Travel Tales

Australia, Kangaroo and Koala Country

One of my favorite authors, Colleen McCullough, who wrote The Thornbirds, hails from Australia, but she currently lives with her husband on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific.

Aboriginal settlers came from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the arrival of the first Europeans in the 17th century. Captain James Cook, in 1770, made a territorial claim of the land in the name of Great Britain. Australia is located in Oceania, between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. The new country became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. Due to its natural resources and manufacturing industries it made a major contribution to the British efforts in World Wars I and II. In recent decades Australia has become internationally competitive in an advanced market with a Western-style economy.

I have a friend who comes from Perth, on the west coast, and she tells me that the invigorating tropical sea breeze is known as the "Fremantle Doctor," which is one of the most consistent winds in the world. We visited Sydney, when my husband was flying to Australia, and I thoroughly enjoyed the city with the opera house with its large seashell-like domes overlooking the Harbour, and beautiful houses dotting the surrounding hillside with sleepy sailboats in Sydney Harbour. In a way, it reminded me of San Francisco, one of my favorite places.

Any female on the hunt for a husband might try looking "Down Under" because there seems to be a surplus of men working everywhere, in their chemical industries, food processing, steel works, mining, and transportation services. Their agriculture products consist of wheat, barley, sugarcane, fruits; and cattle, sheep and poultry. Aussies also boast of commodities such as: coal, gold, wool, iron ore and lovely opals.

We spent a wonderful two-week vacation touring Katoomba Forest, and the Blue Mountains, which get their name from the color of the oils in the air of the eucalyptus trees. I also had a lot of fun feeding the jumping kangaroos and shy koala bears at the zoo. The only problem with Australia is the time and distance it takes to get there, otherwise it is a fantastic place to visit, and I can't wait to return to visit Darwin, Brisbane, and Tasmania where actor Errol Flynn was born.

Alinka

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