We’re becoming accustomed to Australianisms. Whenever we ask anyone for something, they respond “No worries.” When apologizing for jostling someone, I get “Yer all right, mate.” Australians use the word “whilst” as in “fasten your seat belt whilst driving.” Speaking of driving, highways have lanes for “overtaking,” not for passing.

Some expressions are quirky. What Mexicans call topes (speed bumps) are here called “sleeping policemen.” When I told an Aussie friend I wanted to take high tea at the Windsor Hotel, she said, “That’ll cost you a bowl.”

At the Kaos Kafe on the Great Ocean Road, a sign reads: “Any child left unattended will be given an espresso and a free puppy.” (I have found variants of this notice all over the world, so it’s not exactly an Australianism.)

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Australians are light, cheerful and engaging. Also, they’re sexy.

Unlike puritanical American advertisers, Australian companies seem to delight in suggestive slogans. A brand of toilet tissue offers the slogan, “Quilton loves your bum.”

A billboard promoting a restaurant says “Get Stuffed!” Streets ice cream employs a similar theme.

I notice sex shops everywhere. Not the US or European kind, those secretive places that you can’t see inside. Australian sex shops have cheery display windows featuring mannequins attired in naughty nighties and fur-lined handcuffs. A large sign on a Melbourne awning announces “Marital Toys.” (But not “Extra-Marital Toys. The Australian sense of decency requires some sort of limits, after all.)

In Australia, sex has a more public presence than I’m used to: more direct, less circumspect. At the cashier’s booth in a gas station there’s a large display of condoms with colorful wrappers depicting naked people embracing: not pornographic, but highly suggestive. “Yes, I’ll have thirty liters of petrol, a flavored condom, and a Snickers bar, please.”

A newspaper for the Northern Territory features lurid stories on the front page of every issue.

Once past the headlines, I can see it is a legitimate paper, with thoughtful pieces on the swine flu pandemic and the economic difficulties. I also see there is a robust classified advertising section. One classification, headed “Services,” is for prostitutes. Not ingenuous ads for “escorts” or “massage—outcalls,” but ads by real upfront hookers, with detailed descriptions of what exactly is on offer.

The content of the ads doesn’t shock me. What surprises me is that the ads are published at all. Is there anywhere else in the world where the general media carry ads selling outright sex?

Australians acknowledge sex without any fuss. They are playful about it. They’re not ashamed of it. It all seems pretty healthy to me.