Sports in Australia



Australian Rugby Team

When you think of sports in Australia, the first one that might come to your mind is probably surfing. Although surfing is very popular, competetive surfing is not the most popular sport in Australia. Rugby is actually one of the most popular sports. Some other common sports in Australia are cricket, golf, cycling, even martial arts. Because of Australia's year-round warm climate, many sports are outdoors or water-related, for example, rowing, sailing, and swimming. Spear-fishing, although some people don't even consider it a sport, is actually practiced by some Australians! These "warmer" sports are much more dominant in Australia than the "cold" ones (like snowboarding, hockey...etc.). Like I mentioned before, surfing is very popular in Australia. With warm weather, so many beaches and lots of great waves, Australia has the perfect conditions for surfing.

Surfing!

http://www.yesaustralia.com/estilo-esportesing.htmhttp://www.australearn.org/destinations/australia/country_information/sport/Australia's



Tourism in Australia

Almost 95% of the Australian population lives very close to the coast and therefore much of the tourism in Australia has to do with the ocean. Australia has miles and miles of beaches, and no shortage of ocean to swim, boat, surf, fish, dive and snorkel in!

Bondi Beach crowed on a hot day

Some famous beaches in Australia are Bondi Beach, which is about a kilometer long and probably the most popular and well-known beach in Australia, Bells Beach, Surfers Paradise Beach, and Cape Tribulation. Cape Tribulation is really interesting and unique because the shoreline comes out right on the edge of a tropical rainforest!

The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is a big tourist attraction in Australia as well. It is made up of 900 islands, nearly 3000 individual reefs, and it stretches over 3000km! It’s actually one of the 7 wonders of the natural world!

Some of the interesting animals in
Australia: a tasmanian devil (bottom
left), kookaburras (top left), a wombat
(top right), and an emu!

Australia is also home to many animals that you won’t find in many other places in the world. People come from all over to see these animals in zoos as well as their native habitat. Kangaroos, koalas, platypuses, emus, wombats, kookaburras, and Tasmanian devils are examples of these unique Australian animals.

Another popular place to visit in Australia is Sydney Harbour. The Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are all located there, while the harbour itself is a popular tourist destination. Sydney Harbour has 240 kilometres of shoreline and the harbour is 54 km²! Since there are so many bridges crossing the harbour, it is very common to travel by ferry there.   

Perfect picture of Sydney Harbour. You can see the Sydney
Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background,
and the water is full of boats!

There isn't much at all in the large interior of Australia, let alone tourist attractions, since most of it is desert. There are tours of the Australian outback that are common for tourists. There is also one massive rock, called Ayers Rock that is over 300 meters tall! It can even be seen from outer space!

Ayers Rock

http://www.sydney.com.au/harbour.htm

http://www.greatbarrierreef.org/about.php

http://www.gold-coast-australia-travel-tips.com/main-tourist-attractions-in-Australia.html

Australia's Culture

The culture of Australia is a western culture, fairly similar to Canada’s, but there are many different things that make Australia’s culture all its own.

St Mary's Cathedral, the largest Roman Catholic
church in Australia

Christianity is the main religion in Australia, primarily the Anglican and Roman Catholic faiths. But due to the extensive immigration in Australia, the country is one of the world’s most religiously diverse nations. There are a great number of Muslims, Buddhists, Jews and Hindus, but nearly all faiths are present as well.

Pavlova, such as this one, is usually topped
with whipped cream and fruit -
strawberries and kiwis here





Vegemite is most often spread on
toast... like a salty jam (it seems quite
unappetising to me!)


As far as food goes, Australian’s eat most of the same food we do in Canada. But like with their religion, Australian cuisine is quite diversified. All the immigrants have influenced the present-day food and cooking styles in Australia. Seafood is very popular in Australia, seeing as many people live by the ocean, and the seafood restaurants in Australia are some of the best in the world. Many different abundant crops grow throughout Australia, for example, bananas, oranges, rice, sugar cane, wheat, etc. Although Australians eat similar foods as us, they still have certain foods that are uniquely their own. Kangaroo meat was once very popular in Australia, but not so much anymore. Vegemite, a food spread made from yeast extract that is salty and slightly bitter, is a common food you would find in Australia. Another is pavlova, a meringue-based dessert with a crisp crust and soft inside. My grandma makes pavlova very often (ever since they discovered it during a trip to Australia) and it's actually one of my favourite desserts!

