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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Carolyn Zabel