressive form of skin cancer caused by excessive sun exposure (that includes UV exposure from solariums). It’s bad… really bad. And it’s one of the most common cancers in Australia. So wear your sunscreen people!
Stonking: ‘It’s stonking hot’ means extremely or it’s freaking baking! But if something is stonking full stop it usually means positively awesome.
Tim Tams: Seriously the best biscuit ever. I don’t know why it isn’t available worldwide. In the UK it’s kind of like one of those penguin biscuit things… but way more indulgent. For you poor souls who’ve never had the pleasure, a Tim Tam is like creamy chocolate stuff wedged between two chocolate biscuit slabs and then dipped in chocolate. And then there are all the other flavours like double dipped and white chocolate and caramel and a thousand other types… excuse me while I drool.
Vegemite: A dark spread (like jam or peanut butter) made of yeast. Vegemite has a really strong, salty taste. You either love it or hate it, apparently, and I love it. It’s fab on toast.