which means "white man's burrow".

The description is apt because most people live and work underground.

Coober Pedy is located 836 kilometres (510 miles) north of Adelaide and

about 300 kilometres south of Uluru.

It is a desolate landscape devoid of vegetation and water. It is an

extremely hot place too. The entire landscape is pockmarked by the telltale

tailing of countless opal mines.

In 1915 a young boy named Willie Hutchison, who was out with his father

prospecting for gold, discovered the first opal there. Since then the town

has grown to about 2500 people.

Coober Pedy produces about 90% of the world's opals.

Because of the extreme heat during the summer almost all buildings are

located underground.

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef stretches along the east coast of Queensland in

Australia. It is the world's largest coral reef . It is over 2000km (1250

miles) long! It is not a single reef at all. It is made up of over 2900

individual reefs very close to each other

WHAT IS A CORAL REEF?

A coral is a tiny marine polyp. It is the living part of the coral reef.

There are many different kinds of corals. These are what gives the coral

reef its colourful appearance. Corals feed mostly on plankton. Coral grows

in warm climates where there is clear salt water and sunlight. They don't

like pollution.

A coral reef is a natural barrier made of the bodies of living and dead

coral. It is normally just below the surface of the water.

It is made of two parts the:

. white part is made from the bodies of zillions and zillions of polyps

which have died over hundreds and thousands of years.

. colourful part is the living part of the coral reef. It is made up of

living polyps.

WHO LIVES HERE?

• 1500 species of fish

• 400 different types of coral

• 4,00 molluscs (like clams and the sea slug)

• 500 species of seaweed

• 215 species of birds

• 16 species of sea snake

• 6 species of sea turtle

• Whales visit during winter

New South Wales

New South Wales is the fourth largest state in Australia. It is 801,600 sq

km in size.

About 6 million people live in New South Wales. One in three Australians

lives in New South Wales.

SYDNEY

Sydney is the capital of the state of New South Wales. It is Australia's

oldest and largest city. The defining symbols of Sydney are its Opera House

and "coat hanger bridge".

Sydney is the commercial capital of Australia.

About 3.8 million people live in the greater Sydney area.

THE BEACH

Bondi and Manly are some of the famous beaches along the New South Wales

coast a short distance from Sydney

THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

The Blue Mountains rise from the coastal plains about 65 kilometres west of

Sydney. They are composed of sandstone deposited over 170 million years ago

that was then pushed up to form a plateau which was subsequently eroded by

wind, rain and water leaving spectacular gorges, pinnacles and cliffs. The

highest point is about 1100 meters above sea level.

The towering cliffs of these mountains presented a seemly impassable

barrier to early european settlers. Even today most parts are only

accessible to experienced bushwalkers.

WHY ARE THEY SO BLUE?

The Blue Mountains are covered with eucalyptus trees which constantly

release very fine droplets of oil into the atmosphere. These droplets cause

the blue light-rays from the sun to be scattered more effectively (knows as

Rayliegh Scattering) making the whole area look bluer.

Strine - Australian Slang

Australian Strine consists of words and phrases which:

• have different meanings from other English (like American English

or British English),

• we have made up ourselves or

• we have borrowed from Aborigine words or from slang used by early

settlers.

The Dandenongs

The Dandenong Ranges are located approximately 40 kilometers from

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

HEALESVILLE SANCTUARY

The Healesville Sanctuary is a place where you can see Australian native

animals in natural bushland surroundings. The sanctuary also carries out

research and breeding programs for many endangered animals.

There is a real cool Koala enclosure, platypus tank and snake pit too.

Here is the official web site for the Healesville Sanctuary

The Exhibits page is very good.

PUFFING BILLY RAILWAY

It is great fun riding the Puffing Billy Railway as it weaves its way up

the mountains. We even get to sit on the windowsills and dangle our legs

out the windows. If you look closely you can see some people doing just

that. Because its a stream train you get coal dust in your eyes and on your

clothes.

When the weather is really dry and there is a danger of bushfires the

Puffing Billy 's steam engine isn't used. That's because a spark from its

steam engine could start a bushfire. They use a diesel engine instead.

Here is the official web site for the Puffing Billy Railway .

TULIP FESTIVAL

Every year thousands of visitors come to see the tulips at the Tesselaar

Tulip farm in Silvan.

