The internet is full of ex-pats banging on about what they miss about Britain. Indeed, importing Persil and Bisto gravy granules is something of a competitive sport here in Oz.
There are of course some things I miss about the UK.
My pining for H&M is well-documented elsewhere, and I will no doubt revisit the subject here sometime.
Following the Persil theme, I haven’t found any washing powder without optical brighteners. For now, I have to put up with the double-bleaching effect of the washing powder and then the sun hitting the washing line. I may wear less black in future (and more grey).
Dairy products have proved problematic, not because you can’t get them but because the Australian descriptions of what they are tend to be rather odd. Cheese of the non-mild variety is described here as ‘bitey’ or ‘tasty’. They’re not even very good at giving their cheese brands sensible names (I hesitate to say inoffensive names as I have a friend with the very same surname, and the presence of a popular ice cream known as a Golden Gaytime suggests Australians are not too concerned about what connotations their brands have).
My famous lemon and lime cheesecake has suffered due to a lack of double cream. I am sure it is available – there are too many overweight Australians for it not to be – but it will be called something so utterly unrelated that I fear I will never find it. I think it’s a conspiracy to make me eat Tim Tams instead.
And prawn cocktail crisps just don’t exist here (outside the Harry Enfield ‘I saw you coming’-style shops for ex-pats), despite the huge quantity of real prawns consumed. Which leads me to think that there may not be any real prawn in prawn cocktail crisps.
Down under, out west 
My brother through his adolescence refused to have a ‘golden gaytime’ ice cream when with his mates. And I desperately miss the smell of cold power and sheets from the washing line!
I dunno, I figured Mild, Tasty and Vintage were pretty straight-forward names for Cheese, but then I grew up with them, so I guess that’s brainwashing of a type XD
Dunno if you’re still chasing it, but I did a quick search and found this for your Double Cream problems:
“Single cream is 35% fat cream with no thickening agent, like gelatine, added. Double Cream is 45% Cream with no thickening agent. You will need to read the fat Content on the pack to work out what is what as in Australia, the labels do not mention single or double. Single Cream is usually called “pouring cream” and is widely available in Supermarkets. To my knowledge, there is only one manufacturer of what the English chefs call Double cream and That is Bulla. You may have to look hard to find it, particularly outside of Victoria. I think its is called Bulla Pure Cream, but remember, check the fat content.”
Mild and vintage probably make sense to the average Brit, but tasty? That’s just weird! I think I may have tried Bulla, but my cheesecake was still a bit runny. Although that is probably more about my cooking skills than the cream! 🙂
I know this is an old post, but Bannister Downs Double cream is the best in Australia, it’s so thick it gets stringy when you take out a spoonful.
PS, you can get it at lots of IGA’s and Farmer Jacks Subiaco has it.
Cheers J – it might be an old post but I still haven’t solved the cheesecake crisis…so I will be looking out for Bannister Downs!
[…] 1. You’ll need to learn the lingo. In Australia, courgettes are zucchini, peppers are capsicums and sweets are lollies (no stick required). Lollies are icy poles or paddle pops. And then there’s bitey cheese… […]