My 6 word autobiography: Seeking ways to make a difference. This blog provides more information packed comments than possible in blog comments. I'm not an expert in any field but interested in many. Content is open to correction if needed.
I had explained to Bronte I had forgotten to include in the other horse post photos I took at Sydney's Royal Easter Show. One great event for action photos was Polocrosse. I found an arena where two teams, red and blue, were competing. I have six photos to share. As the photos are of child competitors, their faces have been blurred.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
As a bonus, here are two photos of tent pegging in the main arena.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
It is obvious you enjoy tennis. Not too far from my house there is a tennis club with three courts. Children often attend to learn tennis and play games. There are also tennis competitions for all ages but I don’t think the club has had a big name player start there as yet.
When I comment on blogs, I sometimes see a post where I want to share a longer comment of perhaps photos, video and/or sound. Your post is one of these because of one of the questions you asked. Let’s look at your questions but I’ll leave your first question to last because it will have the longest answer.
If you know any tennis players, who do you think will win the French Open?
Perhaps what surprised me most was the elimination of Serena Williams in round one. It shows us even some of the best players can have bad days. Injuries can also slow players.
Do you have any cool facts to share about tennis or your favourite sport?
What I find interesting is how long tennis in some form has been played. Henry VIII was a fan of tennis. Here is a Wikipedia link with some information on the history of tennis…
Do you know any interesting facts about the Eiffel Tower or France?
Below are some photos I took in 2010. They are taken from different directions. If you get to see it one day, you’ll find long lines if you want to ride the elevators up. It can take hours of waiting so it’s good to have more than one person to take turns in lines. You will also find many people selling miniature Eiffel Towers and other souvenirs.
Schools and students have permission to use these Eiffel Tower graphics for non-commercial, educational purposes.
You can click on a photo to enlarge it. When you click a photo, it will take you to a new page with just the one photo. Click the photo again and it will enlarge.
For the history and information about the Eiffel Tower, here is a Wikipedia link…
If you do travel to France, knowing some French is an advantage but you’ll find many people know some English. I found the people I met very friendly but I think they were amused by a big, Aussie guy wearing an Akubra hat. One even asked if I was from Texas and I explained the hat was an Australian Akubra. 🙂
Did you know Brisbane has an Eiffel Tower? It sits above an Italian Restaurant. Of course it is not even close to the height of the real one but I can say I've sat under the Eiffel Tower (replica) and enjoyed a meal. Here is a link with some information about Brisbane's little bit of Paris.
With the London Olympics fast approaching, I was fascinated by your research into Olympic countries and was pleased to be able to read the Australian information from Chelsea, Ryan, Callum, Oliver, Jasmin and a name I wasn't quite able to read (sorry, I'll add the name if I find out later).
I thought I might share some information about Australia in some of the areas you researched, if you are interested. I'll break them up into subject areas...
HISTORY
Early maps of the world from the 1500s showed the known world but little in the southern Hemisphere (south of the equator). Ships had rounded the southern tip of Africa and seen parts of South America. It was thought there must be a big southern land to balance the land in the northern hemisphere. Here is a 1564 map of the world by Ortelius...
We know some European explorers visited Australia as early as the 1500s but they thought they had found New Guinea. In 1606, a Spanish ship sailed between Australia and New Guinea but didn't seem to realise what they had seen. The first known landing in Australia by Europeans was by a Dutch ship also in 1606. In 1616, a Dutch ship landed on the western shores of Australia and in 1642, another Dutch sailed to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) before sailing on to New Zealand. The new land had been called New Holland.
Before the coming of James Cook, nothing was known of the east coast of Australia by Europeans. The then Lieutenant James Cook was put in charge of the ship Endeavour and set sail from England in 1768.
I prepared a blog post on another of my blogs for schools in my local area. Recently, the Endeavour replica sailed into Eden's Twofold Bay in Australia. You will find information and photos of the Endeavour replica on the blog as well as links to other of my posts including a 'letter' from Commander Cook to a class in California, a video of the ship departing Eden, and a slideshow of the photos taken.
Australia is said to the the world's biggest island and smallest continent. This means anything larger is a continent and anything smaller is an island. From my research,
Australia's area is... 7,686,850 square kilometres or 2,967,910 square miles
United Kingdom is... 243,610 square kilometres or 94,060 square miles
This means Australia is over 31 times bigger than the United Kingdom yet only has a population nearing 23 million whereas the United Kingdom has over 62 million people, over 2.5 times Australia's population. We must remember, much of Australia is desert and not suitable for many people to live. Most Australians live along the coastline.
Seas and Oceans
Australia isn't in the Indian Ocean, it's the eastern edge of the Indian Ocean. Look at this map I prepared for you...
From the map, you can see Australia is in three oceans, the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans. It's also the shore of three seas, the Timor Sea between it and Indonesia, the Coral Sea between it and the islands of New Guinea, and the Tasman Sea between it and New Zealand.
I've seen estimates Australia has a coastline 25,760 km or over 16,000 miles long making it the sixth largest whereas the United Kingdom has a coastline of over 14,400 km or nearly 9000 miles making it 12th.
Our Flag and National Anthem
Australia became a nation on January 1,1901. It was no longer a colony of independent states, it was a commonwealth of states. Our national flag was first approved by King Edward VII in 1902.
As you can see, the Australian flag has the Union Jack in its top, left corner.This was used to show our links with the United Kingdom.
The large star underneath the Union Jack is known as the Federation Star. Six points represent the states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia) whereas the final point represents the territories (Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory).
The group of five stars on the right is the Southern Cross. It is visible in our night sky throughout the year and helps me find south when out at night. The constellation is known to astronomers as Crux.
At times, there have been moves to create a new Australian flag but, at this date, no decision has been made.
The National Anthem
When I was a boy, the Australian National Anthem was "God Save the Queen" just as in England. In 1984, the new national anthem became "Advance Australia Fair". Here is a recording I made of a 100 voice choir some time ago...
There certainly are a number of spiders in Australia. Each morning when I walk down a path I am likely to walk into webs strung in the garden. We have some deadly spiders here but most are reasonably harmless. Here are some photos and drawings of spiders and their webs...
This is a drawing of a funnel web spider. It's bite can be fatal but they are rare to see. I have seen them in zoos but only once in the wild.
The redback is also poisonous but it isn't normally a fatal bite. I have seen a number of these in the wild.
This spider is harmless and likes to hang around houses.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
I often see these in their webs as I go on hikes. Again it's harmless. A bite might only cause a little skin irritation.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Also seen when hiking, this leaf curling spider brings a leaf into its web, curls it and stays hidden inside. Look carefully and you can see its legs sticking out touching its web lines. When it senses something in the web, it rushes out to grab its prey.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Spider webs can be quite delicate as this one spun between opening fern fronds.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
...or this one photographed in the morning dew.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Kangaroos, Koalas and Wallabies
These are some of our cute looking animals but we must remember, in the wild they should be left alone. Wild animals don't like us getting too close.
This is an eastern grey kangaroo I met on one of my walks. He stood about 175 cm (5'9") tall. This type of kangaroo is the most common in my area. The tallest species is the red kangaroo but they live more in arid areas away from the coast.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Suzie is a female koala living at Potoroo Palace, a refuge for injured and orphaned animals.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Last year Suzie gave birth. The peanut-sized baby made its way up and into her pouch where it grew. Below is a link to a video I shot of one of the first times her baby girl made an appearance...
Schools and students have permission to use this video clip for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Blinky is a male koala and the father of Suzie's baby. In the wild, the father has nothing to do with raising a baby but at Potoroo Palace, he shares an enclosure with Suzie. You can tell the difference between males and females by looking under their neck. You can see how much white Suzie has compared to Blinky. In many places, koalas are now endangered because of habitat loss and a disease. Breeding programs in zoos are helping.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
While they normally stay in trees and sleep for over 20 hours a day, they sometimes can be seen walking from tree to tree. Here is an animation I created for you from a series of photos...
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
This little girl is a swamp wallaby. She also lives in Potoroo Palace. She appears to be smiling because she thought I had food for her. Swamp wallabies are very common in my area. I often see them on my walks.
Below is a link to a video of Serena, another swamp wallaby, when she was young...
Schools and students have permission to use this video clip for non-commercial, educational purposes.
SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE
Sydney Harbour Bridge (its nickname is "The Coathanger") was built between 28 July, 1923 and 19 January, 1932. It was officially opened on 19 March, 1932. Amongst the crowd at the opening was my father. He was 13 at the time.
Before its construction, the only way across the harbour was by ferry. When the bridge opened, it offered rail, tram and car access. There is now also a tunnel under the harbour nearby.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
SPORT
Cricket is without doubt a big sport here. We have a national team, state teams and local teams. There are two cricket pitches across the road from me.
Football to an Aussie can mean one of three major codes. We have soccer (there are two soccer fields across the road), Australian Rules Football (one field across the road) and rugby league.
The sport with the biggest number of players in Australia (mainly girls and women) is netball. In another park their are two courts.
Basketball is also a big sport in Australia with teams set up like in America. There are many other sports played.
Thank you all for sharing your research into the Olympic countries. I sure you will feel as excited as may class did when the Sydney Olympics started in 2000.
@RossMannell
Teacher, NSW, Australia
** Some information was referenced using Wikipedia.
Bike Education is such an important subject. A number of times I had run classes at school or attended a police run bike education centre with my classes. While I tend to walk much more than ride now, I once regularly rode my bike to school. I even had a milk crate on my bike rack so I could carry a computer to and from school in the days when the school only had one computer for all classes to share.
I think the rules you have stated are very important…
1. You can ride on the footpath until you are 12 years old.
2. Ring your bike bell when approaching other riders or walkers.
3. Always ride on the left hand side of the road.
4. Wear bright coloured clothing when riding.
5. Wear a well-fitting helmet.
1. As I am just a little over 12 (oh, wow, in 2014 I’ll be five times that age), I always ride along the roadside or along bicycle paths in our area. As an adult, I am expected to know the road rules and abide by them. This includes obeying signs, stopping for pedestrians and using hand signals to show drivers behind what I am doing.
2. It is not only safer, it is courteous to ring your bell when coming up behind other walkers or riders. When startled by a bike suddenly appearing from behind, the person might step in front of the bike.
3. As I have to obey the road rules when riding, I always keep left and don’t ride between cars when they are stopped at traffic lights. If you asked your blogging friends from the US you’d find they learn to keep right as they ride on the other side of the road as does European but not British countries.
4. When I sometimes see what some riders wear when training for cycling, they can be very bright in their special cycling clothes. I have never worn that sort of bright clothing as that might be too much of a shock for people I pass. 🙂 I do wear light coloured clothing and, if I have to walk along the roadside with my bike, I have a safety vest.
5. Even before it was compulsory to wear helmets when riding, I did because I knew how important it was to protect our heads from harm. I have come off my bike at times and found the ground hard. Luckily I was never badly hurt.
My longest ride was quite a few years back when I caught a train from Sydney to Nowra in NSW then started riding my bicycle. On that trip, I had my tent and spare clothing, tyre repair kit and tools, drink and food in a backpack. My trip lasted five days as I rode nearly 300km. It was a wonderful experience but I always had to be very careful when riding along roads. I wasn’t in a hurry, it was something I wanted to experience. I would no longer try such a trip but I have memories of the people I met and talked to along the way
What is a road rule that you know?
I hold three levels of driver’s licences for motorcycle, car and truck. I tried to apply all of the road rules when I rode my bikes. I am not happy when I see some cyclists cross pedestrian crossings when the lights are red for traffic or ride along footpaths when they are adults. It is not only dangerous, it gives good cyclists a bad name. One rule I never had to worry about when cycling was keep under the speed limit. My riding is more leisurely so my speed was never too high.
And now for something completely different...
In my collection of graphics gathered over many years I found one that made me wonder, if bicycles had been invented in the time of knights on horses, might a poorer knight have had to use a bicycle?
A couple cycling pictures for you...
Did you know some of the first bikes didn't have pedals?
People would sit on the seat and run along. Eventually people did think of pedals but early bikes didn't have chains and gears. The front wheel was very large and the rear small. The cyclists would push the bike to get it going, step up on a small step on the bike then up to the seat. They had to have a big front wheel so people's legs were able to pedal the bikes. These bikes were called penny farthing bikes. A penny was a big coin and a farthing was a small coin just as the penny farthing bikes had a big and small wheel.
Recently, my town celebrated it's 100th birthday as an official town. I saw some interesting bikes in the parade.
You can see a man riding a penny farthing bike. They boy is wheeling one they hope to restore.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
The couple is riding a tandem bike. They were once quite popular with couples who would cycle together. While I don't have a photo, I have seen a bike built for four people to ride.Bike riding can be a great deal of fun but it's also a responsibility. We need to keep our bikes in good conditions, obey the rules and be safe.
Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Have fun in Bike Education. I know I always did. 🙂
Your questions are very interesting. If I were closer rather than all the way down here in Australia, I would share a book I have entitled, "The Olympic Factbook". It has information about the modern Olympic Games from the first in 1896 to 2000. I have done a little research into your questions. Let’s see if I can help with them…
How many people compete?
The 2008 summer games were held in Beijing, China. 10,500 people competed in 302 events in 28 sports. Did you know there are also Winter Olympic Games?
Where do people come from?
I think there were 208 countries entering in the 2008 games. You can find a list of all of the countries involved in the 2008 games using this link…
The London Olympics will run from July 27 to August 12, 2012.
When was the first Olympics?
Did you know the first Olympic Games were thought to have started in Ancient Greece over 2750 years ago? There was a very big break before the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. The 1896 games were held in Athens, Greece.
What do athletes wear?
During the opening, athletes wear clothes designed by their country. In the events, it depends on the sport. Swimmers need swimsuits. Runners need light clothing and good running shoes. Can you imagine how it would look if the clothes were mixed up and a swimmer were to try to swim in the light clothing and running shoes of runners or a horse rider were to wear a swim suit?
Where in the world has the Olympics happened?
1896 Athens, Greece
1900 Paris, France
1904 St Louis, USA
1906 Athens, Greece
1908 London, Great Britain
1912 Stockholm, Sweden
1916 Berlin, Germany (not held)
1920 Antwerp, Belgium
1924 Paris, France
1928 Amsterdam, Holland
1932 Los Angeles, USA
1936 Berlin, Germany
1940 Tokyo, Japan / Helsinki, Finland (not held)
1944 London, Great Britain (not held)
1948 London, Great Britain
1952 Helsinki, Finland
1956 Melbourne, Australia
1960 Rome, Italy
1964 Tokyo, Japan
1968 Mexico City, Mexico
1972 Munich, Germany
1976 Montreal, Canada
1980 Moscow, USSR
1984 Los Angeles, USA
1988 Seoul, South Korea
1992 Barcelona, Spain
1996 Atlanta, USA
2000 Sydney, Australia
2004 Athens, Greece
2008 Beijing, China
2012 London, England
2016 Rio, Brazil
Notice some of the games weren’t held. The 1916, 1940 and 1944 games weren’t held because of World War I and II.
Where haven’t the Games been held?
There are 300 countries in our world yet only Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, USA, and USSR have held the summer games. The Olympics are very expensive to run so they are only held in wealthier countries. No modern Olympics have yet been held on the continent of Africa.
What games and sports are held?
This has changed over the years as sports are added and taken away. Here is a link showing the events for the 2012 London Olympics…
