Australia--Do you live or have you visited?

Do you live in Australia?...where?....what do you do for fun?...what is your job?...Have you visited Australia?...Why?....What did you do? I am writing a paper on Australia for a class, and would like some first hand experiences? I have checked every website? and while they are helpful..I would like to know what you think.

I live in Australia
About 1 hours drive from Melbourne
It is a great place to live
We like to spend a lot of our time at the beach
We also take loads of holidays around the country because it is so big
It isn't really like Steve Irwin makes it out to be
There are no kangas in the backyard
Koalas aren't in the trees
and we dont all say g'day
Our jobs are the same as the rest of the world

We still have teachers etc.
We have lots of construction workers and miners

We also have a new government

It used to be a great spot for R&R! I traveled there in 1969 from Vietnam. Spent a week in Sydney, had fun! Shockingly clean! It may have been the cleanest city I've ever visited and the people were extremely friendly. They put up with a lot of crap from GI's visiting their country, and they didn't seem to mind our shortcomings!!!!

I have never been to Australia but I have a pretty good notion what it must be like. It has to be quite overwhelming in terms of space, 'cause that thing is huge. There are more kangaroos than people, more than 50 % of its territory (the whole inner region) is a desert. They are very close to the British culture, except that they are kind of a more outdoors culture (in England they barely see the sun). Most of them love nature I guess, because it's quite an exotic country, and it's close to other exotic countries like Papua New Guinea and the south pacific. That's why they like barbecues and they like to travel a lot (I met a lot of backpacking Australians in Europe). Rugby is the national sport I believe. The digeridoo is an australian musical instrument that produces a very nice, deep, psychedelic sound. They produce good electronic music as well. Well, that's pretty much what I know about Australia. And of course, Kylie Minogue.

I live in Australia in Sydney.
Australia is pretty diverse.
We have all kinds of climates/ cultures/ subcultures/ trends and interests.

I live pretty close to the beach and the national parks, and always have, so we do a lot of swimming, both at the beach and in rivers. But some people might not see the coast until they grow up - or ever

BBQ's are pretty much a must for us, especially with the summer coming up. Either just by ourselves for dinner after work, or inviting a bunch of friends and neighbors over for a couple of drinks, heaps of food and a chat.

Lots of our friends have pools and all the kids hang out in the pool only jumping out to eat or sleep.

It has been really hot here the last couple of weeks and the beaches are packed. But so are all the shops becasue the christmas sales are on (and it's usually much cooler in the shopping centres than outside).

Kangaroos........ we dont see them really.
unless you drive out to the country
They arent anywhere near as previlant as it might sound from websites or literature - at least not in the cities.
and Sydney is a city - a pretty big sprawly one.

DO you have a question for your paper? or is it just a general "write about Australia" kind of thing?