Top Attractions in Australia and the USA PDF

## Top Attractions in Australia - **Sydney Opera House:** One of the world's great architectural icons, surrounded by water on three sides with the Royal Botanic Gardens to the south. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon and completed in 1973, it features theaters, studios, a concert hall, exhib...

## Top Attractions in Australia - **Sydney Opera House:** One of the world's great architectural icons, surrounded by water on three sides with the Royal Botanic Gardens to the south. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon and completed in 1973, it features theaters, studios, a concert hall, exhibition rooms and a cinema. - **Blue Mountains National Park:** Located 81 km west of Sydney, this amazing park protects 664,000 acres of wilderness filled with spectacular gorges and waterfalls, aboriginal rock paintings, and 140 km of hiking trails. The most famous attractions in the park are the towering sandstone rock formations called 'the Three Sisters'. - **The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park:** Established in 1975 to protect a fragile ecosystem that includes more than 3,000 coral reefs, the largest living structures on the planet. The park extends for 2,300 km along the state of Queensland on the east coast and is home to more than 1,600 species of marine life, a real paradise for scuba-divers. - **Fraser Island:** Located off Australia's east coast, it is the world's largest sand island. The scenery ranges from silent forests and beaches with huge dunes to crystal-clear streams and dark lakes. The island is filled with an amazing diversity of plants and animals including sharks, dolphins, whales, wild horses, dingoes, bats, and over 300 species of birds. - **Bondi Beach:** Located only 15 minutes away from Sydney city centre, it is one of the world's most famous beaches. A perfect surfing destination, it is also a great spot for a seaside stroll or a picnic. - **Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park:** Located in the heart of the Central Australian desert, it encompasses the famous site of Uluru. Known as Ayers Rock, this huge red rock (348 metres in height) is a sacred site for the Anangu people, as well as being one of Australia's most iconic attractions. The other main attraction within the park is Kata Tjuta, a series of 36 domed rock formations that extend across over 20 km². - **Melbourne:** The most European of all the Australian cities, it is a popular destination because of its cultural attractions, including the National Gallery of Victoria and the Queen Victoria Market. It is also a green city, with parks, gardens, and open spaces occupying almost a third of its total area. ## Top Attractions in the USA - **The Sydney Opera House:** one of the world's great architectural icons. - **Blue Mountains National Park:** located 81 km west of Sydney. - **The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park:** established in 1975. - **Fraser Island:** located off Australia's east coast. - **Bondi Beach:** located only 15 minutes away from Sydney city centre. - **Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park:** located in the heart of the Central Australian desert. - **Melbourne:** the most European of all the Australian cities. ## Native Americans - Native Americans were the people who occupied North America before the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th century. - They probably arrived in Alaska and then moved east and south. - These groups settled in different areas of North America, each with a different climate and landscape, and they developed their own distinct customs. - Some tribes were hunters and others were farmers. - After the arrival of the Europeans, millions of them died from epidemics, war and violence. - The largest tribes include Cherokee, Sioux, Navajo, Apache, Blackfoot and Pueblo. - Some Native Americans live on reservations – special villages and lands. ## People From America - Columbus Day is celebrated on the 12th of October. - Italian Mass migration to America started in the 1880s. - From 1876 to 1924, 4.5 million Italians were registered at Ellis Island, the American immigration inspection station in the harbor of New York city. - They were called "birds of passage" because they didn't want to make a home in America and were only there to make money. - By 1910 women and families started to arrive from Italy. - They created a new cultural environment with newspapers, theaters, churches, and recreational clubs. - They also started to celebrate their national festivities such as the epiphany on the 6th of January, their local patron saints such as San Gennaro, or Columbus Day on the 12th of October. - Italians suffered discrimination in housing and employment. - They were seen as an "inferior race" and many were not allowed to the United States anymore, by the Immigration Act of 1924. - They are represented in the art, entertainment, and food industries. ## The USA: A Nation of Immigrants - The USA is a nation made up of a diverse range of immigrants. - The indigenous people of America are called Native Americans. - In the 16th century, British and Dutch traders travelled to the east coast of America. - They went there to make money and to look for gold. - In the 17th century, a group of Puritans, called the Pilgrims, left England for America. - Their voyage started on September 16, 1620, and they landed on November 21. - They signed a document called the Mayflower Compact which agreed to follow certain rules. - They met the Wampanoag people, some of whom knew the English language. - The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag signed a peace treaty in 1621. - The Native Americans helped the settlers to fish and to plant crops. - The Wampanoag were invited to a celebration with them. - Many people arrived at Ellis Island in New York where they asked for permission to stay in the country. - 50% of all Americans have an ancestor who passed through Ellis Island in the past. - The west coast of American immigration has come from many other places such as California, where many Chinese people arrived in the 19th century. - The Chinese community has grown and now Chinatown, in San Francisco, has the largest Chinese population in the USA. - For many African-Americans, the story of arriving to the USA is a sad one, where they were kidnapped and brought to America to work a slaves in farms called plantations. - Around 4,000,000 slaves were in the country at the time. - In 1865, slavery in the USA became illegal at the end of the American Civil War. ## A Multicultural City - In the 17th century, Britain and France were fighting for control of North America. - Some of the French colonists went to live in the south of the continent. - They called this territory Louisianan, after their king Louis XIV. - Louisiana is now a US state. - The state capital is Baton Rouge and the biggest city is New Orleans. - New Orleans is one of the most multicultural cities in the USA. - People from Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean have populated New Orleans over the centuries. - Farmers in Louisiana imported thousands of slaves from Africa to work on their sugar and cotton plantations. - The slaves brought their own culture and traditions with them to New Orleans. - Thousands of refugees arrived from the island of Haiti, after a violent revolution. - They added Caribbean influence to New Orleans’ cultural mix. - New Orleans is an international city. - Their cuisine is spicy and uses lot of seafood. - A traditional dish is 'jambalaya' – a combination of meat, seafood, vegetables and rice. - The city is also famous for its ‘andouille’, a spicy sausage from France. - Most of the restaurants are found in the French Quarter, an old district with historical architecture. - The French Quarter is also famous for its jazz music clubs, which was invented in New Orleans by black musicians at the start of the 20th century. - Jazz was influenced by African music, military bands and gospel music. - Mardi Gras is the French expression for the Tuesday before the start of Lent. - People in New Orleans celebrate with parades, parties and masked balls. - The New Orleans carnival is a mixture of French and Caribbean customs. - People in the parades always throw toys, coins or coloured beads to the people in the streets. - They often wear traditional Mardi Gras colours of green, purple and gold.