Toilets in Australia
Anyone who returns from a trip to Australia is bombarded with the same question by everyone s/he knows: "Does the water in an Australian toilet really swirl the other way when flushed?" The answer is no for two reasons.
First, the Coriolis force which is widely considered to be the cause of this fictitious phenomenon has a negligible effect on something like a toilet flush. There are many web sites that explain this well, including this one. Secondly, the water in a typical Australian toilet actually doesn't swirl in either direction when flushed! This is because the fresh water from the tank comes down (forcefully) from the front and back of the bowl, as opposed to the sides of the bowl. The bowl contents sort of bubble down, rather than swirl down. (I took a video clip of this but managed to accidentally erase it.)
That said, there are other notable differences between toilets in Australia and toilets in America. First, take a look at the water level in the bowl. It is low! I'll leave it up to the reader's imagination why this can cause problems. Let's just say toilet paper consumption is probably much higher per capita in Australia than in the US.
Note also that there are two buttons on top of the toilet tank. One of them is for a "half-flush," and the other a "full-flush." I was utterly confused by this, so ended up pressing both buttons most of the time.