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Melbourne, Australia by Kathleen Nolan

I live in Werribee, on the west side of Melbourne. Werribee is 25 minutes from Melbourne CBD, and yet still has lots of market gardens, we grow 70% of Melbourne's vegetables, and export a fair amount overseas. Weribee also has a mansion built by a very rich family in about the 1870s, and an open range zoo. Melbourne is a city with a population of around 5 million. The east side of Melbourne is a lot more densely populated. If I were to take a friend to show them Australian culture, I would show them the contrast between outback living and inner-city living. Melbourne's cities are much like any other city in the world, maybe with the exception of Darwin and Canberra, which, in my opinion, are both country towns pretending to be cities. An Aussie barbecue would also be a must: barbies are great for the relaxed atmosphere, hot weather, men drinking beers (and teenagers trying to get away with it), kids running around making nuisances of themselves etc.

The Melbourne Skyline

In the rest of Australia, the main tourist attractions are the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Gold Coast in Queensland, and the Great Barrier Reef. These are the places most people seem to visit when they come to Australia. However, I live in a big country. In 1998, I spent three months travelling around Australia with my family. Some of my favourite places are: Kununurra, in northern Western Australia. Near this town is Lake Argyle. This is a huge dam which is so big it has been classified as an inland sea. Also, you will find the Argyle Diamond mine, which produces stunningly beautiful coloured diamonds. Monkey Mia, on the West Australian coast. Here is a chance not only to see wild dolphins from a boat, but to actually feed them as they come into the shallows, about 10 metres from the beach. Coober Pedy is a fantastic little town based on opal mines. Fantastic if you have lots of money to spend on beautiful jewellery. It is definitely your typical 'Aussie Outback Town'. Tiny population, very hot, friendly locals, not much water around (it's in the middle of the desert).

The Sydney Opera House

Ayers Rock, known to the aboriginals as Uluru, is an aboriginal sacred site in the Red Centre.

The Great Barrier Reef

For fun, people in cities mostly go clubbing, hold parties, hang out in bars getting drunk. In country ares, Bachelor & Spinsters balls are quite popular. Basically, everyone gets drunk, dances around, and make fools of themselves before going to sleep in the back of the ute. Childhood pretty much involves running around laughing a lot, exploring paddocks on farms (of course being careful to watch for snakes), lots of wide open spaces. Christmas and New Year are big. Being in the middle of Summer, everyone is quite willing to be outside relaxing. Cold Christmas lunches are popular because a hot meal on a stinking hot day is just not practical. New Year brings out lots of fireworks, Christmas time everybodies houses are lit up with those cute little lights.

A river ferry passes under a footbridge over the Yarra river, Melbourne

I think people perceive Australia as being a land full of Ocker Blokes and Sheilas.This is true to some extent, but about 90% of Australias poulation now live in cities. The majority of my friends have not been into the outback at all in their life. Austalia is my home. That's about all their is to it. I was born and bred here. I have never lived outside of this country. People here are generally kind-hearted. When I was in the middle of the Hammersly Ranges, ages from any sort of civilisation, our tyre went flaton our motorhome. We made a call on the CB radio for help, and within an hour, a truckie had pulled up and helped us change the tyre. He then proceded to give us instructions on where we could get a replacement spare. Without that sort of friendliness, we could have been stranded for more than a day. We are a great bunch of people overall. If ever anyone has the chance to see the west coast of Australia, I would highly reccomend it- most torists seem to see the Queensland coast in the east, Sydney (again on the east coast), and Ayers Rock in the centre. There is some magical scenery on the West coast. It's a pity most Australians never discover it, let alone our international guests.