200412magazine_pedode.com 2.2 MB Jan 08 2014 02:06:50 PM
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200412magazine_pedode.com 2.2 MB Jan 08 2014 02:06:50 PM
December 2004 GURU Radio English PLACES of Interest in the Aussie Outback The state of Victoria became a wealthy part of Australia back in the 1850s. Gold was discovered and thousands of people flocked to Victoria to look for more gold. Many of them found gold but even more did not! Visitors can still see many of the historical buildings from that 'goldrush' era in many of the small towns near Ballarat and Bendigo in central Victoria. Old buildings in Australia are seen as important and they are often preserved for future generations to see. This old building is now a modern bank. Speed is the name of a small town about 300km north-west of Melbourne. It is in a wheat growing area of Victoria called the Mallee. As drivers approach the town they are greeted with this rather odd sign. SPEED - Please Slow Down. Can you also see the speed restriction sign (80km per hour) in the background plus the huge wheat silo beside the road? In New South Wales buildings from a bygone era can still be seen. This solitary church (left) is in Silverton, about 100km north of Broken Hill. I wonder if it looked like this 150 years ago? And what about this old farm house complete with a windmill in the back garden? Isn't it fantastic? Windmills are used for pumping water out of the ground and are almost synonymous with country Australia. Caravan parks are usually above ground. People love to camp under the trees and enjoy the clear night skies as they sit around the campfire. However in Coober Pedy there is an underground caravan park. We could hardly believe our eyes when we saw the sign on the roadside. It was true. At this very unusual caravan park, campers set up their tents underground. Coober Pedy is very cold in the winter months and very, very hot in the summer months. Temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius are not unusual and sometimes for weeks and weeks on end. Besides camping underground at Riba's Caravan Park, proprietors Rick and Barbara, provide underground tours of their opal mine and explain all about mining for opals. It was a great place to stay and so very, very different. They even showed us their new house - their underground house! While driving on long, Australian country roads, buildings seem to just appear out of nowhere. It may be a service station like in this photograph, or perhaps a pub. This is quite common and is often a welcome sight on a long and straight desert highway. They sell petrol of course but also snacks, souvenirs and items of clothing. It may be 250km or more before the next service station so travellers usually stop and rest, and stock up while they can. Rockets in the outback? Yes there are! The town of Woomera in South Australia was a rocket launching site in the 1950s and 1960s. The Australian and British governments tested rockets from Woomera. Some were successful and went into outer space and some just crashed into the great Aussie outback. Here are two of those rockets that didn't go too far. It can be seen on the roadside at William Creek. Contents December 2004 Inside Front Cover: Places of Interest in the Aussie Outback 1 Contents Letter from KGRE's Manager 2 Listeners' Letters 3 Idioms Inggris Study Tips 4 - 5 6 - 7 Capt. Kang Guru in Oz 8 9 10 Oz-Indo Connection 11 12 Different Pond Different Fish AusAID in Indonesia Indo/Aussie Idols Kang Guru Connection Club Kang Guru In The Classroom 'NEW Magazine Page' Competition KGRE - Presenter Profile Cover: Off Road in the Aussie outback with Capt. Kang Guru and his friends, Ron and Deli. Back Cover: Capt. Kang Guru sees amazing things in the outback!! Kang Guru's logo represents the most commonly found kangaroos in Australia. They are the red kangaroo, often called Big Red, and the grey kangaroo. Kang Guru IALF - Bali PO Box 3095 Denpasar 80030, Bali, Indonesia Phone : (0361) 225243 Fax : (0361) 263509 email : kangguru@ialf.edu website : www.kangguru.org Kang Guru magazine is published in April, August and December each year. Kang Guru magazines are free and should not be sold for profit. If you would like your own FREE copy then write to KGRE now and order it. Welcome to this December 2004 magazine from KGRE. Ogi, Darmika, Alwi, and I are sure that you will enjoy reading the information in this edition and, as usual, we welcome any comments you may have. Please keep sending us your ideas and suggestions. We do read every letter we receive and we do appreciate all of your writing efforts. In this magazine I tell you about one of Australia's most popular recreational activities - camping. Read all the news about my holiday in Australia earlier this year. It was a