Australia: Land of Pigeons, Hedgehogs and Deer?

From our earliest days, we think in metaphor. We think by comparing one kind of thing to another.

As we learn about each new thing, we compare and contrast it to what we already know: it’s like X, and it’s not like Y.

I was reminded of this on my Australian adventure recently.

In the Dandenong Ranges, we went to a tourist spot where they feed cockatoos, just as tourists used to feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square. We encountered an echidna – the Australian hedgehog – and bumped into a group of kangaroos.

It turns out that the locals get annoyed with kangaroos because they make a mess of their lawns. They fulfil the same ecological niche as deer in the UK – they’re just a different shape and a little more bouncy.

And the animals were just the start. Places, people and behaviours all had that “same but different” quality.

Richmond and Kew, for example, turn out to be well-heeled districts of Melbourne, not unlike their namesakes in London. I didn’t find a brilliant Brentford nearby, though.