Australia - student’s presentation

The oldest continent, Australia, fascinates many tourists and mostly everyone wishes to see Sydney, the famous Opera House, the technical miracle Harbour Bridge, the Great Barrier Reef, the Gold Coast in Queensland, beautiful Australian beaches, many national parks and so on. An impressive experience is to see Uluru, a sacred aboriginal stone hill. Aboriginal people believe that the souls of their ancestors dream in the stone hill, and they don’t love tourists, because the tourists disturb the ancestors.

But if you want to know the real Australia you should spend more time in the Australian countryside, in the Outback. One of many interesting places is Cooktown. When you visit Grassy Hill you will see a panoramic view where in
1770 Capitan James Cook landed with his ship on a coral sea. You realize how admirable are the country and nature. Every July people celebrate Capitan James Cook’s arrival.

In Dantree Rainforest you can admire unique fauna and flora. Most of the animals and plants can’t be found anywhere else in the world. It is an unforgettable experience to spend several days on a farm, or on a big cattle
station, in a heritage cottage. Before it’s getting dark you can see a beautiful sunset. People start preparing an Australian special barbeque and then you can listen to interesting stories about famous explorers, gold miners, and the first pioneers who discovered the wealth of Australia, the gold miners and the first settlers at Palmer River.

A fantastic trip is to visit Opal Country “Coober Pedy.” The first opal was found there by a 14 year old explorer’s son in 1915, when he was looking for water. In a few months the first opal mine started there. People live here in underground houses, and there are underground hotels and churches also, because there is extreme weather.
In every part of Australia you can find unique and interesting places a million of years old, and many special things, but you need time. Everything depends on your preference.

Written by Olga Habermann, Intermediate Level