Highland Warriors: Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Australia

1. Australia has been inhabited for more than 42,000 years by Indigenous Australians. However, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there.

2. The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day.

3. Our flag -

4. Our Coat of Arms -

5. Our Capitial City is Canberra.

6. Our population - 20,264,082 (July 2006 est.)

7. Our National Anthem is Advance Australia Fair.

8. We remember our heroes on ANZAC Day

9. We are a culturally diverse society

10. Our currency is the Australian dollar.

11. We are a great sporting nation - swimming, cricket, rugby league, rugby union, netball, basketball etc etc.

12. We love being outdoors -

13. We are the lucky country!! And I am proud to be an Australian!!!

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me.

Happy Australia Day

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #14

Thirteen Aussie Slang words and their meanings

1. airy fairy - vague

2. barney - an argument or fight

3. cactus - something has had it, doesn't work anymore, or someone in a lot of trouble

4. dial - face

5. flat out - going at full speed, as fast as possible, or busy

6. ga-ga - to be mad, loony, or insane

7. hum dinger - an excellent something. Something is a real hum dinger

8. jiffy - a very short time. To do something in a jiffy is also instantaneous

9. knee high to a grasshopper - very short

10. Lucky Country - Australia, THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! (OK, so I am biased.)

11. molly dook - a natural left handed person

12. no worries! - typical Aussie attitude that everything will be OK, there will be no problems

13. servo - a service station, where you purchase petrol or gasoline

Enjoy your Thursday!!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #13

Thirteen Things from the The Book of Guiness World Records 2007

1. Highest Box Office Film Gross - opening day. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (USA 2005) took a record $50,013,859 on its opening day in the USA on 19 May 2005. It was screened in a total of 3,661 US cinemas.

2. Largest Igloo - The largest self-supporting domed igloo had an internal diameter of 7.36m (24ft 2in) and an internal height of 3.81m (12ft 6in). It was constructed at the power station in Quebec, Canada, and was completed on 22 February 2005 after 18 days of work by a team of 29.

3. Most kisses in a minute - Grant Denyer (Australia) was kissed by 62 different people in one minute on the set of the Sunrise TV show in Sydney, Australia, to celebrate Guinness World Records Day.

4. Most heads shaved in 24 hours - A total of 23,069 heads were completely shaved in 24 hours at several different locations around South Africa to set a Guinness World Record for the CANSA Shavathon.

5. Rarest Element - Astatine is the rarest element in the Earth's crust, with around 25g (0.9oz) occurring naturally.

6. Deepest Valley - The Yarlung Zangbo Valley in Tibet is, on average, 5,000m (16,400ft) deep. Its deepest point has been measured at 5,382m (17,657ft).

7. Fastest Lava Flow - Nyiragongo, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, erupted on 10 January 1977. The resulting lava, which burst through fissures o the volcano's flank, travelled at speeds of p to 60 km/h (40mph).

8. Most trees destroyed by storms - A total 270,000,000 trees were felled or split by storms in France on 26-27 December 1999.

9. Longest Family Tree - The lineage of K'ung Ch'iu or Confucius (551-479BC) can be traced back further than that of any other family. His great-great-great-great grandfather Kung Chia is known from the 8th century BC. Kung Chia has a total of 86 lineal descednants.

10. Longest journey by Tractor - Vasilii Hazkevich (Russia) covered 21.1999km (13,172 miles) on an unmodified tractor from 25 April to 6 August 2005, starting and finishing in Vladimir, Russia.

11. Most people crammed into a new mini - On 20 August 2004, 21 people squeezed into a standard new Mini Cooper at the Galea Music Club in Athens, Greece.

12. Most Hugs - Brett Sharp (USA) hugged 4,135 different people in 24 hours, starting on 4 July 2005 at the Salem Fair, Salem, Virginia, USA.

13. Most spoons balanced on the face - Tim Johnston (USA) was able to balance 15 stainless-steel spoons on his face (one on each ear, two on each cheek, three on his chin, two on his lips, one on his nose and three on his forehead) and hold them for 30 seconds at Havens High School, Piedmont, California, USA, on 28 May 2004.

There are some interesting World Records - and some I would have to question why and how did they work out they could do some of these things??!!

Happy Thursday

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #12

Thirteen pictures of Flowers in our Garden

Nito (hubby) decided to take some pictures of flowers over Christmas - so I've decided to showcase them - they are from our garden and Nitos mothers garden. Don't know the name of them all, but that's not important. It's important in life to stop and smell the roses and take in natures beauty!!

1.

10.

11.

12.

13.

I'm sure as the year goes on I will be showcasing more pictures.

Happy Thursday!!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Thursday Thirteen #11

Thirteen Useless pieces of information - taken from 'The Most Amazing Book of Useless Information of them All' by Noel Botham

1. The 'dot' over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.

2. The average woman uses up approximately her height in lipstick every five years.

3. All 13 minerals necesary for human life can be found in alcohol beverages.

4. The Earth rotates on its axis more slowly in March than it does in September.

5. The number of births in India each year is greater than the entire population of Australia.

6. It is estimated that, at any one time, 0.7% of the worlds's population are drunk.

7. The biggest hog ever recorded was a creature named Big Boy, who weighed in at 1904lbs.

8. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

9. Because he felt such an important tool should be public property, English chemist John Walker never patented his invention - matches.

10. Coffee trees are self-pollinating.

11. Rice is the staple food of more than one-half of the world's population.

12. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

13. The man who opened the world's first movie theatre in Paris said, 'The cinema is an invention without any commercial future'

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Thursday Thirteen #10

Thirteen Places I would like to visit (in no particular order) with Nito - my wonderful husband:

1. Paris - the Eiffel Tower

2. Machu Picchu - Lost city of the Incas

3. Giza & Luxor - pyramids, temples and monuments

4. Dubai - modern cities and the desert all in one trip

5. New York City - Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Broadway

6. Vatican City - The Basilica of St Peter

7. The Greek Islands - 14 day cruise.

8. Copenhagen - The worlds oldest monarchy and our very own Princess Mary, The Little Mermaid, Viking Ship museum

9. Niagara Falls - nature at it's wildest

10. Vietnam - historical and cultural villages

11. The Cook Islands - rest and relaxation

12. The Great Wall of China - to keep the rabbits out!!

13. Several cities in Italy - Florence, Naples, Bologna and Milan.

More than 13? Difficult to keep to 13 with a whole wide world of wonderful places to visit. I'm sure the kids will want to come too - of course they can!!

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Thursday, December 07, 2006

Thursday Thirteen #9

Thirteen Christmas decorations we have in our house
1. Christmas Tree - we have gone for a real Christmas Tree this year - a Norfolk Pine - small but it will grow.
2. Blue baubles and tinsel on our Christmas Tree.
3. Coloured fairy lights strung across the lounge and dining room.
4. Merry Christmas hanging on our wall.
5. Snowflake hanging from the fairy lights.
6. Angel on top of our Christmas Tree.
7. Candy Canes hanging on our Christmas Tree.
8. Flashing Merry Christmas sign on our kitchen bench.
9. A wooden Christmas Tree hanging on our wall painted in blue, red, yellow and white with little tinel decorations glued on it - Ballerina made this a few years ago.
10. 4 Christmas stockings hanging from our TV unit.
11. 5 Lamettas hanging in 5 different door ways.
12. A big gold bell (paper) hanging in the kitchen.
13. Many other Christmassy things dangling from our ceiling in the kitchen, dining room, lounge room and family room.