fantastic trip through the Aussie outback. Learn a little more about the Aussie outback, the sights, the happenings and places of interest all the way from Melbourne to Darwin. There is great news from Australia! AusAID is planning to increase their support for KGRE over the next 5 years. This means exciting developments for both KGRE and for you. For example, beginning in 2005, magazines will be bigger and better. Check page 10 for more details on this. Read further details about the other planned changes and additions for KGRE. As far as AusAID projects are concerned, you can find out more about their work in NTT, Java and Sumatra. It is important to understand that AusAID's work in Indonesia is always carried out with the full support of the Indonesian government and local Indonesian partners. Other regular features are back such as Different Pond Different Fish, Idioms Inggris, Learning Tips, Indonesian and Australian Music plus a big favourite, Listeners' Letters. As I said earlier, we all hope you like this magazine and we wish you Forum Page Competition for January and February 2005 The new styled FORUM was introduced on the KGRE website in mid 2004. Over 500 people have already registered to use the FORUM. If you have already posted your profile then KGRE asks you to check the personal information that you gave. Is your 'personal' information complete? Is it informative? Is it interesting? You can always change your profile whenever you want to - UPDATE your Profile. If you have not joined the FORUM yet then simply POST your Profile. Remember to complete your personal information fully. In early March 2005, KGRE will look at all the profiles posted by FORUM members. The most interesting, unique and informative Profile Posting will win the Grand Prize of an FM/AM Walkman cassette player complete with a selection of Aussie music and KGRE cassettes. There will also be 5 winners of mini FM/AM radios from In this magazine, this computer icon means that more information on that particular article can be found on the KGRE website.This radio icon means that more can be heard about that story on KGRE radio programs over the next few months. Listeners' Letters A Loyal Listener to KGRE How do you do? My name is Sukar and I am 17 years old and a student of senior high school. I have been your listener since I was in junior high school. I am interested in you because you have made such efforts which can make my English better, especially my listening skills. By listening to you every Sunday on RRI Surabaya I can hear directly how native speakers of English speak their language. Of course there are many other ways to know how to speak English such as watching television, listening to music in English etc. but they are rather difficult for me who has just begun studying English. By listening to you regularly I can improve my ability in speaking English step by step. And now I am rather confident to write a letter in English. It is the first time for me. What do you think about it? I hope you can help me to correct it, especially the grammar. Besides that I would like to know how to get a scholarship to study in Australia. Do you have any information about it? M. Sukar Tuban - EAST JAVA We are so happy that you listen so often to KGRE and that we are helping you with your English. It is our pleasure. At the moment Australian government scholarships (ADS) are for post-graduate studies and not for high school students. If you would like to get a scholarship in the future then make sure that you prepare yourself NOW! Contact KGRE for more information about ADS. Using KGRE material I would like to say thank you very much since your KG Reading Class Set has helped us a lot in our teaching-learning process. Due to the new 2004 English Curriculum, English teachers in Pasuruan Regency are going to compose an English Module. But the problem is we lack listening materials. Fortunately some of your articles suit the topics from our curriculum. Is it alright if we include your articles in our module and to be used throughout the Regency? Of course we will state that it is taken from Kang Guru Radio English because we will rewrite your articles and modify some of the activities to meet the needs of the students in our module. Thank you very much and I'm looking forward to your reply. Evin Nurmaida SMK Negeri 1 Purwosari - EAST JAVA KGRE would be very happy if you would like to use some of our materials in your modules. If possible, send some examples of your activites to KGRE as they will be interesting to look at. Good luck with the new curriculum too and thanks for your interest in KGRE. 2 From Muh.Jasmin in Berau - East Kalimantan English at University I would like to say thanks very much to you for this chance to send you this email. I'm Rudianto