Australia

Do you know?

• If you go to Australia it will seem to you rather an upside-down world. The seasons are the other way round. Summer is from December to February, autumn from March to May, winter from June to August, and spring from September to November. New Year is at midsummer, midwinter is in June. Hot winds blow from the north; cold winds blow from the south.

• You will be dazzled with magnificent landscapes and unusual plants. It will seem strange to you that trees lose their bark, not their leaves, and a lot of flowers have no smell. Even stranger than plants are the animals. Many of them are found nowhere else in the world. There live kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, and a lot of rare birds.

• Australia is the driest continent on earth. The four great deserts of central Australia cover 2,000,000 square kilometers. There are few rivers there.

• Australia is the flattest of all continents. Because of its overall flatness and regular coastline, Australia is often called a “sprawling pancake”.

• An island continent, Australia was cut off from the rest of the world for millions of years. As a result, it was the last continent to be discovered and settled by Europeans.

It’s interesting

• Australians are largely of British origin, and maintain close ties with the mother country. Some of them even refer to it as home. Australians drive on the left side of the road, as do British drivers. Tea is the favourite hot drink in Australia, as it is in England. English sports, such as cricket and rugby, are popular in Australia.

• Australians are an outdoor people. Their country’s mild climate permits them to enjoy all kinds of sports during most of the year. Since many Australians live near the coast, it is not surprising that “going to the beach” is almost a way of life. George Mikes, humorist, wrote about this aspect of Australian life: “Outdoor life is not only a pastime, not only a true and delightful pleasure but a bit of an obsession, a mania. What beefsteak is to Argentina, flamenco to Spain, cool reserve and self-control in all situations to an Englishman, what vodka is to a Russian and beer to a Bavarian, what money is to a Swiss, that is outdoor life to an Australian.”

• Sydney is Australia’s oldest and largest city. Captain Cook stopped near here at Botany Bay in 1770 and in only 200 years the city grew from nothing into a home for millions of people.

• Despite the history, Sydney is the most modern place in Australia. Its buildings are the highest, its fashions are the newest and its colours are the brightest. A lot of Australia’s exciting cultural life is found in Sydney. Artists, writers, opera singers and film makers all live here. So some people call the city “the Paris of the Pacific.” But that doesn’t seem quite right. Paris hasn’t got all that sea, sand, sun and surf. Sydneysiders, as well as many visitors to Australia, come to Bondi Beach to relax and take a rest. Some of them really relax. Others are too busy – they’re jogging, swimming, or riding the great waves on their surfboards.

Believe it or not

• The Aborigines did their hunting with spears and boomerangs.

• Boomerangs are cleverly designed to return to you when thrown.

• The Aborigines were nomads and they couldn't carry much with them. Many of their things had a lot of uses. The Coolaman, a wooden dish, was used to dig, carry water, store seeds and hold a baby!

• The Aboriginal women still make carpets and baskets by weaving grass with human hair together.

• The didgeridoo is the oldest wind instrument in the world.

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