Us Aussies do have a unique expression of the English language
Bloody hell, mate. Hard to master the bloody lingo...
I got stories. I was on the carrier Carl Vinson, port-of-call in Perth and Hobart, your winter 1994. In Perth, I couldn't get off the day we were anchored and had Liberty Call...I was on duty. So I was kind of alone, when I got off the next day (Duty-Section change) with my laundry.
There was a fine laundromat a few blocks from the pier the water taxi was using. I dumped my clothes into a couple of washers, fed it your funny-money, and went a few doors down for a "bucket of piss."
And walked right into a local-government council meeting, there at the pub...and what fine gents. They heard me order my piss, knew I was another Yank, and invited me over to have a seat. Somehow it got out that I knew something of Yankee government (which I did, as a former PoliSci/Pre-Law student in Ohio) and they wanted to talk about our system, their system, the problems the US Navy caused, with its inevitable AWOL cases. Happens every time there's a Navy ship rolling in.
We talked more, about how foreigners would get into the US, through marriage to US nationals, and how the Australian rules were different. How it was handled far-more locally; and how even marriage, even if that marriage had been far in the past, was not an automatic ticket. I should point out that NEVER were these gentlemen patronizing or lecturing. They were intensely curious, and eager to share their own experience. I had about six pints of beer - which I wasn't prepped for, I'm guessing it was 8-percent alcohol. It hit me hard.
And I had forgotten about my clothes. As I remembered, about three hours later, I excused myself and staggered back to the laundry. And my machines were...empty. NO TRACE. Back behind the counter was this red-headed young woman, I expected probably a single mum....sure kept her appearances up. Exactly my type.
I asked about the clothes. "Oh, I saw the machines empty; and then saw they were Navy clothes; so I took them out, and put them in a dryer, and then folded them." They were neatly folded and stacked. Holy sheep-shearing! To make it worse, she refused any payment.
I'd have taken her out to dinner that night, but all that potent beer hit me hard. I was obviously in my cups. ANOTHER opportunity lost...