Three Weeks, Mates!!

I can't believe it's already May! Where did the time go?! As of today, there are three weeks left until we board the plane to go to the Land Down Under! Over the semester, the class split into groups to cover many different aspects of Australia.  Here's a brief overview of all the things we've learned since January:

Australia has 6 states and 2 major territories, as you can see above.  Most of the agriculture industry is focused around the east coast.  The western side of the country is known to be very dry and desolate, with hardly any people living there.  Despite the sparse population, Western Australia is definitely the largest state in Australia.

Australia was primarily started by a group of convicts that arrived in central Australia around 25,000 years ago, these people were later known as the Aborigines.  They were the main settlers of the country, until the Europeans begin sending explorers down to the area. Now, the population is a very diverse group of cultures.

The picture above is from the Wellington Farm Lamb operation in Australia.  Sheep are to Australia, as cattle are to the United States.  The Australian sheep herd is about 72.75 million, while the cattle population is just over 27.9 million head.  The most popular breeds of sheep are the merinos and suffolks, and the dominant cattle breeds include Angus, Shorthorn, and Simmentals.

The Great Barrier Reef is another quite exciting places we will be seeing on our trip.  The biodiversity of this area is absolutely incredible, over 1500 species of fish live on the reef.  The reef is about 5 million years old!! How awesome is that?! It is also one of the 7 Wonders of the World!!!!! Fun Fact: 6 billion Australian dollars are generated by the tourist attraction of the Great Barrier Reef alone!

Sydney, Australia is one of the places we will be visiting.  I'm looking forward to having a night to take in the Australian culture along with the rest of the KSU mates.  Hopefully, I will blog again before we leave on the 21st, but if not please check back on the 21st for travel details and pictures!

Much love,
~Kaycie