March 12, 2015 With some analysts predicting that the Australian dollar is heading toward the 50/60 cent levels against the US Dollar, Australia is once again priming up as the world’s favourite destination. “U.S. travelers would choose to visit Australia over almost every other country on Earth,â€_x009d_ according to TripAdvisor. The Huffingtonpost recently updated a story it carried some years ago, to once again highlight the reason why people choose Australia, with notable attractions/activities actually missing the list.
• In Australia, it’s incredibly normal to take a gap year. Taking 12 months off between school and going to university has become almost a rite of passage for the estimated 200,000 school leavers each year.
• Australians have swimming pools in their oceans.
• People in Australia really know coffee. Starbucks tried to invade the scene a few years ago, but Aussies didn’t break from their traditional coffee haunts Starbucks was forced to close 61 of its 87 Australian stores and eventually sell out off its remaining operations.
• Two words: Gold. Coast.
• Precious, just-born, infant turtles crawl into the Australian sea from January until March. And there are turtle guides who will help you find and say hi to them.
• The minimum wage in Australia is $16.88. SIXTEEN DOLLARS AND EIGHTY-EIGHT CENTS! In America, minimum wage ranges by state from $5.15 (Georgia) to $9.19 (Washington). The ugly truth is that sometimes, workers have to sue their employers to get their fair share.
• A bunch of lakes in Australia are pink, thanks to algae and prawns.
• Australians don’t sacrifice sustainability for tourism. Lord Howe Island, the most beautiful island of coral reefs, is only allowed to host 400 tourists at any given time, no matter how many want to come.
• There are more kangaroos than humans in Australia, which makes life more adorable. To deal with all those marsupials, experts have concocted kangaroo birth control and a national Kangaroo Management Plan. Another population control — sniffle, tear, sniffle — is the kangaroo burger.
• Australians make a vacation out of helping the planet– on a conservation holiday, you can measure plants in the rainforest or monitor owl species at the base of the Australian Alps.
• Everybody in Australia has accents.
• When life gets rough (from eating too much Vegemite or winning too much rugby), Australians can always escape to the perfect blue heaven known as Lake McKenzie.
• In Australia, there are creatures called fairy penguins. After they get home from long days at sea, you can visit their colonies by night.
• The Great Ocean Road, the Aussies’ seaside version of U.S. Route 66, takes you past some pretty stellar rock formations.
• Australians have the widest steel arch bridge in the world. You may have heard of it.
