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------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: "Marilyn Scott" <[email protected]>
To: "Gayle Nastasi" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Questions from Devon,answers from Marilyn
Date sent: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 16:41:19 +1100
> Hi, my name is Devon Nastasi. My mom is your >friend on the Saluki list and she said that I can >write to you because our class is going to learn >about Australia.
And hi to you too, Devon!! Great to meet you, even though we're so far apart....[you'll have to get your Mum or Dad to help work out how many miles it is from New York, United States to New South Wales, Australia!!
> I'm going to ask you some questions about >Australia. Thank you for writing to me and >answering them. What is it like in Australia in February? Here in New York it is winter, and snowy.
In Australia we are in the middle of summer, and during February in Sydney, the city where I live gets very humid around this time. The days can be very hot, but the nights are much cooler.
> Where in Australia do you live? Is it country or city >where you live?
I live in the state of New South Wales, which is on the east coast of Australia. My house is on the North West outskirts of Sydney, which is the capital city of NSW, having a population of about 3-4 million. [The total population is about 18million....and Australia is about the same size as the United States. How many people are there in your country?] My house is in an area which is mostly country....the houses are spread apart, and lots of people have horses.
> Are there lots of kangaroos where you live?
No. The kangaroos actually live more inland, across the Great Dividing Range, which runs down the east coast, from the very tip of the pointy part in the north, down to Tasmania, at the bottom. The land is very much flatter out west, which suits the kangaroos better, and there's also much more grass for them.
> What months do the kids go to school in Australia? >Do they have a summer vacation?
There are 4 terms for school here. The first term is from the end of January until April. And so on, with a 2 or maybe 3 week break inbetween terms for holidays. Except in our summer holidays, where there is a break of 6 or 7 weeks over Christmas when it's hot.
> What kind of games to the kids play in Australia?
^^ Most of the time they play team sports. Mostly it's football in winter and cricket in summer, basketball or netball [the boys play one and the
girls play the other] Lots of kids also do swimming and tennis, and now there is some baseball which is becoming popular.
>What are some Australian kids' TV shows? What >are some of the cartoon characters?
We have had Sesame Street over here for years, but some of our Australian shows are Here's Humphrey, which is about a bear [and not even a koala!!],
Totally Wild, which is about all different animals , and we have a number of soaps which lots of kids watch called Heartbreak High, Home and Away,
and Neighbours. I don't think we have any Australian cartoon characters. We just get the ones from America like Donald Duck or Bugs Bunny, plus the
Simpsons etc.
> What kind of foods do you eat a lot of in Australia? >How about drinks?
Our food is mostly fresh because we grow many vegetables and fruit, plus there are a lot of farmers who have beef cattle or sheep. Once our food was
fairly plain, but now since we have a lot of Asians and people from the Middle East who have migrated here, the food in restaurants is very varied, and much more interesting, with lots of different spices and vegetables that are new to most of us who are older. In summer lots of people have Bar-b-ques. There is Coke and Pepsi here and Fanta etc, but if your Mum is fussy, you'd have to drink fruit juices or milk, and sometimes hot chocolate in winter.
> What kinds of wild animals do you see in your >yard?
I'm lucky, because my house is in amongst the natural bush, and I just love nature. We have many many different birds....the biggest ones would be the
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos that live in big flocks. We also have a family of kookaburras that lives nearby. The tiniest ones are the beautiful little blue wrens....they are one of my favourite kinds of birds.
Today we had a whip-bird [he's called that because his call sounds like a whip cracking!] right near the house. We also have native lizards, the blue-tongued lizard and also goannas which can grow very long [3-4feet]. We only occasionally have dangerous snakes [red-bellied black snakes, or brown snakes], and I always stay clear of them because they want to get away from me as much as I do from them!!! We don't have any koalas in this area, because they need a particular type of eucalyptus tree, but we do have wallabies, which are like small kangaroos, soooo cute. They are very shy and live in the bush in the valley behind us. Sometimes I can hear them thump, thump, thumping away as they dash back down into the valley.
> Did you always live in Australia?
Yes, my Mum and Dad were also Australians too. I have visited lots of other countries around the world, but I always love to come back home to Australia best.
> Well, I can't think of any more. I am happy that I >can meet somebody from Australia in email!
It's been a pleasure, Devon. I hope you learn lots of things about Australia from the other kids in your class too. You're welcome to write to me again if you need more questions answered.
Love from
Marilyn
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