G’day mate! As you’ve most likely guessed, I’m greeting
you from the Land Down Under – where people pay with plastic money, some fish are over
300 million years old, and cockroach racing is a big deal. You’d better listen up or else my friend
the drop bear will find you (if only it were real). 1. To get an idea of how huge Australia is, just
imagine this – there’s a cattle ranch, called Anna Creek Station, that’s bigger
than Israel! With an area of 5,851,000 acres, it’s the
largest working cattle ranch in the world, and it’s seven times larger than America’s
biggest, located in Texas. 2. You might have seen a lot of weird eBay listings,
but one guy from Australia outweirded them all. In 2006, he tried to sell New Zealand at a
starting price of less than a cent. It escalated quickly, but when the price reached
$2100 with 22 bidders, eBay closed the auction. They explained that a nation of 5 million
was definitely not for sale. 3. If you’re over 18 years old, then you’re
legally old enough to vote in Australia. But missing a vote without a good reason will
cost you anywhere from $20 to $50 (20 is for first-timers and if you do it again it rises
to 50). If you refuse to pay the fine, be prepared
to say goodbye to your driver’s license. 4. What does the Sydney Opera House look like
to you? A bunch of sails? In fact, the architect who designed it was
inspired when eating an orange! If you put together the segments, it would
be a perfect sphere. Danish architect, Jørn Utzon, never got to
see his masterpiece completed since he moved back to his country when financing was suspended
after nine years of working on the project. 5. There are 150 random giant sculptures across
the country. Giant statues of mushrooms, acorns, ants,
boxing crocodile and what not, are placed along roads to attract tourists. It’s hard to resist the temptation of a
giant cheese statue that was made for selfies, you know. Some people even deliberately go on road trips
to take pictures of all the big things of Australia, as they’re called. 6. Normally, road signs give you precautions
or inform you about something. In Australia, some roads are so long and boring
that they put signs there to entertain drivers. They can contain images of rich local fauna,
or trivia questions to keep you alert, and possibly even save your life in the fatigue
zone. 7. What could even be better than trivia at saving
your life? A seat belt, of course. In 1970, the Australian state of Victoria
became the first on the planet to introduce the compulsory seat belt law for drivers and
front-seat passengers. 8. Americans were the first to patent the UGG
brand, but the legendary boots actually come from Australia! Farmers and peasants have been wearing sheepskin
turned inside out as boots since the beginning of the 20th century. The locals call them “very ugly boots”
and wear them both outside and inside. Why inside? Because when it’s cold outside, the houses
are really cold too, so UGGS can help you keep warm. 9. Since 1988, Australian money has been made
out of polymer, a special kind of plastic. Australia was the first country in the world
to introduce plastic money. It’s more practical since it stays in good
condition for a longer time than paper banknotes. One cool fact about plastic bills here is
that if you tear a ten-dollar bill into two parts, you can use each half as a five-dollar
bill. 10. Australia is such a great place to be, that
at least 70 tourists overstay their visas every week. According to the Australian Department of
Home Affairs, there are at least 62,000 people who came to the country for a vacation and
stayed forever. It might be the really good salaries and social
support, the striking beauty of the country, or something in the water that makes them
choose Australia over their home countries. 11. In Australia, “Rent a Grandma” services
are pretty popular. What’s the difference between a regular
nanny and a professional grandma? The first will take care of your kids, and
the second will take care of everything in your household, just like a real grandma would. They babysit, pet sit, cook like chefs, help
arranging events, and can even be your personal assistants. And, they come with a 60 day guarantee period,
so if something goes wrong, you can get another grandma. 12. The super famous Australian name “Kylie”
comes from the name of an Aboriginal Noongar hunting stick; something like a boomerang. It became popular in the 1970s, thanks to
local writer Kylie Tennant, who was actually called Kathleen but used her childhood nickname,
Kylie, as her pen-name. By the way, the most popular girl’s name
in Australia for the last three years is Charlotte, inspired by the daughter of Prince William. 13. Australia is home to the longest golf course
on the planet. Nullarbor Links is an 18-hole, par 72 golf
course that’s 850 miles long! It stretches along the two southern coast
states and was opened in 2009. 14. The first police force Down Under was made
up entirely of convicts! In 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip decided the
country needed someone to help fight the growing crime, so he created the Night Watch. 12 of the best behaved convicts were selected
to patrol the settlement. A few other convicts became members of the
Sydney Foot Police, and in 30 years, there were over 60 constables in Sydney, most of
them previous convicts. 15. There was a fun incident at the official opening
ceremony of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932. Francis De Groot, who was a retired cavalry
officer, decided to steal the show and sliced through the ceremonial ribbon with his sword
before the New South Wales Premier, Jack Lang. As a result, De Groot was charged for the
damaged ribbon, which had to be retied, and the poor guy was taken to a mental hospital. 16. The Australian national soccer team set a
world record in 2001 when it beat American Samoa 31 – 0. It was the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying
game, and brought the Aussies the largest-ever victory in an international football match. 17. Even though it’s really easy to find kangaroo
meat in supermarkets and restaurants across the country, it’s not what Australians eat
all the time, despite the common stereotype. In fact, around 3,300 tons of it, or 70% of
the product, is exported to 60 countries around the world. And, you can stick that fact in your pouch. 18. The wombat is the only animal in the world
that has cube-shaped poo. Some experts believe it’s used to mark territory,
since it doesn’t roll away. Others believe it’s because of the dry environment
they live in. I think it’s because it might have a square
shaped colon, but what do I know… 19. In Australia, you can find the only living
specimen from the Triassic period, over 350 million years ago. It’s the lung fish; the only fish that can
breathe air with a single lung in dry periods, when there isn’t enough water in the streams. It hasn’t changed much in the last 110 million
years. Kinda like root beer. 20. The famous Australian drop bear is actually
just a tale for tourists! The predatory, huge version of the koala won’t
attack you during your journey, so you don’t have to put a fork in your hair, spread Vegemite
behind your ears, or speak with an Australian accent (all of these tips are believed to
help scare the monster away). 21. In 1979, the town of Esperance, in Western
Australia, fined NASA $400 for littering in a public park. Debris from the orbital space station, Skylab,
happened to land there. NASA refused to pay the fine for over 30 years. 22. There’s a fire in New South Wales that’s
been burning for over 5,500 years. It’s a coal fire hidden 100 feet beneath
Mount Wingen. “Wingen” is what the aborigines called
“fire”, and they used it for cooking, warmth, and so on. 23. Every year, the cockroach racing world championship
takes place in Brisbane. The first one took place in 1982, and ever
since, it’s become a big hit. If you ever decide to take part in it, you
can either bring your own roach, or buy one directly at the event venue. That just bugs me. 24. Australians tend to invent nicknames for everything! “Aussie” which is short for Australian,
is what they call themselves. And here are some more interesting words:
brissie is Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, footie is football, g’day is good day, arvo
is afternoon, and Barbie is barbecue! Keep it in mind when you visit “Straya”
(yeah, that’s what they call their own country). 25. Australia could’ve been Dutch! Dutchman Abel Tasman discovered Australia
in 1642, over a hundred years before James Cook in 1770. However, the British took over the land, and
decades later, New Holland became Terra Australis, and then Australia. Abel Tasman got the island nation Tasmania
named after him. Which of the facts sounds like the craziest
to you? Let me know down in the comments! If you learned something new today, then give
this video a like and share it with a friend. But – hey mate! – don’t go down under,
or anywhere else just yet! We have over 2,000 cool videos for you to
check out. All you have to do is pick the left or right
video, click on it, and enjoy! Stay on the Bright Side of life!
