In America we all know an ankle-biter is an obnoxious child, and avos are avocados. These are just a couple of Aussie slang words we have picked up and use daily. Aussie being a prime example of Australian Slang, we also know that “down under” is either Australia or New Zealand.

Mozzies are definitely the disease-carrying mosquitoes, but a billy is something you boil water in. A wombat is someone who eats shoots and leaves, and is probably just a vejjo (vegetarian).

Whatever you do in Australia, please don’t whinge (whine), as it is unsightly. You’d be better off getting a wobbly boot on (get drunk) than getting all wobbly (excited). Someone may be accused of having kangaroos loose in their top paddock if they appear a bit deranged.

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Emergency Telephone Numbers in Australia:

Dial 000 for Police, Fire or Ambulance from anywhere in Australia.

Emergency Number from everywhere in Australia (from a mobile telephone, you must tell the operator from which state you are calling).

Embassy of the United States of America Chancery: Moonah Place, Yarralumla ACT 2600 Tel: (02) 6214 5600, Fax: (02) 6214 5970

British High Commission Chancery: Commonwealth Avenue, Yarralumla, ACT 2600 Tel: (02)6270 6666, Fax (02)6273 3236

Here is a link to a list of International Embassies in the nation’s capital, Canberra.

There are 23 species of crocodiles worldwide, but only two live in Australia, the estuarine (Crocodylus johnstoni) and the Freshwater (Crocodylus porosus).Freshwater crocs can only be found in Australia, and are seen in freshwater rivers, billabongs and swamps. You can track them down in Northern Queensland, the Cape York Peninsula and in the Gulf of Carpinteria regions.

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Here is a list of Annual Holidays in Australia for the year 2006, with major events of note.

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The elusive Tree Kangaroo is found in Australia’s Queensland, where they flourish in the lush tropical forests. There are two species, the Lumholz and Bennett’s Tree Kangaroos. The Lumholz is named after the Norwegian naturalist C. Lumholtz, and are also known as “Boongary” with a scientific name of Dendrolagus lumholtzi. The Bennett variety is known as Dendrolagus bennettianus, and is larger than the Lumholz. Eight other species of Tree Kangaroos are to be found in New Guinea.

Both varieties are about two feet tall, but their tails are often three feet long! The female bears one young kangaroo at a time, and carries it in her pouch like all marsupials. They are found sleeping in the branches of trees during the day, and become active at night, being nocturnal. Tree Kangaroos can leap as far as 15 meters (45 feet) from tree to tree. They do not hop about on the ground like regular Kangaroos – they walk.

Australia’s Tree Kangaroos thrive on a diet of leaves and fruits gathered high in the forest canopy. Their large stomachs can handle the massive quantities of leaves they must consume to survive.

There are far more Lumholz Tree Kangaroos, spread over a large area of the Wet Tropics. The Bennett variety is only found in a small area around the Daintree River in Queensland.

Unlike Europe, the US & elsewhere, mobile phone use in Australia tends to be expensive. Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone are the big three operators for mobile telephony in Australia. Telstra, the once dominant monopoly in the country still offers uncompetitive rates and restrictions. Optus is little better, helping to keep high charges for everyone. Vodaphone is trying to lower the bar, offering better prices and more independence, but doesn’t have as wide a coverage as the other two. Virgin is another recent entry to the market in Australia.

When you buy a new phone and opt for any of the companies except Vodaphone, you’ll be committing yourself to using their service as they don’t let you switch sim cards without an extra fee (around A$80). If you already have a GSM phone, you can purchase a sim card from any of the companies for use in your phone. They usually come with $A25-$30 phone credit since they cost the same to buy.

In my experience mobile phone charges run about $1 per minute, and some even charge you extra for retrieving your voice messages. Text messages run around 25 cents unless you purchase a plan that gives you a better deal. So that $30 of credit can easily be used up with just a few calls.

If you’re going to be in Australia for awhile, it may be worth it to signup for a long-term contract, as the rates will be far cheaper than the prepaid plans. You can also get a better deal if you include your home phone and internet access on the same account.

Be aware that rural areas are not always covered by the major companies. Vodaphone in particular seems to concentrate on the major cities and towns, with poor service elsewhere. Hopefully this problem will be eliminated once the companies learn how to play together and share their lines without charging exorbitant rates.

Both GSM and CDMA mobile standards are in use in Australia. Supposedly the CDMA offers better rural coverage, but CDMA phones don’t use sim chips which means they won’t work in Europe and other areas.

We encourage you to not use Telstra as it costs the most, unless it is the only carrier available for your area.

For the traveler in Australia there is Internet access available in most towns, with the remote regions of the outback having less coverage. In backpacker friendly places you’ll find excellent access near or inside hostels, caravan parks & hotels. In the peak season these places are often packed, sometimes with people queueing up to get online.

The access is usually good to excellent, although in peak periods the Internet does slow down considerably. If you have to wait more than a minute for pages to load, you might want to try again during a less crowded time.

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