Haruka's blog: Australia and New Zealand

What kind of country is Australia? Firstly, Australia is a big country. If you walk all around Australia along the coast, you will travel 25,760 kilometers. Australia is also low and flat, but there are mountains in south-east Australia. Australia is hot and dry. Two-thirds of the country is desert. In Australia, there are only 20 million people. most of them live places where the summers are warm and the winters are not too cold.

More than half of all Australians live in six cities and many others live near to them. I would like to introduce about the two famous cities. At first, Sydney. Sydney, in New South Wales, is the oldest and biggest city. It has an enormous harbor and it is a busy modern city and the center of Australian business. When you think of Sydney, maybe you think of Sydney Opera House. This building's roof looks like sails. It was opened in1973 for music, theatre, and dance. Moreover, near the opera house is one of the longest bridges; Sydney Harbor Bridge. Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, is the second biggest city. It has wide streets, lovely old buildings, and many parks and gardens. It is a popular center for art, music, and festival.

In 1788, British gave the name 'Aborigine' to the people they meet there. At special times, Aborigines painted their bodies, sang, and dance, and made music. they believe that the world was made by animals, plants, and humans together. This time was called 'Dreamtime'. Now, in some cities, Aborigines are learning each other about their life.

Australia is famous for Uluru, also called Ayers Rock. It is 3 kilometers long and 348 meters high, but there are another 2,100 meters under the ground. The best time to see it is at the end of the day. Its color changes from yellow to gold, red and purple. Also, there is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is the world's longest coral reef. You can enjoy swimming in the clear water, and riding the boat to see fish and the coral.

Australia is a rich country, but where does its money come from? The answer is this; sheep, cattle, minerals, wheat, fruit, and wine. These days, most of Australian do not work in factories or on farms. Two-thirds of them work in shops, offices, and bank, and 70 per cent of Australian's money comes from the work.

Next, I talk about New Zealand. This is a long, narrow country. The weather is not too hot and not too cold. It is a young country. Nobody lived there until the first Maori came there about a thousand years ago, and today, more than half the people are under thirty-four years old.

Auckland in the northern of New Zealand has the biggest population. Many people love to swim and sail in the harbor, so one of the Auckland's name is 'the City of Sails'. Visitors like to go to the top of the Sky Tower. Wellington is the capital and a center for film, music and theatre. The part of The Lord Of the Rings were filmed here.

Maori have lived in New Zealand for more than one thousand years. Now, there are 526,000 Maori people. That is about 15 per cent of the population. Maori is an important part of New Zealand.

The greatest place in New Zealand is Rotorua. Here the air smells like eggs, and not water explores out of ground. You can walk besides lakes of the hot water and swim in the pool.

In New Zealand, the most popular kind of football is rugby. The New Zealand's team is called All Black. Before the game, they do haka-Maori dance. It is popular and so cool.

I learned a lot of things from this book. I would like to visit these country and touch the nature someday.