They are called wombats and they are mammals and also marsupials. They are native only to Australia and they look somewhat like a little bear.
There are two basic kinds of wombats, the common wombat, and the hairy nosed wombat. They are nocturnal grazers, they eat mainly grasses and roots and live in large burrows up to 30 meters long. They are extremely strong and very proficient diggers.
They can be anything from a sandy color to brown or black to grey. The average wombat is about 1 meter long and weighs about 25 kg .
They can live from about 5 years to over 30 years.
Now would you like to see a wombat and his house?
Well what did you think of the wombat? Tomorrow we're going to the last place on our trip around Australia. Can you guess where we're going?....
Sydney is the largest city in Australia , and is the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney has a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.5 million and an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. Its inhabitants are called Sydneysiders, and Sydney is often called "the Harbour City". It is one of the most multicultural cities in the world.
There are LOTS of things to do in and around city. Would you like to discover more....
Yes today we're going to talk about some of my friends... the kangaroos.
Kangaroos are found in Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania. Kangaroos are mammals, and they are also marsupials. A marsupial is an animal that carries their young around in a pouch. The red kangaroo is the largest marsupial in the world. They can reach a weight of 90 kg. The kangaroo moves by hopping. They hop on their powerful hind legs and use their tails for balance and for steering. Even though kangaroos jump with their legs moving together, they are able to kick each leg separately when swimming. Kangaroos cannot move backwards. They can hop at speeds of up to 60 km/h. A Red Kangaroo can leap as far as 8 m and 3m high. Kangaroos have very good eyesight but only when an object is moving. They also have excellent hearing, and they have the ability to swivel their ears in all directions to pick up sounds. Kangaroos are grazing herbivores. They eat grass and leaves. Kangaroos need very little water to survive. An adult kangaroo is capable of going for months without drinking anything at all. Kangaroos usually have one baby, called a joey each year. The joey remains in the pouch for nine months and continues to suckle until twelve to seventeen months of age. When the joey is born it is not much more than a pink hairless tiny worm.
Would you like to see a joey?...
What did you think of the joeys? Well on our next stop we're going to the biggest city in Australia, do you know what it's name is......
Today we are going to talk about native Australians.
They are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Indigenous Australians are the Aboriginals and they make up about 2.7% of Australia's population.
The aboriginals have lived on the Australian continent for over 40,000 years. There is great diversity between different Indigenous communities and societies in Australia, each with its own unique mixture of cultures, customs and languages. Aborigines today mostly speak English, with Aboriginal phrases and words being added to create Australian Aboriginal English.
Australia has a tradition of Aboriginal art which is thousands of years old. If you would you like to discover more about aboriginal art watch this video...
Would you like to discover how to paint aboriginal paintings? Click on this link and discover how they are made?
Ayers Rock is also known by its Aboriginal name 'Uluru'. It is a sacred part of Aboriginal creation mythology. Uluru is considered one of the great wonders of the world and one of Australia's most recognizable natural icons.
Uluru (also Ayers Rock or The Rock) is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia, in the Northern Territory. It is located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. It is more than 318 m high and 8 km around. It also extends 2.5 km into the ground. In 1920, part of Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park was declared an Aboriginal Reserve .
What can you do at Uluru?...
You can walk around the base (9.4 km.), you can climb up to the top, that's pretty scary, or you can take a wonderful night tour called "the sound of silence dinner" where you can have dinner under a million stars and listen to the sound of the wild animals...it's a magical experience!
Would you like to see some more photos of Ayers rock?...
Would do you think? Would you like to walk up to the top?..
Tomorrow we're going to discover more about the native people of Australia. Do you know who they are?....
Well yes... this is a very big fish with VERY big teeth!! It's called a great white shark. Its the most dangerous of all sharks and is the only one that can lift its head out of the water. But this is not the only shark that lives in Australian waters, luckily most of them are not as dangerous as the great white.
There is the whale shark which is the biggest fish in the world but does not eat people only plankton!
There is the tiger shark which is also very dangerous. It will eat anything... they have even found in its stomach cushions from boats and alarm clocks!!
And there is the Mako, which is the fastest shark, swimming at more than 7o km. per hour. It can jump out of the water, even into boats!!
And finally there is Bruce....
Well he's not so scary as the real thing!! Tomorrow we're off again! Into the centre of Australia, the desert and a VERY BIG rock. Where are we going?
Well today you're going to need your swimming goggles and an underwater camera! Welcome to Cairns and the great barrier reef. An absolutely amazing place.
The Great Barrier Reef has the world's largest coral reef. The reef contains a great variety of marine life and over 3000 individual reef systems and coral cays. It also has hundreds of beautiful tropical islands with some of the worlds most beautiful beaches.
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world. It is larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on earth visible from space.
Would you like to see some more photos of Cairns...
Today we're going to make something yummy called Anzac biscuits. Would you like to know how they're made?
First we need some ingredients....
1 cup plain flour 1 cup rolled oats 1 cup desiccated coconut 3/4 cup brown sugar 125g butter, chopped 2 tablespoons golden syrup 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Now this is how we make them...
Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in oats, coconut and sugar. Place butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until melted. Remove from heat. Combine bicarbonate of soda and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Stir into golden syrup mixture . Add immediately to flour mixture and stir until well combined. Roll mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, into balls. Place 4 biscuits on each baking tray. Flatten to about 12cm round, allowing room for biscuits to spread. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until biscuits are golden. Allow biscuits to cool completely on trays.
You can add chocolate chips for even yummier biscuits or make shapes. Can you guess what this is...