Sitanggang from Samosir in North Sumatra. In fact I have read your magazine twice. The first time when I found your magazine was in my dormitory in Balige. I was so happy at that time because I could read an English magazine. And the second time after I had sent you a letter and then you gave me a Kang Guru magazine in December 2002. Thanks. I realised that I must improve my English. So through your magazine I can study more about my vocabulary, my knowledge about Australia and Indonesia. Now I'm studying at ITB Bandung. Sometimes I feel it is more difficult because most of our text books are written in English. So I hope you can help me to improve my English to face the globalism era. We must remember our motto 'Good Neighbours Make Good Friends'. Rudianto Sitanggang Samosir Island - NORTH SUMATRA Thanks for the letter Rudi. However it appears you do not get the KGRE magazines regularly. The last one was in 2002, right? Reconfirm your full name and postal address with us as soon as you can. Then you will Australia & Indonesia When I was reading an English magazine I found your advertisement there. Therefore I would like to introduce myself. I am a boy and I live in Situbondo, East Java. My hobbies are reading, watching TV and, of course, football. By the way this is my first letter in English and my English is bad. So if I make mistakes please don't be angry. My opinion about Australia is limited. Perhaps all I ever heard were heated stories about political relationship. Actually I don't enjoy politics. To me things like education and culture are more important. Unfortunately getting correct information about Australia is not easy. But I hope KGRE can help me to get the correct information about Australia. Thanks for your kind help and see you next time and I will always wait for your magazines. Muhtadi Situbondo - EAST JAVA We also hope that we can give you lots of good information about Australia and also about Indonesia. Is there any sort of information that you are really interested in? Let us know, okay? Happy with KGRE Several months ago I made the acquaintance of Mr. Warren. He was a Travel and Tourism Adviser in Makassar with AusAID. Before leaving for Australia he sent me a Kang Guru Radio English magazine. It was the first time I knew about KGRE. I felt so happy reading the magazine. It was not long after reading the KGRE magazine I visited the school where I used to teach. I met the Principal and told him about KGRE. He was very interested and asked me to contact KGRE soon. At the very time I sent an email to Kang Guru and we received an answer in a few minutes. It was just a few days later our school (SMK AMSIR 1 Parepare) received a parcel post from KGRE. It contained some KGRE magazines, audio cassettes and reading materials. We are very happy with Kang Guru. Our school is also the only one using Kang Guru in the Classroom among all schools in our town. Kang Guru has been providing great aids, particularly in the field of education. Thanks Kang Guru I don't know how to return your kindness. Hamka HS Kab. Barru - SOUTH SULAWESI If you find the material interesting and helpful, and if you learn more about Australia and Indonesia working together, we are very pleased. Writing a letter like this one is a great way to show your appreciation. Happy KGRE goes to Sumatra?? I thought you didn't send me the magazine. But what a surprise! It finally arrived and made my day. For your information I'm a teacher in SMP 1 Panyabungan and I'm also a lecturer. Even though I graduated from the English Department at the North Sumatra University, I think my English is not good yet. Would you like to give me any suggestions to improve my English? What kind of books should I read? It seems that all KGRE activities are only held in Sulawesi and Java. It is never held in Sumatra. And the last, I'm very interested in your KGRE Teacher Workshops. How can I attend them and how can I get the 2004 Revised Teacher Package? I cannot see your website because there is no internet line in my town. Mislan Hsb, SS SLTPN 1 Panyabungan Mandailing - Natal - NORTH SUMATRA I can tell you that AusAID does work in Sumatra - see page 7. I will be presenting KGRE Teacher Workshops in Sibolga, for example, in January 2005. To order the Teacher Package please send Rp75,000 (POS WESEL) to KGRE. We hope that we hear from you again soon and maybe see you in Sumatra some time soon. December 2004 Idioms Inggris How about some special terminology that can be used in Australia when you are on a camping holiThe first one is not a happy camper. If we meet someone and they are unhappy about something, or something is upsetting them, then we can say they are not a happy camper. This idiom can be used in other contexts as well, not just camping contexts. "Ron had a lot