‘No worries, mate’ seems to be the motto for most of the Aussies I have met. I continually hear it throughout my day. No worries seem to be the equivalent of America’s ‘no problem,’ which is still not heard very often in the states. I am continually hearing phrases that express a laid back, it is what it is, do not worry about it attitude. While I cannot find academic literature that provides evidence of this, Australians and foreigners have unanimously acknowledged it – at least the ones whom I have had the pleasure of meeting and articles I have read from foreigners and their experiences in Australia. There have been multiple incidents I have witnessed and been a part of that have shown me the laid-back and relaxed position Australians may have.

During Easter break, I went on a road trip with four friends of mine. Of those four, two were Australian. Throughout the ten day trip, I was struggling with their relaxed, no stress attitude. Normally, I find it quite refreshing but on this time sensitive trip, it was driving me crazy. Every morning, I wanted to get on the road early (as did the Scott) so we could have a full day of sight-seeing and arrive to our next destination before dark. Therefore, every night I would go over the game plan for the next day and tell everyone what time we should be on the road the next morning. The Australians were like, we can wake up whenever and get on the road whenever, if we do not make it to our destination – no worries. This seemed to be a common notion in Australia. I was told that this is how a road trip is done in Australia – you just drive and stop at places you want to stop and eventually you get somewhere to stay. My Australian roommate was in charge of planning our accommodation each night but he made no arrangements. His plan was to just drive and pull off to the side of the road, find a free campsite, or just ask a farmer if we can stay on their property. I had no idea how to react – I have always had a structured itinerary for trips. I have also never even thought about just pulling off the main road and throwing out a swag and staying the night; or asking to stay on someone’s property. During the trip, I would ask them for their input on certain things and the response I would get was “whatever.” They had such a laid-back attitude for everything that I did not know how to handle it, coming from a very planned and organized background. This go with the flow attitude seems to be relevant to many Australians I have met. To me, it is stressful; not having any plans and not having to worry about anything makes me worry more!

On a visit to the aquarium at Hillary’s Boat Harbor, the relaxed, no worries truism was made known to me. While touring the aquarium, an employee was telling us all about the stingrays. I asked what time they did the feedings of the stingrays and the other animals. The woman told us that they did not have a set feeding times. The people, who are in charge of feeding, also go exploring, diving for new fish, and such.