Mum's gone 2 Aus

Last month, during the wet spells we’ve been having in Eastern Australia, Mum read an article about the increasing number of Death Cap Mushrooms in and around Canberra. Wherever you live in the world, you no doubt teach your children to be wary of mushrooms and toadstools, however likely it is to find a fairy underneath.

Death Cap Mushrooms Australia

Death Cap Mushrooms live up… Read more

The image many of us have of Australians is of a sporty, sun-kissed, healthy nation. This image could, and perhaps should, be entirely accurate of the way people are in Australia given the favourable climate, outdoor lifestyle and ingrained love of sport. This image is true for many people. However, like other industrialised countries, Australia is in the middle of an obesity epidemic. The Australian National Preventative Health Taskforce confirms that “Australia is one of the most overweight… Read more

The first time I heard the term bindis in Australia we were at the birthday party of one of my son’s preschool friends. The party was the ubiquitous Aussie sausage sizzle at a public BBQ next to a children’s playground. It was towards the end of last year so Spring/Summer in Australia.

As the party got going and kids took shoes off to run around the playground and adjacent grassed area one of the parents shouted,… Read more

Mums usually feel pretty exhausted. Interrupted sleep and rare opportunities to sit still mean you cope on less rest than is ideally recommended (or wanted).

When a friend of Mum’s declared, “Since moving here I’m more exhausted than ever, I just want to sleep!” Mum wondered whether the Aussie way of life is more tiring than elsewhere. One of the common factors Mum shares with her newly settled friend is that we’re both permanently living by… Read more

Water safety in Australia is a topic Mum has frequently written about; we’ve talked about teaching children to swim and how to swim safely at Australia’s many beautiful beaches: The sea and swimming safety in Australia and More on sea safety – rips and nippers.

Last summer there were several fatalities at our local beach which served as a reminder that you should never… Read more

We’ve lost count of the number of Australian homes we’ve visited that have this Spider Identification Chart on their family noticeboard or fridge. Many of the homes, like ours, belong to new residents of Australia; parents are particularly worried about identifying the dangerous spiders Australia has to offer.

We found the chart online when confirming the identity of the white-tailed spider we found in our lounge several months ago, it’s now firmly fastened to our fridge… Read more

Mum recently had a question from a reader about choosing a family Doctor or GP (General Practitioner) in Australia, and whether there is a recommended way to find a paediatrician and organise scheduled immunisations.

We’ve written about the immunisation register and how we went about adding our children to the register and recording their overseas immunisations. We also explained that what we thought was a straight forward process suddenly became complicated when we wanted to lodge… Read more

Earlier this week Mum wrote about sun safety in Australia and as the weather is (or should be) warming up it’s a good time to publish some safety reminders about creepy crawlies and sea creatures in Australia; this topic ties in well with some photos we’ve taken this week.

In What to do in an Aussie emergency – Snakes, spiders and jellyfish Mum explains the recommended first aid treatment for Australian snake and spider bites, and… Read more

Last Friday, the last day of school term three in Sydney, we experienced a mini-heatwave. The maximum temperature in Sydney on Friday 23rd September 2011 was 32.5 degrees, that’s only a few degrees cooler than the highest Sydney temperature on record for the month of September (34.6). It was a beautiful, sunny day and it was hard to believe that it’s only the first month of spring. Summer doesn’t officially start in Australia… Read more