There are many other gardens in the Dandenongs too.

UPPER BEACONSFIELD

Upper Beaconsfield is located 53 kms (33 miles) south-east of Melbourne in

the Dandenong Ranges on the southern foothills of the Great Dividing Range.

Upper Beaconsfield retains much of its rural heritage and atmosphere with

tree lined streets, varied eucalyptus forests, wet-lands, fern gullies and

secluded creeks.

THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD

The Great Ocean Road starts at Torquay (about 100kms from Melbourne) and

winds its way for 180 kms along the south-western coast of Victoria ,

Australia.

It is one of the most spectacular coastal drives in the world. It winds its

ways around ragged cliffs, windswept beaches, and tall buffs and passes

through lush mountain rainforest and towering eucalyptus.

The Great Ocean Road was started in 1918 and completed during the Great

Depression as a public works project to give returned soldiers and

unemployed people work.

Some of the sights along the way are:

. Bells Beach - a great place to go surfing and where the Bells Surfing

Classic is held each Easter.

. Shipwreck Coast - where the wrecks of over 80 ships lie on the ocean

floor. Many ships carrying immigrants to the gold fields of Victoria

floundered in the treacherous seas.

. Lorne - a popular sea side resort in Apollo Bay.

. Port Campbell National Park - One of the most photographed sections of

the road where shear golden limestone cliffs and rock formations

withstand the buffeting of fierce seas.

o Twelve Apostles -

(there are only 10 left!)

o London Bridge

(This is what it looked like before one of its spans collapsed)

o Loch Ard Gorge - where in 1878 the clipper Loch Ard was driven

into rocks during a storm with the loss of 52 lives.

. Otway National Park

. Port Fairy - a well preserved fishing village which was settled by

sealers and whalers back in the 1820s.

THE LOCH ARD DISASTER

The 18 passengers and 36 crew on the iron-hulled clipper Loch Ard had a

party on the night of March 31, 1878, to celebrate their arrival in

Melbourne the next day after a three month voyage from England. But Captain

Gibb stayed on deck all night, worried by the thick mist that obscured the

horizon and Cape Otway light. At 4am the mist lifted and the lookout cried:

"Breakers ahead." Despite desperate attempts to turn the ship away -- and

then to hold it with its anchors -- it struck rocks. water flooded in, the

masts flailed against the high cliff face before crashing down and waves

swept across the decks, hampering attempts to get the lifeboats into the

water. Only two survived -- ship's apprentice Tom Pearce and Eva

Carmichael, both aged 18. Eva's parents and five siblings were lost. Tom

drifted into the gorge where he saw passenger Eva clinging to a mast -- he

swam out, pulled her into a cave and found some brandy in the wreckage to

revive her. He climbed out of the gorge and came upon two stockmen, and a

rescue party was organised. But only four bodies -- including Eva's mother

and sister, were able to be recovered from the treacherous seas and most of

the ship's valuable cargo was lost or looted. Tom Pearce became a national

hero for his rescue of Eva, who soon returned to Ireland.

A few days after the disaster a packing case washed up in the gorge. It

contained a life-sized Minton pottery peacock destined for the Melbourne

Great Exhibition of 1880

The Outback is the arid sparsely populated interior of Australia.

It makes up almost 85% of Australian landmass. Very few humans live out

there.

It is also sometimes called "Beyond the Black Stump".

The Australian Outback is both harsh and breathtakingly beautiful. It's

like nothing else anywhere else in the world.

A ROAD TO NEVER-NEVER

In the outback you can travel for days without meeting anyone. This is why

it is sometimes called the Never-Never: the never ending landscape; the

never ending horizon.

The land is unforgiving to the careless and foolhardy. You can die of

dehydration within hours if you are not careful.

A STATION

Yes people actually do live in the outback.

Cattle and sheep are grazed on huge tracts of land called Stations (what

might be called a ranch in the USA). There are Stations in the outback that

occupy more land than some countries. Helicopters and small planes are

usually used to round up stock (the sheep and cattle) and to check fences

(dingo and rabbit fences).

A person who rounds up stock is called a Stockman.

A person who works at a Station is called a Stationhand.

The owner is called a Station-Manager

THE PEOPLE

The vast distances have forced people to adapt to their isolation (some

people being more than a day's drive from their nearest neighbor). A two-

way radio and an airstrip are vital to any outback station.

