Growing up in Australia

Following a talk with dad, I'm posting a snapshot of my childhood in Australia. It's not a comparison with anywhere else - I moved here when I was 5 and dont recall much before then. It's just a look back at things I've done while growing up. Hopefully, for any children who read this that may be moving to Australia, it will give them a little insight into what it's like here.

For the record, I've just turned 17, am currently in year 11 at school and also doing a school based apprenticeship (day release & weekends). I've lived in Melbourne, Cairns, Townsville and the Lockyer Valley.

A

Air cadets

ALEXANDER THE GREAT: 2000 YEARS OF TREASURES at the Australian Museum in Sydney

Aquariums

Ammunition Storage at Charters Towers

Amathyst - fossicking off the Duncan Rd

AFL

A-League

Arcades

Aboriginal Rock art

Aviation Museums

Astronomy - Brian Cox Live

Audience Participation

B

Barista Traing Course

Beaches

Birds

Body Boarding

Bob - @Bobj

Bouncing

Bungee Jumping

Banana Boat

BBQ'ing

Bowling

C

Cable Skiing

Cable cars

Camping

Campfires

Canoeing

Chainsaw - undertook a Chainsaw Training Course with dad, before being unleashed on our land

Cinema

Citizenship

Climbing

Climbing (into) trees

Circus

Camels

Cooking with Miguel Maestre

Collecting - Rocks, Gems, Minerals, Fossils

D

Digging the paydirt

Dresssing up

Dining out DIY

Drone Flying

E

Emergency Response 

Exploring

Endevour River - following in Captain Cook's footsteps

Fishing

Feeding the Fish

Flying over the Whitsundays

Feeding the Crocs

Ferry across Sydney Harbour

Funfair

Footy

Friends

Fossil Prepping 

Fossil Hunting

Fairy Penguins at Phillip Island

Fencing - living on acerage with a variety of animals, I've become quite adept at fencing

G

Gaol (Old Melbourne)

Gardening

Garnets - Fossicking for Garnets off the Plenty Highway in the NT

Ghost Towns

Gorges - Katherine & Cobbold

Grumpy old man - Dad not too happy after I'd tipped the boat (twice)

H

Hanging Rock (Picnic at)

Herding the Flock

Herberton Historic Village

HMAS Cairns - Open day at the Naval base

Holidays - Bali, Singapore, Hong Kong, USA to name a few

Horse Riding

I

Indoors - I do all the things any other teenager would do, but i won't bore you with photos of me playing consoles, on my phone, reading, watching netflix, studying etc,

J

Jamie Oliver - A cooking course I did at Ipswich

Jobs - Part time job at the Fish Inn in Townsville & now work part time as an apprentice Chef in the Lockyer Valley  

K

Kangaroo

Karate

Kayaking

L

Lapidary 

Learning to Drive

M

Museums - lots of them (dad's quite a fan) 

Military Museums

Musicals - King Kong, Evil Dead, Miss Saigon, Mama Mia

Music Festivals - Adele, Coldplay, Chainsmokers, Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, Bernard Fanning, Vance Joy to name a few

Mine Tours

N

Netflix - like any teenager, no photo required

O

Observatories - Siding Spring Observatory, Parkes Radio Telescopes, Chillagoe & Charleville

On Parade

P

Paddle Steamers at Exchuca

Pets

Pools

Pool

Q

Quad Biking

R

Ravenwood Mining remains

Relaxing

Red Centre - Alice Springs

Rugby League

Riding my bike

Road Trips

S

Scouts

Segways

Ships

Snakes

Snorkelling

Steering boats

Sunsets - Mindil Beach

Swings

School

Swimming in Mataranka Therman Springs

T

Theme Parks

Titanic The Exhibition

Tiger Cubs

Trains 

Tree Top walks

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs - Melbourne Museum

U

Uranium mine at Mary Kathleen

Underground Hosiptal at Mt Isa

V

Volcanic Laver Tubes at Undara

W

Waterfalls

WaterParks

Weightlifing (rock)

Wrecks - outback truck

World War II guns - Darwin

X

X is always a struggle, so an anecdote will have to suffice. On one of our roadtrips, we were stoppping in a Caravan Park in Darwin. There was a zipline in the park. I was struggling to reach it/get it to move, so my older brother Mat said 'step aside, Ill show you how it's done' 
Which he did - until about half way across when he fell off. One X-Ray later, the diagnosis of broken arm was confirmed. 

Y

Yabby fossils - digging for

Z

Zoos - Melbourne, Sydney, Australia Zoo, Currumbin, Wildlife Wonderland, Singapore to name a few