December - Giles High School

16Sydney Opera House, Sydney, AustraliaLand Down UnderBy Kristin GillispieG’day mate! Grab your best mate, and letshead on down to the outback! Before wemake our great adventure down under, weshould learn some things eh? Well forstarters, Australia is the sixth largestcountry in the world, but yet has the leastpopulation density. Like the beach? Well,you’ll just love this Australia is surroundedby over 10,000 beaches, that’s the most inany other country! Even though, it’s the largest county and has the most beaches,it’s still the smallest and flattest continent! Now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the movie, Finding Nemo, when Nemo the clown fish getsseparated from his dad Marlin one day. If you ever take a trip to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef you might spot several Nemos! Notonly is the Great Barrier Reef just home to some clownfish, but it’s also the home to rays, coral sponges, dolphins, sea turtles andAn Emu in its natural habitatin Australia. (photo by MelanieMeehan)numerous other marine animals! TheGreat Barrier Reef is one of the SevenWonders of the World! The reef stretchesover 3400km (1800 miles) along theQueensland Coast.Now whataboutanimalsthere? I’msure thefirst thingthat comesto mindwhenthinking about Australia, would most likely be; Kangaroos, Koala Bears, and the fierce Great White Shark!Well, Australia is home to these and lots of other animals! When also thinking about the creatures ofAustralia, people think shark attacks! Other than the interesting animals in Australia, they have someinteresting candies too! I had the privilege to try some unique Australian candy such as, “Starburst SquirtsCrazy Babies”, which are gummies shaped like babies! They have a fruity filling inside! I also got to try somesuckers, which down there they are called “Starburst Sucks”. We also have somestuff in common with the Aussies though! We have Burger King and they do too!Instead of being called Burger King it’s called Hungry Jacks! Now do you know anyfamous Aussies? Your reaction may be no, but you’re wrong! Actress NicoleKidman and country music star Keith Urban are both from Australia! So we and theAussies don’t have muchdifference! We both speakEnglish except we just havedifferent slang for things! Likefor instance when someonesays “G’day mate!” itstranslation is “Hey/hellofriend how are you?” Or whensomeone says, “Want somefairy floss?” don’t worry it’snot an insult; they’re justasking you if you want somecotton candy! So now that youknow about that we don’t haveAn Australian public toilet, the unique thing isit actually talks to you and plays music foryou! (photo taken by Melanie Meehan)Australian StarburstsSucks (image from Google)that many differences, I hopeyou get the chance to take atrip down under!TerritoryTotal Fatal LastAttacks Attacks FatalityNew South Wales 171 55 2008Queensland 124 40 2007Western Australia 48 10 2010South Australia 28 13 2005Victoria 29 8 1970Tasmania 12 4 1993Northern Territory 2 1 1934Cocos Islands 3 0AUSTRALIA 417 131 2010Australian coins (photo by Melanie Meehan)http://www.australia.com/about/facts.aspxhttp://www.greatbarrierreef.org/about.phphttp://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics