3. Typical Australian food: The British gastronomy is predominant, there are a lot of desserts, grilled steaks, chicken… The typical dish is meat pie. Other common dishes in the Australian diet are those cooked with meat from exotic animals like crocodiles, kangaroos and buffalos. The most popular dessert is “The Pavlova ”. It is a refreshing cake made with cream, meringue and fresh fruit. Delicious!!
4. Typical food of New Zealand The gastronomy of New Zealand is characterized by fresh food. The diversity is caused by the wish to experiment with new dishes. The summer in New Zealand shows a lot of outdoor places where people organize barbecues. The barbecues are characterized by the use of veal, lamb and fish. The typical dishes of New Zealand include: Fish and chips. Colonial Goose (a kind of lamb leg baked in the oven.)
6. Theculture of Australasia The culture of Australia is essentially a Western culture influenced by the unique geography of the Australian continent and bythediverse input of Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander peoples, and various waves of multi-ethnicmigration which followed the British colonisation of Australia. While factors such as the predominance of the English language, the existence of a democraticWestminster system of government, the popularity of sports such as cricket and rugby, or the predominance of Christianity evidence a significant Anglo-Celtic heritage, Australia today hosts a great diversity of cultural practices and pursuits.
7. Aboriginal people are believed to have arrived in Australia as early as 60,000 years ago, and evidence of Aboriginal art in Australia dates from at least 30,000 years. Several states had their origins as penal colonies, with the First Fleet of British convicts arriving at Sydney Cove in 1788. Stories of outlaws have endured in Australian music, cinema and literature - Ned Kelly being the most famous of the bushrangers. The Australian gold rushes from the 1850s brought wealth as well as new social tensions to Australia, including the miners' Eureka Stockade rebellion. The colonies established elected parliaments and rights for workers and women in advance of most other Western nations.Federation in 1901 evidenced a growing sense of national identity - expressed by such artists as the Heidelberg School painters and the writers Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson. The World Wars profoundly altered Australia's sense of identity - with World War I introducing ANZAC and World War II seeing a reorientation from Britain to the United States as a major ally. After the second war, 6.5 million migrants from 200 nations brought immense new diversity and Australians grew increasingly aware of proximity to Asia.
8. Egalitarianism, informality and even irreverence have been common themes of cultural commentary - exemplified by the works of C J Dennis, Barry Humphries and Paul Hogan. While fascination with the outback has persisted as a theme of Australian art, cinema and literature, and agriculture has been an important economic sector, the demographics of Australia show it to be one of the most urbanized populations in the world, with more than 75 per cent of people living an urban lifestyle, largely in the capital cities along the coast. These comprise the melting pots of what has become known since the 1970s as multicultural Australia. The capital cities host such internationally renowned cultural institutions as the Sydney Opera House and National Gallery of Victoria, and Australia has contributed many artists to international pop and classical culture, from hard rock's AC/DC to opera's Joan Sutherland. Australians also support or participate enthusiastically in a wide variety of sports, while the long coastline hosts a vibrant surf culture
10. The History of Australasia Australia was settled by the Indigenous Australians between 40,000 and 125,000 years ago. Oceania was first settled by the Polynesian people around 2,000 years ago. Oceania was explored by Europeans from the 16th century onwards, the Spanish, with Ferdinand Magellan Fernando de Magellan's in the expedition circunnavegaría the world for the first time, discovered the Marianas and other islands of Oceania. Abel Tasman's voyages in the 1640s visiting north-western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga and the Fijian islands. James Cook explored the Pacific islands and the east coast of Australia in the 18th century.
11. The British followed with colonies in Australia in 1788, New Zealand in 1840 and Fiji in 1872, with much of Oceania becoming part of the British Empire. Other European powers also controlled parts of Oceania, with French New Caledonia from 1853 and French Polynesia from 1889, while the Germans established colonies in New Guinea in 1884, and Samoa in 1900. During the First World War the German colonies in the Pacific were taken over by Allied powers. In the Second World War the Japanese invaded New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and other Pacific islands. They were turned back at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Kokoda Track campaign before they were finally defeated in 1945.
12. Australia and New Zealand became dominions in the 20th century, adopting the Statute of Westminster Act in 1942 and 1947 respectively, marking their legislative independence from the United Kingdom. Hawaii became a U.S. state in 1959. Fiji and Tonga became independent in 1970, with many other nations following in the 1970s and 1980s. The South Pacific Forum was founded in 1971, which became the Pacific Islands Forum in 2000. Bougainville Island, geographically part of the Solomon Islands but politically part of Papua New Guinea, tried unsuccessfully to become independent in 1975, and a civil war followed in the early 1990s, with it later being granted autonomy.
14. Geography of Australasia Oceania was originally conceived as the lands of the Pacific Ocean, stretching from the Strait of Malacca the coast of the Americas. It comprised four regions: Polynesia, Micronesia, Malaysia (now called the Malay Archipelago), and Melanesia (now called Australasia). Included are parts of three geological continents, Eurasia, Australia, and Zealandia, as well the non-continental volcanic islands of the Philippines, Wallacea, and the open Pacific. It extends to Sumatra in the west, the Bonin Islands in the northwest, the Hawaiian Islands in the northeast, Rapa Nui and Salas Gomez Islanding the east, and Macku are Island in the south, but excludes Taiwan and the Ryukyu, Japanese, and Aleutian Islands of the margins of Asia.
15. The states that occupy Oceania that are not included in geopolitical Oceania are Indonesia, Malaysia (through Malaysian Borneo), Brunei, the Philippines, and East Timor . The islands of the geographic extremes are politically integral parts of Japan (Bonin), the United States (Hawaii), and Chile (Easter Island). A smaller geographic definition also exists, which excludes the land on the Sunda plate, but includes Indonesian New Guinea as part of the Australian continent Oceania is one of eight terrestrial, ecozones which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet. The Oceania Ecozone includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, New Guinea, Melanesia apart from Fiji, and Australia constitute the separate Australasia ecozone. The Malay Archipelago is part of the Indomalayaecozone. Related to these concepts are Near Oceania, that part of western Island Melanesia which has been inhabited for tens of millennia, and Remote Oceania, which is more recently settled.
17. Famous Places in Australia: The Great Barrier Reef: Checking out the Great Barrier Reef is one of the must-do activities in Australia. The variety of bio-diversity that this reef supports is seen to be believed. The Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin, dwarf minke whale, flatback turtle, olive ridley turtle and salt water crocodiles are some of the species found here. There is a wide variety of birds in this reef. It’s one of the heritage sites in this continent country. Located off the Queensland coast, the Great Barrier Reef is in the Coral Sea and is the largest coral reef in the world with an area of over 300,000 square kilometers. Scuba divers think it is amazing. Resources: http://www.australiatop.com/Top-Ten/Australia_Top_Ten_Places.asp
18. The Great Ocean Road:The Great Ocean Road, one hour drive east of Melbourne, runs along the southern coast of Australia and is one of the most beautiful roads on Earth. Its length is 250 km, and it starts at the Trecky surf resort, 90 km from Melbourne. The road was built in 1930 in memory of soldiers who fell in World War I; it passes by magnificent cliffs and lonely beaches. Main attractions include the resort towns of Loren, Apollo Bay, and picturesque Port Fairy. Otway National Park offers hiking paths through rain forests, rivers, and amazing waterfalls. Campbell National Park, on the western side of the road, is located in an area famous for its rocks jutting out of the ocean, the most famous ones being called “Twelve Apostles.” Resources: http://www.australiatop.com/Top-Ten/Australia_Top_Ten_Places.asp
19. The Desert of Ayers Rock: The height of a visit in the middle of the Australian desert is doubtlessly a visit of Uluru (or Ayers Rock). It is 348 meters high with a 9 km circumference. It is the world’s largest monolith, made of sand stone whose shades of color change in the course of the day from light brown to deep red. It is especially beautiful at sunset and sunrise. Uluru is also called “The Heart of Australia” and is one of its most famous symbols. The giant rock is of supreme importance to the Aborigines, who have marked its holiness by many rock drawings, for 10,000 years. Resources: http://blog.ratestogo.com/10-must-see-landmarks-in-australia/