Well... tomorrow we're off travelling again and you'll need your swimming goggles!!
In Australia there are two kinds of crocodile: the Estuarine, a saltwater crocodile and Johnsons, a freshwater crocodile. Both are found in the hot, tropical northern part of the continent.
The Estuarine crocodile, can live in salt water and is also able to go quite far up river into fresh water. It is one of the most dangerous of all the crocodile family, being the biggest and heaviest. It grows to between 4 and 7 metres long.
The Johnsons crocodile lives mostly in freshwater, but can also live in salt water. It grows up to 3 metres long. It is considered to be dangerous even though it is not known for attacking humans. Their long, flattened tail moves from side to side as they swim through the water, with their legs by their sides. Their movement in the water is powered by their tail. The legs are short with webbed toes, five on the front legs and four on the back legs. On land, crocodiles can run very quickly, lifting their bodies up off the ground.
All crocodiles have eyes and nostrils are on the top part of the head so that they can lie in the water almost completely hidden from view. Crocodiles have very strong jaws. They do not chew their food. They swallow it in large chunks. Crocodiles grab their prey and move to deep water, where they roll over to drown the animal. They can leap high out of the water to reach their prey if necessary.
Would you like to see crocodiles with a very famous Australian man called Steve Irwin...
Did you think they were scary? Australia is full of scary and dangerous animals... as you will soon discover...
Today we're travelling to Darwin which is it at the "top end" of Australia. It has a tropical climate and therefore has no summer or winter but instead a wet season from November until April and a dry season from May until October.
Darwin is a place of sunshine, beaches and some pretty dangerous animals which we'll discover later.
Darwin's tourist attractions include museums, beaches and national parks.
Would you like to discover what you can do in Darwin?
Yes, now we´re going to do something really fun... We´re going to learn how to fly a boomerang... but first let me tell you where the boomerang originally came from ...
The oldest Australian Aboriginal boomerangs are ten thousand years old but older hunting sticks have been discovered in Europe. King Tutankhamun, the famous Pharao of ancient Egypt, who died 2,000 years ago, owned a collection of boomerangs of both the straight flying (hunting) and returning variety. No one knows for sure how the returning boomerang was first invented, but some modern boomerang makers speculate that it developed from the flattened throwing stick, still used by the Australian Aborigines and some other tribal people around the world. A hunting boomerang is delicately balanced and much harder to make than a returning one.
So now we know where boomerangs came from, let's discover how to fly them...
The curved, or decorated side should always be held towards your body and the flat unpainted side should always be facing away from you. The easiest way to grip the boomerang is to make a closed fist and slide the boomerang between your thumb and first finger. The "elbow" of the boomerang can be facing either forward or backward as seen in the image to the left.
Always throw your boomerang in the traditional over arm style Aim the boomerang at or just above the horizon prior . When thrown correctly, the boomerang will fly in a circle and reach the apex of its flight at the point furthest away from you. As the boomerang returns it will begin to slow down and hover towards the ground.
And finally....
Catch the boomerang using both of your hands in a clapping motion as shown in the diagram to the left. Only attempt to catch the boomerang while it is slowly hovering towards you and is below shoulder height.
Aim for the center section of the boomerang as you catch it, and try to avoid the faster moving wing tips. NEVER try to catch a boomerang that is diving or moving fast.
Now would you like to see a link related to boomerangs and how to fly them..
Yes, today we're going to a really fun place called Monkey Mia. It's not far from Perth and it's really unique. It has beautiful beaches have very special visitors. A school of dolphins comes its shores every day making it the best place in the whole world to see and touch these beautiful animals.
Would you like to see what Monkey Mia looks like? Click on this link and discover more information on this magical place...
The emu is the largest bird in Australia, and the second largest in the world after the ostrich. Emus have long necks, sharp beaks and small ears. They have two sets of eyelids, one for blinking and one to keep out the dust. Their feet are long, with three toes. One toe on each foot has a long talon, for fighting.
Emu feathers are soft and light-brown with dark tips. They can grow to between 1.5 – 2 metres in height and weigh up to 60 kg. Males are slightly smaller than females. Males make a grunting sound like a pig and females make a loud booming sound.
Emus are found only in Australia. They live in most of the less-populated areas of the continent and although they can survive in most regions, they avoid dense forest and severe desert. They have been living in Australia for a very long time. Originally there were three species of emu, but now there is only one.
If you'd like to discover more about emus click on this link....
It takes 25 hours to get from Madrid to Perth by plane. Did you get it right? Australia is a very large country. Do you know what the capital city is, it's population and it's geographical size? Click on this link and discover the answers..
Now we're going to discover some things we can do and see on our first stop in a city called Perth. Perth is in Western Australia, which is an enormous state, it's even bigger than Europe... can you imagine! There are lots of things you can see and do there. First let's see what the city looks like....
As you can see Perth is a modern city with skyscrapers. Would you like to know more about this city? Click on this link and discover....
Tomorrow we´re going to discover one of Australia's native animals? Can you guess which? It's a bird, it's very big, it can't fly and it can run very fast....
Which of the following animals do you think it is?
Hello! My name's Skippy and I'm from a country called Australia. Australia is a long way away from Spain and has lots of wonderful things to see and do. Through my blog you will discover lots of fun things; we will see beautiful, strange and dangerous animals, visit amazing places, discover what native people eat and learn how to cook some fun recipes. You will be able to read fun books about me and my friends and finally we will see lots of fun videos and great web sites.
Tomorrow we´re going to travel from Madrid to Perth, how long will it take us to get there? You'll be able to find out tomorrow....
Have you ever seen these animals?