of trouble with his feet. They were sore from all the walking around Uluru. His shoes were not good quality and they made his feet hurt even more. On some days he was not a happy camper. Nevertheless he did manage to shout 'YIPPEE' every so often just to cheer himself up". In Australia the words Top End refer to a special part of the country. If you want to talk about the most northern 25% or so of Australia, especially the Northern Territory, then you can call it the Top End. "We had a simply marvelous holiday in July and August 2004. We went to the Top End of Australia to places such as Darwin, Kakadu and Cape York. It was hot and really tropical but so wonderful that I Kevin left Ron and Deli in Darwin and returned to Bali. Deli and Ron then continued their journey eastwards to Cape York and finally back to Melbourne. The Red Centre is another expression often used to describe a certain part of Australia. If you visit the Red Centre, as did the ADS students on page 5, you will see places such as Uluru, the Olgas and lots of red dust. "Uluru and the Olgas were so fantastic that I could hardly believe my own eyes. They were huge and red and spectacular. I loved the Red Centre and I will always remember it for as long as I live. I am so glad we made the long trip on the Ghan to see it". (Nia, an ADS student in Australia) not a happy camper - orang yang merasa tidak senang, tidak puas atau marah Red Centre - bagian tengah dari benua Australia Top End - wilayah Australia yang berada paling utara Vocabulary Activity Let's look at some vocabulary! In this edition of KGRE magazine, you will find many new gold rush - perburuan emas wheat silo - gudang penyimpanan gandum bygone era - masa lampau proprietors - pemilik penginapan stock up - menambah persediaan trailer - see picture on page 4 campervan - see picture on page 5 hamlet - dusun mural - dinding yang digambar/dilukis for weeks and weeks on end - selama berminggu-minggu e.g. During the gold rush, thousands of men went to Victoria hoping to find gold, wealth and success. 1.The _____ were not happy with their new customer. 2. We kept our equipment and our chairs in the ______. 3. The grain was kept in the tall __________. 4.Villagers in the little ________ were all hard working farmers. 5. We had to _________ with food as the cyclone was heading our way. 6. The _____ explained the historical events in a simple way. 7. Travelling everywhere in Indonesia by becak is from a ________. 8. The rain fell ______________ and very heavily too. 9. The ___ was large enough for six people to sleep in. Task 1. Fill the gaps in the sentences above with the right word from the vocabulary list. Send your answers to KGRE before the end of February, 2005. The lucky winners will receive English language reference books plus a KGRE t-shirt. December 2004 3 Capt. Kang Guru in Oz Earlier this year I travelled through the great Aussie outback with two very good friends of mine. Their names are Deli and Ron and they are from Melbourne. We had been talking and dreaming about this outback adventure for many years. During July and August we finally made our dream come true. Our route took us from Melbourne through south-west New South Wales then northward to Alice Springs and Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT). Before we arrived in Darwin we had a brief four day visit to the very northern part of Western Australia. The car journey took seven weeks and we visited 5 Australian states and territories. However we never stayed in a hotel or losmen or even with friends. I know what you are wondering now. Where did you stay? Where did you sleep every night if you didn't stay in hotels or with friends? Look at this series of 4 photographs below. Can you see Deli and Ron unfolding our 'home'? We drove a Toyota Land Cruiser 4-wheel drive vehicle. We towed a small trailer behind us. But it was not just a simple trailer. It was in fact a 'home on wheels'. Our fold up/down trailer gave us our sleeping accommodation. The little trailer also carried some of our equipment and supplies, including cooking facilities, chairs, water, a small table and gas bottles. In the Land Cruiser we carried food and our personal items. We even had a small refrigerator in the back of the Toyota. Our trailer was about 3 meters long and as wide as the Land Cruiser. It had two wheels. Each afternoon when we arrived at a campsite or caravan park we unfolded the trailer and it became a large tent. It then became our 'home' for the night. We slept inside the tent. There was plenty of room for the three of us. The tent was made of canvas. If it rained then we were okay - dry and comfortable. It only took 10 minutes to unfold the tent - it was easy and fun to do. Bush Camping One of the great highlights of our trip was camping 