A warning for all Australian bicyclists...

True or false: "Australia was the first country in the world to impose uniform national mandatory bicycle helmet legislation, beginning in 1990. "
I discovered this little fact from a website written by people who are very strongly opposed to the whole "Australian helmet enforcement". The author seemed bitter about the "police enforcement" by adding not only that the law "increased cyclist hospitalization" and "decreased cycling popularity" but severely "damaged public health". It even connected this law with Australia's struggle with obesity throughout the population.
I thought, initially, that the law was just some weird joke and a confused Australian had made it up. However, there truly is a helmet law in Australia (including Queensland and Western Australia). Numerous studies show that their has been a huge decrease in biking in Australia. Honestly, I think that the law is a pretty good idea. The government has a reason for it I'm sure, otherwise they would have taken away. In many ways, it relates to the "seat belt" law we have here (having your seat belt buckled is a reasonable law). So why, Australian bikers, do you stop biking because of a law? I honestly think you should all just wear your helmets (though it may be annoying). Did people stop driving their car just because they saw a sign that said: "buckle up, it's the law"? No, they just buckled up or faced the small punishment. Also, blaming the government for promoting public safety is not the best idea. I'm not saying that I want this law in the United States, but I don't think the concept is horrible. One article I found gave me a lot of satisfying statistics about the positive influence the law has made on safety of Australian bicyclists (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/04/bike_helmet.html) saying that brain damage amongst young cyclists has decreased more than 18 percent since the law was passed. So get on your bikes Australian cyclists and wear a helmet. If not, be prepared to pay the fine if you commit the crime.

Happy Skandia Geelong Week!

Today, January 24, is the beginning of a major yachting event called the Skandia Geelong Week. This three day long weekend event is a huge deal in the world of sailing in Australia. The festivities include about sixty live performances on the Geelong Waterfront, more than 100,000 spectators, and everything from aerobatic shows to fireworks to canoeing competitions. Ever since 1844, the Skandia Geelong Week has been known as Australia's largest sailing event.
So, what's the hype about? It may seem boring and questionable to many how so many Australians can get so "stoked" in reaction to such a slow moving event. The strangest fact about this event is that it includes a series of races. Yes, the sail boats are actually racing each other while people watch. This may not be the best way to celebrate Australia Day, but it has become quite an interesting tradition. Even Australian celebrities join in the fun, which is humorous because they're so passionate about the competition. They want the best crew and the fastest boat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2tgJuNwBno&feature=related). In my opinion, this event is hopefully more exciting then they make it seem. It certainly is a tradition that makes Australia unique!

Australian Cows vs. Belgium

True or False: the world's largest ranch (also known as a cattle station) is in Australia and it is the size of Belgium. So is this fantastic idea a true fact or fiction? Belgium, according to believable sites was consistently about 30,230 square kilometers. They also could extra points for the water they own (basically, the "other" areas they have acquired) giving them a total area of 30,528 square kilometers.
In Anna Creek Station, the home of the world's largest farm, times are tough for both humans and the animals. In 2005, a major drought created a difficult lifestyle or those on the ranch (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/12/24/spark.ranch/index.html). The article claims that the ranch is 24,000 square kilometers; however, it also says it is the size of Belgium. The 16,000 cattle enjoy about 6 million acres. They each get 375 acres all to themselves. I believe that those cattle should share the land with people who need it. Why would one animal need that much space?

For every one Australian...

There are statistics that people who live in the United States might find comical. However, for many Australians, there are some facts that they just need to accept. I soon discovered a random fact that said, "For every one Australian, there are two kangaroos". I wanted the exact facts so I did a little research to be sure that this fact was true. According to www.cia.gov, Australia has 21,007,310 people since a count in July of 2008. This is a small number compared to the recorded United States population of 303,824,640 people; yet it is large if compared to Ireland's 4,156,119 inhabitants.
Kangaroos are twice as exciting as they may first seem, and that is a fact. It is hard to count every single kangaroo in such a huge area of land. One article I found, which was hilarious and sad, said the Greenpeace was trying to get people to eat more kangaroos in order to prevent global warming (http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22562480-662,00.html). I don't agree with this article at all. It offered no clear reason that killing kangaroos would help the environment. The article jumped between different numbers of the exact population of kangaroos per population. They estimated that there were about 25 to 30 million kangaroos in Australia today. Unfortunatly, even if there were 30 million kangaroos jumping around out there, there would be still only 1.428074 kangaroos per person.

My First Post!

Hello and welcome to the exciting blog for weekly Australian fun facts. Australia is not only a unique country, but a beautiful continent. Its diversity and adapting culture are interesting for all of those who have the chance to discover it. But how much do we really know about Australia? Did you know, for example, that Australia is the driest inhabited continent in the whole world?

For a moment, think about what you always thought were the driest areas throughout the world. Was one of them Australia? It came as a huge shock to me. According to the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology, (http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/ausclim/zones.htm) the influence that this has on the rivers and seasonal change has a huge impact on the inhabitants of Australia who face rapidly changing weather. With regular weather phenomenons, from cyclones to heat waves to frosts, it seems like horrible mix of terrible weather conditions. However, they also comment that they have major droughts for long period of time, so it's not dry all year long!