REPORT IDEAS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN REGION
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AUSTRALIA
Athena Garbutt
13 years old
I'm in the 8th grade. I like the Great Barrier Reef and Ayres Rock, I also like Perry lake's stadium in Perth. What I don't like about Australia is the out back. My favourite place are Albany because it's a fun place, Bunbury because of the place and because it's got a good beach and Perth because of the shopping malls. My hobbies are square dancing, stamp collecting, reading, writing, singing and studying.
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Vanessa Pike-Russell
There are many things I love about living in Australia. I love the landscape, the people, the animals, the weather - the list goes on and on. I love the landscape, the 'land of sweeping plains, of rugged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains". I live in Wollongong, NewSouthWales(State), Australia - an hour from Sydney. Wollongong means 'between the Mountains and the Sea" and it is a beautful place to live in. Right now I cannot think of anything that I hate about Australia. I don't like it that pet products and books are more expensive here than in the US, (among other things) but I wouldn't say that I hate it. Some of the neat things I have seen in my country are New South Wales (NSW) : The home of Sydney, Botany Bay and the 2000 Olympic Games
Sydney has so much to offer and its not hard to see why it is so popular. From the harbour with the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Centerpoint Tower, Olympic Stadium, National Park, Manly Aquarium, Manly Beaches, Sydney Entertainment Centre, Chinatown, Piermont Bridge, Doyles, SegaWorld, The Rocks, Planet Hollywood, The Blue Mountains, ... the list just goes on and on.
Queensland (QLD) : Northern state of Australia. Gold Coast, in Queensland (like California in the US). There is MovieWorld, Seaworld, Wet'n'Wild and not to mention the lovely Gold Coast beaches. Northern Queensland there is the Whitsundays/Great Barrier Reef. I spent a few months up in the Whitsundays where I witnessed the beauty of the coral reefs, spent hours spotting dolfins, turtles and thousands of colourful fish through a glass bottomed boat.
Tasmania: the southernmost island state of Australia. With its beautiful rivers and historic buildings, breath-taking rainforests and abundance of fertile soil for planting. Tasmania is home to the Tasmanian Devil, also portrayed as TasDevil in the WarnerBros cartoons. Tasmania is full of history, beauty and nature. It's one of the prettiest states.
Victoria: Southern State of Australia I have been on a Melbourne Tram and visited the many shops there. Its a little colder in Victoria but lots of things to see and do. Melbourne is famous for shopping and the theatre, a little bit like New York, I suppose.
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Parliament House, Botanical Garden, National Gallery, Butterfly House, Questacon (Science Center), Australian Institute of Sport, etc I havent been to Western Australia, Northern Territory or South Australia, but there is plenty of things to see and do no matter what state you are in.
My hobbies are hermit crabs, science, environmental education, website creation, graphics, learning javascript, teaching others, music, art, ceramics, going to the movies, swimming and cycling.
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Rhenise
17 years old
Hi my name is Rhenise and I am 17. I live in Bunbury in the south west of Western Australia. I love Holden's because they originated in Australia. I love the beaches and the coastline which I live on. It doesn't snow in western Australia and it is quite annoying. My favorite place in Australia is Rottnest Island because of the Quokka's as there is no quokka's found anywhere else in Australia. I love Soccer and collecting little frog figurines cause they're just soooo cute (don't you think?).
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Lena
17 years old
Hi my name is Lena and I am 17 and I live in Perth which is the capital of Western Australia (pretty big). What do I like about australia? The weather is wicked except it doesn't snow which is a bummer as Rhenise said. I love Australia 'cause we have a good political system and we are very multi-cultural :) and not ignorant to other cultures. We have some of the best beaches which is good for me 'cause I love to swim. I love the laid back attitude that people here have and the freedom also. What do I hate? ... the stereotypes that we are given by other countries, because we are not all like the people of Crocodile Dundee hehehehe. My hobbies are swimming, music, lotsa stuff :)
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Michelle M Duryea
I like (love!) Australia because it's made up of people from all over the world so it's very diverse and interesting. We also have a very laid back culture and generally everyone is very friendly and willing to help each other out when it really counts. So I would have to say that what I like so much about Australia is the people. I don't like the fact that it gets really hot here sometimes!!! I really don't have any time for hobbies. I work full-time, study at University part-time, and I am also a Youth Group leader at my church. I suppose that as far as hobbies go I could say that I love to read (when I get the time) and I am teaching myself guitar - I also sing! I think that probably my most memorable experience would be when I drove from one side of Australia to the other - it took us three days! We saw a lot of the Australian bush and vast range of beautiful landscapes - it was amazing (tiring but amazing).
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Bill Blair
What do I like about Australia? Where do I start :-) Australia has such a diversity (perhaps even more than the US) so I will speak mainly about my feelings about where I live. It is a relatively small place (300,000) and surrounded by open farming and national parks so the environment is clean with plenty of opportunity for outdoor recreation, the town is relatively safe from urban violence, clean and well planned. Where we live, the climate has four real seasons with variety, but not extremes of weather. The people are generally friendly and society is relatively harmonious yet with variety of ethnic origin
What do you I hate about it? We are starting to follow down some of the directions of other overseas countries. Some years ago I would boast of the lack of a class system in Australia and how the difference between the lower paid workers and the highest was much less than elsewhere in the world. This is not true any more with the emergence of an 'under-class' and yet many of our company CEO's are earning millions each year. Economic rationalism and outrageous capitalism has become accepted.
Where are my favorite places in Australia and why? Wow, except for the cities, I find all of Australia wonderful. (the cities have their interesting points, but Sydney in particular is becoming an urban sprawl). If I was to pick one specific place - perhaps Wineglass bay on the East coast of Tasmania - while it is cold down there the water is a pristine green, the sand white and the countryside spectacular. A region - the Snowy Mountains near where I live in Canberra - so much opportunity for hiking, fishing, cross country skiing etc etc. If you were to come to Australia for two weeks where would I suggest - Victoria, base yourself in Melbourne and with day or overnight trips based there, you can see so much variety and capture almost all the essence of the non-tropical portion of Australia
Did you have any adventures on your scouting trips? Depends on what you consider an adventure. My favourite aspect of scouting trips is getting into the high country and showing the young scouts some of the heritage of this country - the untouched wilderness areas along with the huts of the mountain graziers.
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Papua New Guinea
Mrs. Hughes was a missionary in Papua New Guinea from
1988-1990. Our Global Pals Reporters interviewed
her...
What did you like about living in New Guinea?
The Simplicity of Life
What did you not like?
Lack of Sanitation
What was your favorite region of the country?
The mountains. It was so remote that there were no roads,
you had to be flown in. There was no crime because there was no
civilization.
Was it cold in the mountains?
It was like a tropical-mountain area.
Do they have any interesting customs?
The men hunt, build the houses and are the protectors. The women have to do everything else.
What religion was most practiced?
Pantheism, believing there is a spirit in the trees, the
rocks, the water, a spirit in everything.
What are the people like generally?
To me? They were very friendly. When Papua New Guinea became
independent, everything fell apart. There is constantly a tribal warfare.
What was a main staple of their diet?
Sweet potato.
What was the hardest thing to get used to?
Lack of Privacy.