An expat in Australia has shared a huge culture shock she faced when moving Down Under – and it is making people proud to be Aussies.

Julie is originally from Berlin in Germany but now lives in Sydney, where one thing has left her confused.

Filming at Bondi Beach, she captured videos of personal items left on the sand and along the beachfront, completely unaccompanied.

Julie pointed to handbags and shoes left uncovered on the sand, while keys and AirPods could also be seen on the shore. 

“The level of trust Aussies have for each other is beyond my comprehension,” a message accompanying the video said. 

She compared the scene to her home continent of Europe, saying beachgoers “would all come back to nothing” if it happed there.

Comments in Julie’s video backed the trust between Aussies at the beach, saying it is what makes Australia.

“The amount of times I left my key in the front door of my car, house door is always open, this is Australia, please never change,” one Instagram user wrote.

“When I was younger, we could leave house doors unlocked, gates open and car windows down on Sydney’s Northern Beaches,” another user agreed.

“I lived in Sydney for seven years. I left my wallet, iPad, iPhone and everything on the beach while surfing. Nothing happened. Good blokes other there,” a third said. 

One lady shared her experience at a beach in Torquay, writing that she once realised she forgot to remove her rings and so quickly threw them on her bag on the sand.

“Only it wasn’t my bag, it just looked the same,” she wrote. 

“When I came back out of the water, she found me and gave them back. I had no idea.

“That’s an Aussie for you.”

It is not just a feeling shared by Julie, as Sydney, and Australia in general, is often viewed as one of the safest places to live or visit in the world.

In 2025, Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection’s State of Travel Insurance Safest Destinations Report ranked Sydney as the sixth safest city in the world, coming in behind Honolulu, Copenhagen and Reykjavik.

Last year, Forbes Advisor similarly ranked Sydney as the fourth safest city in the world.