Australia

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Australians are fond of different kinds of sport especially cricket, rugby, tennis, such types of racing as camel and cockroach. All these kinds of sport can drawl thousands of spectators to watch TV.

Two varieties of football in Australia can be played from March to September. One of the variants of football is known as soccer which must be differentiated from the Australian Rules footy.

The best players always play abroad and at the same time, they are united into Australia's national team called the Socceroos.

Australian Rules or Aussie Rules football is played as the rule in Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and Southern Australia. It's considered to be an anarchic, no-holds-barred brawl, related to the kind of Gaelic football which is known north of the Victorian borders as aerial ping pong. The ball is propelled with the help of all means. All players can't be sent off for their misconduct. This fact ensures a skillful lively confrontation. The whole game is played on the special cricket ground. The ball is similar to the balls used in American football or in rugby. The aim of the game is getting the ball exactly though the central upright for a goal and this fact is counted as six points. Four quarters with twenty minutes in each can be counted in the game. The clock must be stopped when the ball is out of play. That's why the quarters may go on a bit longer. Fans of Aussie Rules are well behaved and loyal. Most of the fans are children and women. Worth to say that there is no segregation of the fans at matches. Traditionally Victoria is the home of the game including ten AFL clubs out of the sixteen AFL clubs.

Rugby is a popular game in New South Wales or in Queensland. Rugby League can attract a great number of fans. Australians can excel with this game and especially with their national team which is called the Kangaroos. This team was World Champions from 1975 to 2008. The hugest Rugby League can be found in Sidney, where other NRL teams are based.

The league as well as the union rugby season is organized from April to September.

Cricket is played from October to March, and it is considered to be one of the best kinds of spectator sports where the sunshine and the beer are the favorite things for the crowd.

The Ashes is the international competition between England and Australia that arouses the greatest interest. Having been appeared more than130 years ago, this competition is perhaps one of the oldest sporting rivalries between nations.

Australia is the country of the vast wilderness of the bushes, the wild beauty of the coastline. Australia can afford such activities for travelers: diving, fishing, hiking, surfing. You can receive all the necessary information in the local tourist centers including maps of all national parks, of all walking trails and swimming holes.

Activities can be organized as part of excursions, including all supplied gear. In order to indulge in the adventure activity, you have to check the insurance cover. It's worth to know that the Australian interior and the coastline conceal a lot of dangers such as sunstroke or dehydration, currents, and large waves.

One of the energetic activities called bushwalking can be offered in remote places with a lack of surface water. Mountain biking is considered to be another popular activity in Australia.

Bushwalking is the type of self-sufficient hiking. You can organize bushwalking only for a day or you can plan this kind of activity for more days. It's considered to be one of the most famous national kinds of activity in Australia. You may find marked trails in all Australian parks.

Special bushwalking organizations or clubs dedicate all proper bushwalking tours.

One of the essential things you have to know is the organization of proper equipment for all sudden conditions you may be faced with during bushwalking. You have to carry the right walking map, to know all trail markers, and to stay on the right root. If you care about the safety of your journey, you have to inform someone concerning your future root. The walking speed on all formed tracks is about 3 or 4kph.

The most essential things are the right clothing adequate to weather conditions, the wide-brimmed hats for all travelers, plenty of freshwaters, and enough amount of food. Also, you have to make matches, lighters, a torch, the insect repellents, the firs-aid kid, toilet paper, the whistle, or the mirror for attracting attention if you're getting lost.

The longest tracks are situated in the south of Australia, in Tasmania. One of the most fabulous tracks is the Overland Track or the South Coast Track. Also, you can organize traveling to the Blue Mountains, two hours of ride from the well-known Sydney, to the Snowy Mountains or to the Grampians.

You can organize the walk into the 1000m-high basin of Wilpena Pound. Also, you can visit the Bibbulmun Track, the Aboriginal Trail through giant eucalypt woods, the Larapinta Trail, which can be found west of Alice Springs. The coastal strip of Queensland can offer a great number of opportunities for walking, for example, the Lamington area that is in the south, the northern Atherton Tablelands, the Hinchinbrook Island.

Open spaces of Alice Springs can offer such activities as hot-air-ballooning and camel trekking in the desert.

Australia can offer such tremendously famous kinds of activities like horseback riding, cycling. A great number of hostels prefer to rent bikes.

The wilderness of Australia nature gives perfect opportunities for motorbiking and off-road driving. Australia's wilderness is an ideal venue for extended off-road driving and motorbiking. The best places for these activities are considered to be Northern Queensland's Cape York or WA's Kimberley. Such places as the Outback Tracks, the Warburton Road, the Sandover Highway, the Tanami, the Oodnadatta, and Birdsville tracks can be driveable in the driest conditions, but on the perfectly prepared vehicles. To get to the tip of Queensland's Cape York Peninsula you require a 4WD or just the trail bike.

Most of the tourists don't associate hot Australia with such activity as skiing. But there are plenty of skiing resorts in the Australian Alps that are situated on the border of New South Wales and Victoria. The best winter resorts are Thredbo, Falls Creek Perisher, and Mount Hotham. Australian skiing is a bit limited in its season and can be organized from June till September. Australian skiing possesses the perfect value comparing to European prices. The slopes in this region are rather gentle and that's why cross-country skiing can be organized there perfectly.