It is interesting to think about what someone will find unique about your native land.

Yes, there were the beaches. He was amazed at the sheer number of them. But I expected that.

Yes, he was impressed by our visit to my local doctor. When I pulled out a Medicare card (an Australian universal health care card) in order to ‘pay,’ it was like he’d just witnessed a new and wonderful world. But again, I expected that.

Yes, he was seriously surprised with just how multiethnic Sydney is. But I expected that too. The growth of Asian-Australian as an ethnic group is an evolution in motion that has not translated to the outside world quite yet.

But then there were the things that I didn’t expect, the largest of which was … the Australian bird life.

It seriously blew him away.

I had taken it for granted. As a person who grew up in suburban Sydney, I did not for a moment predict the impact it would have on him.