Australian Pastimes

"Since the beginning of our modern history we have
been known to do anything for fun."

Australians are into just about anything and everything.

Pastimes is such a gentle word! "PASTIMES"! Hmm! Not really a suitable word when it comes to Aussies, we are a very competitive people and more or less "ATTACK" the time we spend enjoying ourselves. It has often been said that to the Aussie 'recreation' becomes 'wreck re-action', yeah that is about right.

220 years ago our country was discovered by the British.

Since that time we have grown from a penal colony and developed into a great commercial power and a sporting nation. We have built many beautiful cities and quaint country towns. Australians possess a great ability to enjoy themselves and few people have more fun than Aussies.

Boomerang throwing was invented by the Aboriginals centuries before the white man came and it is a great Aussie pastime today. It is a lot of fun because once you have learnt to throw it properly, you do not have to go and chase it? "It comes back on it's own."

The Boomerang is not the only thing the Aboriginal Australians invented.
Many believe the Australian Aboriginals invented FOOTBALL, 40,000 years ago. Now that is a long, long time! A game they called Marn Grook was played with 50 to 100 players. The ball was small in size like and an orange, and is made of opossum-skin, with the fur side outwards. "The game was somewhat similar to the current Aussie rules game. It was very rough and the players were barefooted and naked. I can here the girls saying "I'd like to see that"!
Well you can every weekend - Aussie rules is played all over the country. "DO THEY PLAY NAKED?" Go and watch a game!

Our summer team sports like cricket have a great following and you will see the teams all dressed in their whites playing cricket on ovals all over the country and if we do not play we love to watch and applaud our favourite teams. Then there is tennis, couples smashing the white or yellow ball from one side of the net to the other, double's or singles, day and night. Tennis is played in just about every city or town in Australia.

And of course we LOVE our horses. Horses have been the backbone of a growing nation and very impoortant over the last 200 years. Little wonder then that we love to race them as well.

We are also a surfing nation; we love swimming and diving, surfboard or kneeboard riding, surf-skiing, wind-sailing, kite-surfing or just spending time on the beach with mates and friends.

Other pastimes like fishing, has a tremendous following and there are fishing tackle shops everywhere. Great fishing spots are still to be found and all year round you will find kids on the wharfs, mates out rock fishing or sitting in the tinny (small steel boat) on a quite river, right up to those that enjoy the big boat off-shore Marlin or catching sail-fish.

The Aussie weekends are spent doing any number of pastimes, dancing, gardening, hiking, scuba diving, horse riding or just spending time with friends enjoying a glass of wine or a beer around the BBQ.

Caravanning is a great interest to some. We travel in all manner of motor-homes, flat-tops, pop-ups, trailers you pull, done up vans, old buses all decked out right up to ultra modern caravans with all the features costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We have people of all ages travelling the country, one group is known as the grey army. "I saw on a van the other day with a slogan stating, "Looking for adventure before dementure"

Australians are also very much into family time, spending time at the zoo, aquariums, theme parks or enjoying a coffee at the local café, they even enjoy thong throwing or volley ball competitions on the beach.

No matter where you are in the country there will be Austalians gathering together, celebrating with food, wine, sport even the weather, dance, music, aboriginal culture and much more.

As part of the Aussie summer season the city of Sydney puts on a major Mardi Gras every year, and thousands of people from all over the world attend.

We can not leave out our world famous pastimes like the News Year's celebrations, with our famous fire works displays which is broadcast all around the globe.