Australia is the world’s largest island, it is commonly known as “ The Luck Country” or “ Down Under” Australia consists of five states and two territories. 
The States are: Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia & Queensland. The Territories are:  Northern Territory & Australian Capital Territory.

 I guess the life of the average Australian is very laid back compared to a lot of other cultures.  We love the beach; barbecues in summer are a must! We can’t live without our vegemite; we do not celebrate a whole lot of occasions Christmas, Easter, New Years Eve and Australia day. There are no real exclusive Australian celebrations.

We are still under a British monarchy and there have been a lot of talks about becoming republic so our country appears to be going through a time of change.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it is a very scenic country.  We have some of the most beautiful beaches with glistening white sand and crystal clear blue waters, being an island they are all around us, we have deserts, rainforests, bush land and the world famous Great Barrier Reef.  Snowfields to tropics each state you enter; you will encounter a totally different weather condition.

Now I have touched briefly on Australia I would like to focus on my home state, Tasmania. Tasmania was formerly known as Van Diemans Land. It is a small island south of Australia. Tasmania was once joined to Australia but rising waters put a sea between them, Abel Tasman founded Tasmania in 1642,to be used as a penal colony for convicts to be shipped here from England where the jails were overflowing. A lot of tourist attractions in Tasmanians allow you to view convict jails, bridges and churches built by the convicts and various other things to do with the penal settlement. As you can imagine history is a huge part of Tasmania.

Tasmania is rugged and magnificent with spectacular scenery, you can go deep into the heart of the wilderness, walk through rainforests, comb the beaches & be minutes from the cities. You can drive from one end of Tasmania to the other in well under a day. Tasmania’s separation from the main lands diverse landscape and temperate climate has resulted in many species of plant and wildlife prospering in the state. A lot of these animals only exist in Tasmania. Many of you would of heard of the Tasmanian Devil  for those of you who think he is a cute and cuddly character as portrayed by Warner Brothers, think again! They are neither cute nor cuddly. The Tasmanian Devil is nocturnal which means it mainly sleeps of a day and hunts of a night, they have some of the strongest jaws known by any animal and they usually eat the whole of their prey, leaving nothing whatsoever.

I couldn’t go any further without talking about the kangaroo. The eastern grey kangaroo is a protected species in Tasmania. Forester kangaroos can reach over 2 meters in height when fully upright and they can jump up to 8 meters in a single bound. There are many more animals only found in Australia but maybe another point in time I could tell you more.

Tasmania has Australia’s first casino, it is located in the states capital Hobart. The casino has adopted the name by locals as the round house because the structure of the building is round.

I could write for pages & pages, I have just touched on a few subjects of this “Lucky Country” of mine, but for now I hope you have enjoyed reading about my country. I love being an Australian and I’m very proud of my country.

If one day you are lucky enough to travel to Tasmania be sure to pack you’re sun screen, a hat, a warm jumper, a waterproof overcoat and insect repellent as the weather here can be very unpredictable, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!

 

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