20. Fiorland National Park : This park is part of the South Westland World Heritage area and is New Zealand's largest national park and one of the largest in the world. The scenery in Fiordland is nothing short of stunning, with deep fiords, steep mountains, raging waterfalls, and lush rain forests.Fiordland is however one of the wettest places on earth and when it rains, thousands of waterfalls put on quite a show, (imagine countless raging waterfalls side by side thundering into the salt water of the sea). On a fine day the landscape is so unreal that you would think that you were in the movie Lord of the Rings, which is no exaggeration given that much of the movie was filmed here. Resources: http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/travel/top10.shtml
21. Abel Tasman National Park: Abel Tasman may be New Zealand's smallest national park, but the attractions are huge. Located in one of New Zealand's sunniest spots, it almost seems planned that the area also has the best beaches in the country. The beaches have a range of coloured sand from gold to white that look out onto the clear waters of the Tasman Sea. Beyond the beaches, the park is covered in lush temperate rain forest and manuka, a type of tea tree. The popular Abel Tasman Walk is a great way to see this park, it takes 3-5 days to complete. Resources: http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/travel/top10.shtml
22. Queenstown: For action adventure and scenery, Queenstown has it all. Fit for a queen, this beautiful lake side town is surrounded by mountains and is one of New Zealands premier tourist destinations. It is also the home of bungee jumping and jet boating which are both New Zealand inventions. Other adrenaline activities include parapenting and white water rafting. Queenstown is also one of the southern hemispheres premier skiing destinations and enables skiers from around the world to ski during the northern hemisphere's summer. If you are not an adrenaline junkie then Queenstown is absolutely still the place to go, even if it is to just admire the spectacular mountain scenery while enjoying the many cafes, restaurants, and shops on offer. Resources: http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/travel/top10.shtml
23. Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, just north of Australia, and many outlying islands. The Indonesian province of West Papua (Irian Jaya) is to the west. To the north and east are the islands of Manus, New Britain, New Ireland, and Bougainville, all part of Papua New Guinea. About one-tenth larger than California, its mountainous interior has only recently been explored. Two major rivers, the Sepik and the Fly, are navigable for shallow-draft vessels.
24. Tonga: The archipelago of Tonga, affectionately called "Friendly Islands", consists of 171 ialnds, with only 45 inhabited. There are four island groups including the mostly low-lying Tongatapu group, the volcanic and coral Ha'apai group; the flat coral islands of the Vava'u group, and the volcanic Niuas group in the far north. Tonga personifies the beauty of the South Pacific. It has an abundance of remote white sand beaches, all protected by reefs. Snorkeling and scuba conditions are pure perfection, and the Tongan people are very welcoming. Resources: http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/oceania/to. htm
25. The Fiji Islands: Fiji is a land of blue-green lagoons, lush rainforests, pine forests, mountains and a 1000 miles of white, sandy beaches. There are 330 pieces of land big enough to be called islands scattered across 200,000 square miles of ocean, and several thousand others considered too small for human habitation. Of the 330 islands, VitiLevu and Vanua Levu make up 85% of the total land mass, and only just over 100 of the islands are actually inhabited. The Fiji archipelago has over 300 islands scattered across 200,000 square miles of ocean. Total land area is about 2,800 square miles. Fiji is a country rich in traditional culture and uses a native language that defines happiness. Their religious and cultural ceremonies are unlike any other that you may have experienced. English is the official language. Fijian and Hindustani are spoken as well.
