Beach labels and thongs
No matter in which direction you walk in Australia, sooner or later you will inevitably always come to a beach (in some directions, however, you walk longer than in other directions). More than 95% of Australians live on some coast of the continent girt by the sea and most of these 95% in the big cities of Australia.
Therefore, it is not surprising that a lot of things here centre on water, sun and beach. There are plenty of shops where you can buy the right beach equipment. However, the businesses are often so similar that you can mix them up easily and that it sometimes happens that you head to the wrong store to exchange items …
For me, the shops are more or less interchangeable. In addition to T-shirts, shorts, sunglasses, bathing suits, bikinis and bathing trunks, bags, bath towels, etc. of course, the range includes “Thongs”. They are ubiquitous in Australia. When Australians use the word “thongs”, they don’t mean the type of sexy garment generally worn as underwear mostly by women. In Australia the general meaning of thongs is what other people might call flip-flops. Nevertheless, in some cases people here still call a thong a thong. Sometimes it can be ambiguous (“she likes to wear thongs”), in these cases you’d use the term “g-strings”. Thong and thongs are distinguished by a plural and/or context.
In Australia thongs are probably the most worn footwear ever. They are worn at almost all times of the year and the day as well as on various occasions. Already on the flight to Australia one can distinguish Australians from tourists often by the fact that Australians wear thongs on the aeroplane. Thongs are worn in shopping malls, supermarkets, when driving (dangerous, as studies have proven – see also), in restaurants and even at weddings (I have experienced that myself, although this is not common). And of course, especially on the beach.
Thongs are available in countless colours and colour combinations. Prices are ranging from a few to more than 100 Australian dollars. Alone e.g. at CityBeach 441 (!) different couples are offered on the website.
© City Beach Australia 
© City Beach Australia 
In any case, thongs in Australia are quite convenient in the generally rather warm or hot and humid weather. If you’re in Australia longer, especially in the summer, you can hardly get around to buy a few thongs. Let’s go to the thong-shop …
P.S. I am also wearing thongs while writing this post.