Shamus the Sheep goes Walkabout - Part 4

G'Day mates, greetings from ‘Down Under'!

Today we arrived in Australia. It took us over 24 hours and we are getting closer and closer to our final destination, New Zealand.

Here is a map of Australia, our home for the next few weeks. New Zealand is made up of the two smaller islands that you can see on the right, just below Australia.

If you have an atlas why don't you try to work out how many miles it is from Scotland to Australia.

That is far too hard For Ewan and I!

We are now in the Southern Hemisphere, Britain is in the Northern Hemisphere. A new country means a new time zone again. This time we are eight hours ahead of Scotland, very confusing.

We were expecting it to be really cold when we arrived, as although July is Scotland's hottest month it is Australia's coldest. That is the best thing about travelling. You get to learn so many new facts. Secretly Ewan and I are hoping all of these new experiences will impress the female members of the flock when we get home. We didn't have much luck before!

The Earth takes 365 days (A Year) to move around the sun. This is how we can work out our calendar and divide it into four seasons, Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter. As we move around the sun during the year, the light that different places receive varies in length. In Summer in Scotland the sun reaches its highest point in the sky that it has all year. At this point in Australia the sun is at it's lowest point in the sky. That explains why on Christmas day we are all hoping for snow where as over here they are firing up the ‘Barbie' and taking a swim in the pool.

Everybody seems to be so excited to have arrived in Australia but between you and me I really have other things on my mind. Did you know that Australia is home to some of the most deadly snakes and spiders in the entire world? I even heard that there is a spider over here that hides under the rim of your toilet. Oh and of course not to forget the sharks and crocodiles. I have been doing lots of research on these but I will come back to that later. Lets just hope that we all make it to New Zealand in one piece! Yikes!

We did however meet one friendly local on the way to the hotel. There are kangaroos all over Australia. Some people even eat them for dinner. We were happy just to have our photo taken. Ewan asked if he could have a shot in this kangaroo's pouch but surprisingly enough he couldn't fit. Too many American burgers I told him and pouches are for baby kangaroos, not chubby sheep from Scotland.

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