Surfing the waves, sporting some "surfwear"

Australians dress basically the same way as we do, however bushwear and surfwear are more commonly worn there. Billabong, Rip Curl and Quiksilver are among the famous surfwear brands people wear in Australia. Ugg boots were first developed in Australia as shoes for comfort, but have evolved into a fashion item, popular wordwide.

http://www.everyculture.com/A-Bo/Australia.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Australia#Clothing_and_apparel

http://www.foodbycountry.com/Algeria-to-France/Australia.html

Economy of Australia

Australian currency:
the Australian dollar is equivalent to $1.03 Canadian

Australia is now one of the fastest growing advanced economies in the world. It is the 13th largest economy in the world (according to nominal GDP). In the last 20 years or so, Australia has had a period of uninterrupted economic growth.

 

 The economy of Australia is made up of two major industries. The west is home to most of Australia's natural resources, (for example, gold, oil, natural gas, etc.) while the majority of the country's service and financial industries is located in the east.

China is Australia's largest export market as well as a main import source. Like Canada and the United States, many goods (furniture, toys, clothing, etc.) are imported from China. In addition to China, Australia also holds free trade agreements with many other countries (such as Japan and the US). Australia is currently ranked 19th in the world for both imports and exports.

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0856772.html

http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/australia/?page=full

History of Australia

The aboriginal people inhabited the island first.

Between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago, aboriginals immigrated to Australia by boat from Asia. There could’ve been between a half million to a million aboriginal immigrants back then, but now this population has reduced to only about 350,000. In the 17th century, European explorers sighted Australia, but it wasn’t until 1770 when Great Britain took possession of the island, naming it New South Wales. Life in Britain at this time was hard and people would steal to survive. People were constantly being arrested; prisons became overcrowded, so Britain sent the convicts away to Australia. During the late 18^thand 19^th centuries, the six colonies were created, and later in 1901, the colonies combined to form the country that we know today.

http://www.australianhistory.org/convicts

http://www.clickforaustralia.com/History.htm

http://www.hht.net.au/discover/highlights/kids_fact_sheets/why_were_convicts_transported_to_australia

Australia's Climate

We generally think of the South being hot and the North being cold, but in Australia, that’s not the case. Since Australia is in the Southern hemisphere, the equator is to the north, therefore the more south you go, the colder it gets.

The north has a more tropical climate with a hot, wet season (summer) and warm, dry season (winter). The south has warm dry, summers and cool, wet winters. In the south, during the winter, the average maximums can get as low as 13°C, but also reach as high as 23°C, while in the summer, temperatures can reach up to 41°C!

Another thing different about being located in the southern hemisphere is that their seasons are opposite us in the northern hemisphere. Right now, it’s just turning into fall and the weather is cooling off. During our summer, it’s their winter and vice-versa.

Being such  a large country, Australia has many contrasting "climate-zones". There are tropical regions in the north, the south-west has a higher altitude than the rest of Australia and mountains and snow! Central australia is the outback, which is a hot, dry desert. http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/ausclim/ausclim.htmhttp://www.aussie-info.com/tourist/climate.phphttp://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_averages/temperature/index.jsp 

The Flag of Australia

The Australian flag was introduced in 1901 after the States of Australia were established. The flag is twice as long as it is wide. The Australian flag consists of three main components. In the upper left corner, is the Union Jack, or the Canton, signifying their links with Great Britain. (Great Britain’s flag is just the Union Jack.) In the upper right corner, there are 5 stars in a sort of diamond pattern that form the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross is a constellation that is a significant navigational feature of Australia and the entire southern hemisphere. The constellation has been associated with Australia for many years. The Star of Federation or Commonwealth Star located in the bottom left corner has seven points to represent the six states and combined territories of the Commonwealth.

http://www.anbg.gov.au/oz/flag.html

Basic Geography of Australia

Australia is an island, a country and a continent! Although it is the smallest continent, it is the sixth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, China, The United States of America and Brazil. Australia’s area is 7,686,850 square kilometres, however, the island takes up only 5% of the earth’s land area.

The population of Australia has doubled in just the last 50 years and is now 22, 421,417. This makes Australia’s population density 2.92 (per km²), which is fairly close in comparison to Canada’s population density which is 3.43 (per km²).

 Since Australia is an island, it is completely surrounded by water:  to the west, the Indian Ocean, and to the east, the Southern Pacific Ocean. The mainland of Australia is also surrounded by thousands of smaller islands. All of this land in Australia is divided into 6 states and 3 territories.

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/populations/ctypopls.htm

http://www.ga.gov.au/education/geoscience-basics/dimensions/coastline-lengths.html

http://www.kidport.com/reflib/worldgeography/australia/australia.htm#Title