American expat brands Australians a bunch of ‘liars’ – and she’s not the first to say it

By William On Nov 28, 2023

An American expat has revealed what all Australians have in common: they love to lie to tourists.

Emily Tollefson has lived in Sydney for more than a year and often found herself the victim of classic Australian ‘jokes’ when she first moved Down Under from Minnesota.

“One thing I’ve become very aware of since moving to Australia is how much Australians love to lie and troll tourists,” she said. “If you visit a country and say something wrong, the natives will usually correct it, but the Australians won’t.”

Emily has been misled before about food, politics, geography and especially animals – while the North American believed for two months that ‘drop bears’ were real.

“Australians will not only validate your misinformation, but they will add ridiculous facts to it and lie about everything,” she said.

Emily explained that Australia has an international reputation as home to ‘dangerous’ wildlife.

“We always hear about the poisonous, scary animals Australia has, but you don’t really know what you’re dealing with until you get here,” she said.

“I thought Australians would like to tell you the truth about snakes, spiders and kangaroos, but no, they like to scare tourists and spread lies.”

Emily added: ‘It’s not limited to one area, it’s a national issue and Australians seem to love trolling tourists.’

The American believed in drop bears for two months when she first moved to Sydney.

The licorice bear is a long-standing urban legend in Australia and is often used to prank tourists.

The legend tells the story of a wild animal, related to the koala, that pounces on its prey from above – hence the name ‘drop bear’.

Emily Tollefson has lived in Sydney for over a year and often found herself the victim of classic Australian ‘jokes’ when she first moved Down Under from Minnesota

What is a drop bear?

The licorice bear is a long-standing urban legend in Australia and is often used to prank tourists.

The legend tells the story of a wild animal, related to the koala, that pounces on its prey from above – hence the name ‘drop bear’.

Concerned foreigners are told that the bears are known to lurk in forests and wait for up to four hours before being killed unexpectedly.

The story goes that the licorice bear grabs its prey with its powerful forearms and bites its victims on the neck, says the Australian Museum.

Folk remedies to ward off a drop bear attack include smearing toothpaste or Vegemite behind your ears or sticking forks in your hair.

Like the drop bear itself, there is no evidence to support these claims.

A Canadian who regularly travels to Australia also issued a similar warning.

Chris Zou said an Australian friend successfully convinced him on a previous trip that koalas were poisonous and warned other tourists not to fall for other tricks.

“For anyone planning to visit Australia in the future, I would like to heed a word of caution,” Chris said in an email video.

“Take what Australians say with a grain of salt because for some reason trolling tourists is one of their favorite things to do.”

The Canadian said he is about to visit Australia for the third time this year and is determined not to fall for any local tricks.

Chris Zou has traveled from Canada to Australia several times this year and is warning other visitors. He said Australians like to ‘troll’ tourists and he has fallen for their tricks

The first time Chris and his partner came to Australia, they wanted to see if the rumor that the toilet flushed in the opposite direction to that in the Northern Hemisphere was true.

“The water turns exactly the same way it does here and we stared at each other wondering why anyone would come up with this?” he remembered.

The last time Chris came to Australia, an Australian friend told him a lie that he later shared with his 304,800 TikTok followers.

“I was chatting to an Australian friend of mine, or someone I thought was a friend, and he casually threw out that you can’t eat a koala because they’re poisonous,” he explained.

A friend of Chris convinced him that Koalas could not be eaten because they were poisonous. Chris shared the ‘fact’ on TikTok and sent thousands into hysterics (stock image)

The TikToker shared his new information online, leaving hundreds of Australians in stitches.

“The comments section was full of Australians saying, ‘There goes our people again, we’re cheating the tourist, we’re so funny,'” he said.

‘I wonder: why would my boyfriend lie about this? Why would he be okay with me making a fool of myself in front of hundreds of thousands of people?’

Chris also complained about the way Australians speak in a ‘confusing’ way, especially those who say ‘Yes, no’ or ‘No, yes’.

“The conversation goes on and on and then I sit there like a damn idiot wondering, did he mean yes or did he mean no?” he said.

He ended by asking his Australian followers about the recent news that the University of Melbourne will host a ‘Swiftposium’ academic conference to discuss Taylor Swift’s impact on culture and the economy.

Australian viewers found Chris’s experiences hysterical and others shared their own Australian ‘facts’.

‘Sarcasm is our unofficial language. We also get overexcited by tourists because they have to travel so far here,” explains a second.

“The money in Australia is called dollarydoos,” a third joked.

‘All true. Sorry. But watch out for the drop bears if you go to Melbourne,” a fourth added.

Others have cleared up the confusion about the way Australians speak.

“The ‘yes’ part is acknowledging what you say or your position. The ‘nah’ is the answer or reaction. Works the same opposite,” said one opinion.