Because of the great distances some children in the outback cannot attend

regular school. They learn from the School of the Air which is a special

school where the teacher and student interact via a two-way radio.

Here is a fascinating school in the outback run by the Mupuru aboriginal

community . Its really worth a visit: The Mapuru Homeland Leaning Centre

The Royal Flying Doctor Service operates a fleet of airplanes outfitted as

flying ambulances and clinics. They visit these remote locations to provide

medical services. They also provides advice over the two-way radio.

ULURU

Uluru: Is a huge rock (called a monolith) that sticks out in the middle of

the flat desert. From a distance it looks like an impregnable fortress

built eons ago by some mythical warlord.

Uluru is over nine kilometres (6 miles) around and over 348 metres (1000ft)

high. It is believed to be about 600 million years old and was once part of

a huge mountain range. The mountain range has long since disappeared -

eroded away by rain and wind.

With each passing hour as the sun moves across the sky the rock changes

colour - changing from delicate mauve, blues, pinks, browns to fiery red.

It is a sacred place to the Pitjanjara Aboriginal tribe.

DEVILS MARBLES

Devils Marbles: These massive boulders are scattered along the Stuart

Highway near Alice Springs. They glow red in the sunset. Aborigines believe

they were left by the Rainbow Serpent of the Dreamtime.

WAVE ROCK

Wave Rock: Is a huge granite rock that looks like a huge wave that has been

frozen in time and turned into stone. It has been made this way by the wind

and rain water running down its sides.

KATHERINE GORGE

Katherine Gorge: Is one of 13 gorges in Nitmiluk National Park. They began

forming about 23 million years ago as torrents of water flowing through

tiny cracks in the earth slowly eroded away the earth and rock creating

these huge gorges.

It is rich in Aboriginal art, with rock paintings representing the

spiritual 'dreaming' of the Jawoyn people, the traditional owners of the

land.

Apart from boat rides through the Gorge, with its sheer towering walls,

there are also over 100 kilometres of walking tracks and numerous

aboriginal rock paintings to visit

THE OLGAS

The Olgas: Are enormous domes of red rock located about 32 kms from Uluru.

You can walk into valleys and gorges between the 36 rock domes and feel the

eerie mystery around you. The Aborigines call it 'Kata Tjuta'. It has great

spiritual significance to them.

The Peoples of Australia

We came from all over the world.

Australians are a very friendly open sort of people. We love our sports,

our family barbecues and the beach. We are very urbanised - most of us

living in the larger cities along the coast. Almost 94% of the population

are of European decent and as a result we have a western outlook and

culture. In general Australians are very tolerant of other people and their

customs.

WORK

Australians are one of the most urbanised societies in the world. Almost

80% of the workforce are employed in service industries such as: offices,

banks, etc in the major cities.

About 16% work in manufacturing

About 3% are farmers or graziers.

Wool is one of Australia's major exports. Wool shearing is hard work.

Australia is rich in mineral deposits. We mine and export alumina, iron,

coal, copper,gold, uranium, etc all over the world.

About 1% work in the mining industry

SPORTS

During winter we play Australian Rules Football which is played with an

oval ball on an oval field with eighteen players on each team. We also play

Rugby.

In the summer we play cricket. Cricket is played with a flat bat and a

round leather covered ball. Each team has 11 players. The objective of the

game is to hit the ball as far as possible without getting "caught out" or

without having the ball come in contact with your body or hitting the

stumps (3 short poles behind the batsman). The next Olympic games will be

held in Sydney Australia in the year 2000.

LEISURE

Almost 85% of Australians live within a few hours drive of the coast

Most major cities have bicycle tracks.

We love to race almost anything: horses, camels, goats, cockroaches and

even earth worms.

Australia has lots of wide open spaces and parks.

Upper Beaconsfield

Upper Beaconsfield is located 53 kms (33 miles) south-east of Melbourne in

the Dandenong Ranges on the southern foothills of the Great Dividing Range.

Upper Beaconsfield retains much of its rural heritage and atmosphere with

tree lined streets, varied eucalyptus forests, wet-lands, fern gullies and

secluded creeks. The large residential blocks blend well with the

surrounding environment. There are strict laws protecting the local flora

and fauna

STONEY CREEK

We go to Stony Creek on hikes, to catch yabbies and fish. It's lots of fun.

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