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TIMESAVER CUSTOMS & LIFESTYLE IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD Things to try AUSTRALIA

Bizarre festivals
1 Look at the pictures. Which of these unusual or crazy festivals and events in Australia do they show?

A ........... 1
Two up in Kalgoorie is a betting competition.
One person spins two old pennies, and throws them up
into the air. The person, called the spinner, announces
whether the coins are showing heads* or tails*. If there
is one of each, the spinner throws the coins again. If
you are in the crowd, you give the spinner some money
and guess whether the next spin of the coins will be
heads or tails. You will get your money back and the
same amount as a prize if you are right, or lose your
money if you are wrong.

B ...........
The Santa Claus Pub Crawl takes place on the last
Friday before Christmas. All participants have to be
dressed in full Santa outfits, complete with beards,
and have a drink at different pubs.
2
C ...........
Every year, on January 26, at the Story Bridge Hotel
in Brisbane, Australians celebrate their national day –
by racing cockroaches at the Roach Races.

D ...........
The Darwin Beer Can Regatta on Mindil Beach in
Darwin is an annual event. It began in the 1970s as a
way to clean up empty beer cans* on the beach, and
has now become a huge tourist attraction. Competitors
raise money for charity through races on their boats –
built from empty beer cans of course!

2 In which pictures can you find examples of:

a coin a pub a beard a can a cockroach

4 3

22 TIMESAVER: Customs & Lifestyle in the English-speaking World © Scholastic Ltd. PHOTOCOPIABLE
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TIMESAVER CUSTOMS & LIFESTYLE IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD Things to try AUSTRALIA

3 6 Read about another strange event and write the correct numbers on the yabbies' backs in the picture.

The Yabbie Race Festival

Date: The first week of August
Place: Charleville, Queensland
Event: The Charleville Camel, Donkey and
Yabbie Race Festival
At this annual two-day festival, you can bet on camel
races and even volunteer to be a jockey in a donkey
race. But the most exciting event is the yabbie race.
A yabbie is a small creature, a bit like a lobster*.
It has one huge claw* and a hard shell*. It usually
lives in water, which makes the idea of a yabbie race
even stranger.
pour water on the cloth so that the yabbies can
feel more comfortable. The crowd begins to cheer
as the yabbies are put into the middle of the cloth.
The race is on! Which yabbie will crawl to the edge
of the cloth first?
Yabbies 1, 5 and 7 decide to go to sleep in the
water. Yabbie number 9 gets a little further before
he decides to give up. Yabbies 2 and 6 seem to
be fighting – or are they kissing? It's hard to be
certain, but one thing is sure – they aren't going
to continue either.

Before the race begins the yabbies, who are given
interesting names, are introduced to the spectators.
Each yabbie has a number painted on its shell. The
spectators then 'buy' the yabbies.
Now it's time for the big event. The organizers place
a large cloth on the ground, with a small circle drawn
in the middle of it. Because it's usually very hot, they
Yabbie number 8 was making good progress – but
now he's crawling back to the water. He's not actually
going in the right direction at all. The crowd is
cheering loudly for yabbie number 3, who is nearly at
the finishing line – before he decides to take a rest.
In the end, yabbie number 4, with its slow but
steady crawl, won the race.

4 Find these words in the text.

1 people who watch an event .........................................

2 to move slowly .........................................

3 someone who rides an animal in a competition .........................................

4 the hard part on the back of an insect like a yabbie .........................................

5 to take a chance on winning or losing money by making a prediction about a competition .........................................

Personal project
What's the strangest event you have ever been to, or heard of?
* What is it in your language?
Look up some facts about it on the internet to tell the class.
Find out!

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