My husband’s cousin, actually, is going to Australia in about a month. He’s asked me what I want him to pick up for me while he’s there.
Besides just the basic touristy stuff, I wondered if anyone had a good idea for a souvenir.
PLUS, I was wondering if Ugg boots are cheaper in Australia than they are over here (since they are an Australian company). I’d like to get a pair, but the ones I want are around $200. Would they be cheaper there?
Any suggestions or opinions welcome!!
When I went to Perth they had really cool souvenirs made out of wood from the huge Australian tree ferns there.
The wood is a pale yellow with odd black spots (knots) at regular intervals where the fronds go though the bark.
Simple things like bowls and lamps were cheap.
I thought I would find more of them when I went on to Sydney, but instead found none at all. So I wished I’d bought when I had the chance.
Musk-flavored Lifesavers candy.
These things are wonderful! If you like chocolate, you owe it to yourself to try them if you get the chance.
I’d have to go with the Koala Bear. Of course, it would be difficult to get a real one, but a stuffed animal would do.
A boomerang
Local music
A bottle of St. Hubert’s wine. They have a white (I forget what it’s called, it’s not the chardonney) which is really good. Their Cabrinet-Merlot is also quite tastey. My wife and I have some friend who are from Melbourne, and whenever they have to return to renew their visas, the bring us back a couple of bottles.
Oh, also ask for a bag of the chicken flavored potato chips. They’re… interesting.
Can you have him bring me back a sheila? 
Anything but Fred Phelps ?
Funny that you’d mention that, haha, it was my husband’s suggestion.
AND, I really hadn’t even thought of the boomerang. That’s a good idea!
when my mother went to Austrailia, i asked her to bring back some black opals (out of curiousity mostly, since i’d never seen good examples of them at the time). i was figuring they’d be more reasonable at the source.
she did bring me a pair of earrings with what are probably black opal triplets, but mentioned that they were fairly expensive. so unless you know what you’re getting, you’re probably just as likely to overpay there as here at any jewelry store.
however, she did bring me back a gray leather, vaguely Western-style hat that i dearly love (broad brim, flat crown–semi-gambler style, i suppose). i’ve gotten numerous compliments when i wear it (which is often). wears very well and can take a good amount of abuse and come bouncing back.
and i really DO know how to spell Australia. :: sigh ::
Vegemite! You may not be able to stand the taste, but the look on people’s faces when they try and eat it is priceless. Hours of fun.
I’ll second the Tim Tams recommendation - chocolate biscuits with chocolate cream between them, coated in chocolate. Our finest product, I think 
Forgot to mentino - Ugg boots should definitely be cheaper in Australia. If you want the genuine brand, they’ll probably cost more, but I’ve seen imitations - still the sheep wool and so on, just without the brand name - for sale in places like Target, K Mart and so on for much less than that.
mmmm, Tim Tams!
A good friend from Australia visited me a couple of years ago, and he brought me a canned wombat.
It’s rather cute.
Ask for something opal. An ex boyfriend of mine brought me a brilliant emerald green opal pendant from Australia years ago, and I still love it.
Ug boots (spelled that way - the second ‘g’ appears to have been added for trademark purposes) have pretty much been a generic product from the word go. Keep in mind, though, that the only acceptable reason for wearing them beyond the property line is while wearing a dressing gown and putting the garbage out.
As a souvenir, nothing says ‘classy’ like an Ayers Rock snowdome, but most people who go overseas load up on Tim Tams, Mint Slices and so forth. Pretty much anything else can be mail ordered without difficulty.
What is a wombat? 
I know it’s some small animal, and, since it’s in Australia, it’s probably dangerous. (combat wombat?)
In exchange for an answer, I will be willing to explain the details of Texas life, and dispell as many myths as possible. Including the “Dukes of Hazard” myth.
My friend came back from a summer in Australia with a baseball bat with “Wom” written on it. He thought it was hilarious.
How weird.
I was in Australia several years ago and brought back a wombat stuffed animal. Cutest thing - reminds me of a giant gerbil. She was happily named Charlotte, but my husband now calls him “Combat the Wombat”.
Anyway, wombats are marsupials like koalas and kangaroos.
A picture is at: http://www.wombat.echidna.id.au/images/swom.jpg
Check out some basic facts at: http://www.wombat.echidna.id.au/
The “Combat Wombat” was a model of motercycle my uncle had when he was my age. It was the bigger version of the very popular Wombat.
That should be a cartoon. Combat Wombat battles his arch-nemisis, Battle Cattle!
("“combat wombat?)’” "
If you were from the UK, I could reccomend you bring back a Pommie…from our point of view, every little bit helps…
Macadamia Nuts are cheap, compared to the overseas price, and you can have hours of fun cracking the shells, and finding little bits of shell for months afterward to remind you how much you enjoyed them.
Ugg boots here are the garment of choice, along with Trakkie Daks (track suit pants) for what you call Trailer Trash…perhaps they have a slightly more up-market image in the US?
I would suggest wine, as well, which is reasonably priced and in most cases high quality…and the very best is not exported. Rather than St Huberts, though, which strikes me as rather unexceptional in flavour, I would suggest a Hunter Semilon…a Tyrells, a Tulloch’s or a Mt Pleasent, a Clare Red…Taylor’s in particular, a Coonawarra…Rouge Hom (sp?) and a Morris fortified…all very distinctive, very good indeed, and very Australian.
…and tell your cousin not to bother looking for Fosters beer, no one drinks it :eek:
