Australia

Like Sweden, Australia is a country we've done projects with before, a couple of times actually. We wanted to do this one in January for Australia day, but it never worked out. (Remember in January we only did 15 countries- and we're trying to keep up a 17 country average). I didn't have any countries scheduled on Wednesday this week, because we had plans to go to the fair. But, we ended up going earlier in the day to avoid rain, and had dinner free, so we decided we could squeeze in another one of those 'back pocket' countries, and so Australia was up! 

Some Australia fun facts for you: 

Australia's capital isn't the popular Sydney or even Brisbane, it's Canberra. A country since 1901, it is the 6th biggest country in the world. (The top 6 are actually the heavy hitters- #7 is twice the size of #7 which is India) 

Of course we all know about: 

.... the Great Barrier Reef, which has coral types that date back over 20 million years is home to over 1,500 different species of fish (it's also larger than the U.K, the Netherlands, and Switzerland combined!) 

....Uluru, aka Ayers Rock, the most famous sandstone in Australia, which would take you about 3 and a half hours to walk around....

... and one of the most desolate places on earth... 

the Outback with it's crazy wildlife  (most notably some seriously venomous snakes, like the inland taipan- the world's most venomous snake!)

We talked about the Aboriginals, Australia's first people, and their artwork. 

Of course along with the Aboriginals we talked about some other fun history facts: 

Before Australia was Australia, it was ' New Holland' thanks to the Dutch explorer who first landed there in 1606. The name 'Australia' actually comes from 'Terra Australis', which in Latin means 'land of the south'. 

Oh and fun little fact about rabbits for you: 

Not one bunny had been on the island until 24 rabbits were released into the wild in 1859 for people to hunt. They weren't found, however, and the population, as one might expect with rabbits, exploded. It's one of the fastest spread of mammals ever recorded! 

The boys made their postcards, but Hayden was the hands down winner. I think he spent at least 45 minutes on it, getting it just right. It was very impressive. 

We were kind of over the meals of rice and such after our banned countries week, so when we found a recipe for an Aussie Burger with the Lot, we were on board! We also had 'chips' (fries), Roasted vinegar asparagus, Granny Smith apples (they were first grown in Australia in 1868 by Maria Ann Smith), and the Australian cookies, Tim-Tams! (We've had tim-tams before but Publix JUST started selling them, so they were on sale!) 

Dinner earned 5 spoons up. It was the messiest burger I've ever eaten in my life, and I was a little nervous about the picked beet on it- but it actually wasn't bad. All of us who like asparagus ate it up (and those of us who don't begrudgingly ate it), and the apples, fries and were all good, though not terribly unusual. 

Speaking of the fries, we ordered some Chicken Salt to sprinkle on top, a very popular seasoning in Australia. It's been a total hit here, and people have been putting it on everything since. 

I painted the edges in around Australia, and Calib finished it off. But we noted that it sure did take A LOT of nailpolish, meaning we better go buy two bottles for whenever we tackle Russia and Canada. 

24 down, 169 to go!

Next Up: We're on to our World Religions unit with Vatican City!