AUSSIE UNIQUENESS

                                  Interesting  Aussie Facts

I have posted numerous blogs from my two long trips Down Under, but there is so much more to share that I have decided that all the posts in April will concern this distant destination. It is spring here in Texas and many of us are thinking about getting out of the summer heat and since it is fall Down Under this might be on one’s list.

Victoria is the smallest state and is dairy country; Queensland is known for its wool production; wheat comes from the west, and wine from the south. New South Wales produces beef, and Tasmania grows fruit---these are only the main crops and what identifies each state.

The 2500 mile long Great Divide mountain range divides the country by dividing two river systems and is the second longest mountain range in the world, after the Alps.

Australia is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the south by the Southern Ocean, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, and on the north by the Coral Sea. The Tasman Sea runs between Australia and Tasmania, the only island state, at the southeast corner of the country.

The Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania in 1642. In 1770 Captain Cook  discovered Australia, and in 1788 the first English prison ships arrived landing at the Rocks in Sydney.

Native Aborigines have inhabited Australia for 40,000 years.

The Australian landscape includes 36,000 kilometers of beach, rain forest, bush, and outback. There is the lure of the mountains as well as the glamour of the big cities. The Australian Alps are a ski area.

Sydney is New South Wales’ capital and the first and largest city in the country.

The east coast from Brisbane to Cairns (pronounced cans) is tropical, complete with beach, palm trees, and tropical flora.

The Great Barrier Reef protects hundreds of small off shore islands. The Reef itself is a protected national landmark.

The Australian coat of arms contains both the kangaroo and the emu. Neither can walk backwards.

Australia is the driest continent on earth.

Several poisonous snakes live in the country and it is the law that no one picks up a snake. If bitten there is no need to retrieve the snake as a litmus test of the wound can tell the doctor what kind of a snake inflicted the bite; thus he knows the treatment.

Many of the world’s opals come from Australia. Lightening Ridge, in the outback, 500 miles from Sydney, is the world’s most celebrated source of opals. It was discovered in 1901.

Australia is the largest producer of camels; they are exported all over the globe.

There are 151 different nationalities/ethnic groups; Aborigines make up 2.4 % of the population.

All eucalyptus trees belong to the gum family, but not all gum trees are eucalyptus. There are 1100 known varieties of eucalyptus trees in the world, Australia has 760 varieties and the koala eats only five varieties. Because of the trees oil content when they are in a fire they literally explode.

 The kiwi is seldom seen in the wild.   It hunts by smell, not by sight. Its nostrils are located at the tip of its long curved beak, technically making his beak the shortest of any bird, as a beak is measured from the nostrils to the tip. The kiwi has no wings so cannot fly. He is all fur and feathers over a very small skeleton. He lays the largest egg for his body weight and it is the male who incubates the egg for 80 days. I have seen a kiwi twice, both times in a controlled enclosure.