Reasons to Dream of Australia & New Zealand
Australia and New Zealand have always captivated the minds of dreamers and over the years it have been the setting for thousands of books still in print today. The reasons for this attraction varies from person to person. Some people are awed by the vast beaches, such as The Gold Coast, while others are impressed by the fact that even though over 4,500 miles from the nearest U.S. state, Hawaii, they people who live there speak the english language and that one can still find a 7-11 in the nearest town. My opinions on why this certian region is so intriguing, may differ from those of others, but then again, they may be shared with people all over the world.
The reason that finds it's place at the top of my list is the fact that Brisbane was the starting point of one of my all time favorite bands, Savage Garden, and even thought Darren now calls San Francisco, CA, home the other half of the group, Daniel, still resides right outside of Queensland.
The idea for number two was actually volunteered by a friend of mine. The new movie 'Lord of the Rings', based off the trilogy by J. R. R. Tolken, was filmed in New Zealand and during the filming the actors and actresses stayed in the city of Wellington. (Make sure to check out part two, 'The Two Towers' when it comes to theaters this December!)
This next one on my top ten list is none other than Steve Irwin, the Crocidille Hunter. Steven and Terri Irwin own and run The Australian Zoo, in Queensland. You can catch the tv shows 'CrocFiles' and 'The Crocidille Hunter' offten on Animal Planet.
I'm going to make you do a little thinking for number four. What do all Australians have in common? Give up? Thier accents of course! Even though it is extremly similar to that of Great Britian, the people of Australia have made sayings like, G'day mate famous.
Now for the animal portion of this essay. Kangaroo's! I mean how cool can you get? These unique creatures of the outback hop around all day long on thier back legs, using thier tail for balance. Do you want to know how the kangaroo got it's name? When explores first started looking at Australia one of the men asked one of the natives there what that funny looking creature was. The man answered him by saying "Kangaroo." Which simply means, I can't understand you.
Sixth reason to visit Austraila is the koala bear. Living off of eucalyptus and eucalyptus only the koala bear isn't realy a bear at all, but a type of marsupial. Spending most of thier life in the tree tops, they are especialy vulnerable when they move to another tree in search of food. Due to the destruction of thier natural habitat the population of koala bears has dropped to under 100,000. Acording to the Austrailan Koale Foundation (AKF) about 4,000 koalas are killed each year by cars and dogs.
Tasmanian devils come in as number seven. These carnivorous and scavenging animals were exterminated from the mainland because farmers believed that they were responsible for the disappearance and death of large numbers of livestock and poultry and are now restricted to Tasmania. Like kangaroos and koalas, tasmanian devils are marsupials, which means that they carry thier young in a pouch.
The next and last creature on my list is the box jellyfish. Often considered the most deadly creature of the sea, the box jelly fish is responsible for approximately 70 deaths between the months of November and April alone. To be so deadly, the box jellyfish is suprisingly fragile. A struggling shrimp can often tear a young jellyfish.
The Great Barrier Reef is another good reason to want to visit Austraila. Stretching along the east coast of Queensland, it's the world's largest coral reef and is over 1250 miles long. The Great Barrier Reef is actualy composed up of over 2900 individual reefs close together. If that's not amasing enough check this out. This reef is home to 1500 species of fish, 400 different types of coal, 400 molluscs (like clams and the sea slug), 500 species of seaweed, 215 species of birds, 16 species of sea snakes and 6 different species of sea turtles.
Last, but not least is the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. Located in Waitomo, New Zealand these caves are full of glow worms! Glow worms are small glowing insects no bigger than the average mosquito. In an average year, 400,000 people travel to Waitomo to see these luminous critters.
Well that just about covers everything that I would want to see in Austraila and New Zealand, if I ever get to go that is.