[ Home | Portuguese Version ]

The objective of this page is to relate the experiences of a Brazilian student who travelled to Australia in 1998. Comparisons between both countries and hints about some places to visit. The site is divided in pages about Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, tourism and some useful links. This page describes Wagga Wagga.

WELCOME TO AUSTRALIA

Australian National Anthem

Australian all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our Australia Home is girt by sea.
Our land abounds in Nature's gifts
Our beauty rich and rare;
In hist'ry's page, let ev'ry stage
ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
"ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR."

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
"ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR."

I represented Rotary Club of Interlagos - Sao Paulo - SP - Brazil in Wagga Wagga - NSW - Australia as a Cultural Ambassador doing a 3-month English Course.

It is a long journey from Sao Paulo to Wagga Wagga and the cities in the way are:

Sao Paulo - Buenos Aires - Rio Gallegos - Auckland - Sydney - Wagga Wagga.

Auckland, New Zealand

The total time of the flight was more than 20 hours. The departure in Sao Paulo was on September, 3rd afternoon and the arrival in Wagga Wagga was on 5th afternoon. Australia and Brazil have 13 hours of difference in time.

About Wagga Wagga

Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia

Wagga Wagga is a small city in the New South Wales State with 50,000 inhabitants. It is located in the middle of the way to the 3 main Australian cities: Sydney (6 hours by train or bus), Canberra (3 hours) and Melbourne (6 hours). Its main river is the Murrumbidgee River.

Despite the fact that is a small city, there are many international students at Charles Sturt University, considered one of the best Australian universities. The city is very clean and organised. Not far from city there are some big houses in a landscape full of fields, cattle and sheep.

ELS Language Centres - Wagga Wagga is part of the Charles Sturt University, and attends students from several countries. I met people from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Germany, France, Turkey and Denmark.

The course at ELS focuses on learning English through Australian studies. The points studied include Aboriginal culture, Australian fauna and flora, geographic and historic aspects, Australian identity and tourism in Australia. In addition, there were some elective classes like conversation and pronunciation.

The influence of the Australia Homestay program in learning English is very important because there are opportunities to practice the language skills in a real situation. Travelling is also an excellent option.

What is cool

I joined many activities with the school, Rotary Club Wagga Wagga, my host family and some friends. Some interest activities were:

Visits to Aboriginal organisations like Wiradjuri Land Council.
Going to the City Library, Art Gallery and Zoo.
Visits to RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) base, where there is a school for technicians, and Buckman Laboratories.
Reading Capricornia, a book written by Xavier Herbert in 1937, an interesting novel talking about Aboriginal culture, the racism against halfcastes and beautiful descriptions about Australia's landscape.
Frequent Rotary meetings at Commercial Club.
Many barbecues (BBQ) that is a typical Australian way of life.
Pubs, of course!

FastCounter by LinkExchange