Ten surprising things about Australia (WA)

1. Kangaroos are a common wild animal visible anywhere that's not urbanised, classifying them as vermin. Their young are called Joeys, and they can bounce at 50kph. There are three times more Kangaroos than people in Australia.

2. Rabbits are not natural to Australia; they were brought over as a source of food by settlers. There is a rabbit-proof fence across Australia to prevent rabbits from entering agricultural areas.

3. There are vast wine areas in WA, for example, "Margaret River", where famous smaller brands make brilliant wines from grapes like Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. The first vines in the area date back to 1967.

4. Their Winter is our summer, at least time-wise, and their summer can be sweltering and they rarely get snow in the Winter. Bluff Knoll, a 1,099m peak in the south, is probably the most like place to experience snow

5. It's more English than you might expect; they drive on the left, road signs are familiar, and of course, they speak English. The landscape seems familiar, even if the trees, dominated by varieties of Eucalyptus, make up 80% of forest trees. That's good for Koala bears, who eat just a selected range of the leaves from these trees but are native to the East Coast. By the way, they are not bears and have a pouch similar to a kangaroo.

6. Sweets are called Lollies, "bottle-o" is an off licence, Serv-o is a petrol station, swimming costumes are "boardies or bathers", flip flops are "thongs", tippex is "white out", "arvo" is afternoon, "POM" - prisoner of her majesty. "Dunny" is the toilet.

7. Australian Aboriginals represent about 3.5% of the population in WA, but in the Northern Territories, it's as high as 33%. Suicide rates are known to be high among the indigenous population, as is unemployment.

8. Australia is talking more about its past. Specifically how Aboriginals and their culture were treated, and how to acknowledge this yet still move forward. In geography, more reference is being made to original rather than settler names. Some examples include a common stubby tree with a bushy head which has been renamed from "Black Boy" to 'Grass Tree'. There is, however, a clear tension in viewpoints that we felt would be difficult to navigate.

9. Measures are muddled like in the UK. Distance is in KM, weight in Kg, beer in Pints.

10. Australia is so big that Europe would fit within its landmass. It takes up to 5 hours to fly across, and even Western Australia would take 2.5 hours. Perth is the most remote city in the world (with a population of more than a million in the world).