What temperature do you like your tea water?

One of the interesting aspects of housesitting in various households is we get to experience different appliances, home layouts, and different ways of doing things. Australia is no different in that respect; there are cultural differences compared to what we're used to in Canada.

For example, we don't see these signs in Canada!

In Canada, we joke about learning the culture of ordering a coffee at Tim Hortons (commonly known as Timmies), the coffee shop it seems is on just about every street corner. Hearing people order coffees in Australia is a similar cultural experience. We needed a lengthy translation, but thankfully I don't drink coffee so I didn't need to remember the details.

At our current house sit, their 12-cup drip coffee maker is on its last legs, so Greg thought it would be nice to replace it, as a thank-you gift, as they've certainly been very kind and thoughtful. Sounds simple, right? Not! Instant granular coffee is popular here. We've probably been to six major stores, as well as a kitchen speciality shop, and so far we've found one coffee maker, in the first store we visited. We're now half way through this sit, so today I said we should hurry back to that store, before it's gone!

At least this kettle has a setting for coffee

Australians appear to be a nation of serious tea drinkers. As an illustration, I'll backtrack to our previous house sit. The photo above is of the settings on the electric kettle there (although I took this photo in a store today, not at the home).

Their kettles have many different features. With this model, you can even watch as the water temperature rises! I didn't even know there were different temperatures for the tea water, depending on the tea leaf. I had to consult my friend Google to see where my morning camomile fit into this lineup.

This was the aisle for tea kettles at the local K-Mart store. You can see there's quite a range. We figured the coffee makers would be close by, but no such luck. Not one coffee maker in the whole store! Many years ago when I visited a British friend in America, it was the reverse of this in that she had to have friends bring her an electric kettle from Britain as they just weren't sold in California. I don't know if that's the case now, but it was many years ago. They just were not a nation of tea drinkers.

By the way, for my British family and friends, who will be familiar with Woolworths, we also went there. We found that the Woolworths here only sells food; that surprised us too.

We've learned in our travels to not assume something is done the same way as we're used to. We have to not only be open to the idea of the unfamiliar, but even embrace it. We'll feel happier when we have this new coffee maker though! 

I'll finish with this photo that is not connected to the tea story. Greg and I went for a walk at a nearby nature reserve yesterday, and I loved how these trees arched over the path. Unfortunately, we didn't see many birds, which was the main reason for going there. Maybe they were on a tea break!