'in the middle of nowhere'. In these wonderful places we didn't have electricity and showers for example. This was when we had the most fun. Collecting wood to light our fire was always fun. We used the fire to cook our food. Another fantastic aspect of these places was that they were always quiet and natural. Animals would often come close the trailer during the night and we could hear them. One night we shone our torch through the window of the trailer and we could see them - possums, kangaroos and lizards. Off The Road Highlights 'Out back of Bourke' we came across many things that city drivers would never see. One of the most exciting was the creek or river crossing. On several occasions we were driving along dusty and rugged roads when the road 'disappeared' and went right through a river. No bridge! We had to do the same - drive straight through the river. Lucky we had a 4-wheel drive. Other 'problems' included animals such as kangaroos, large lizards and emus. These animals are never seen on the roads and streets of cities and towns but in the outback they are everywhere. Dust was a major difficulty as well. The dust on out-back roads is very fine and there is plenty of it. The dust particles are so tiny that they get into everything and especially into our trailer. 4 December 2004 Capt. Kang Guru in Oz Camping is very popular in Australia. It is a very special type of Aussie holiday in the countryside away from the towns and cities. Campers take their accommodation, equipment, food and other supplies with them. This means the people also take a place to sleep in. It maybe a campervan, a tent, a caravan, a pop up trailer or even a swag. Sometimes people just sleep under trees, especially if it is warm enough and if there is no rain about. They cook their food on an open fire or on a small type of portable stove. A portable stove is like a kompor in Indonesia. Campers also take chairs to sit on and a small table. All of this equipment is carried in their cars or trailers or caravans. camper vans Sometimes people camp in special places called caravan parks and camping grounds. These caravan parks or camping grounds can have just a few people in them or maybe hundreds of happy campers. Sometimes they have toilets and showers for campers to use. For example, the Heavitree Caravan Park in Alice Springs is quite large with around 100 campsites for caravans and tents. There are toilets, showers and washing facilities. All the showers have hot and cold water. There were also mirrors and wash basins. Nearby there was a free laundry with washing machines. Only people booked into the caravan park could use these facilities. Like most other campsites, our campsite had electricity. So although we were camping we could still have electric lights and use our electrical appliances. Task 2. a. Who did Kevin go camping with and where are they from? b. Mention some of the wonderful things that Kevin and his friends encountered during their travels. c. Which type of accommodation would you like to use if you went to the outback? Why did you choose this one? Send your answers to KGRE before the end of February, 2005. The best 10 entries will win a Special Selection of ADS in the Outback Thousands of Indonesian students are hard at work in Australia right now. Over 600 of those students are AusAID supported Australian Development Scholarship (ADS) students. Besides studying in Australia they also enjoy local culture and lifestyle. Many of them make good use of their holidays from their courses to visit different parts of Australia. While visiting the Olgas near Uluru in the Northern Territory, Kevin's friend Deli, overheard some students speaking in Bahasa Indonesia. Deli started to chat with them and so did Kevin. They turned out to be ADS students on a brief break from their studies. As Kevin says, "What a big surprise to bump into them way out December 2004 'Thongs to Uluru' "Together with my 5 fellow ADS friends - Fadi, Imam, Riyan, Svetie and Herlina - I travelled to the Red Centre in July, 2004. It was a winter time and we had our winter break from our universities. The Ghan, the famous Australian train, took us to Alice Springs. Then we hired a car to go to some of the beautiful places around Alice Springs and also to Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park. "An accident" happened when one of us had a broken shoe. He tried to glue them. It worked but just for a short time. Desperate, he bought a pair of thongs. And ... voilá, he wore thongs when we went for a hike around Uluru and climbed the Olgas! At first we laughed to see his 'awkwardness' but he got used to it. However, when we remember that we still laugh - 'Thongs went to Uluru!' (by Nia - ADS student in Melbourne) 5 Clean Water Program to Empower the Community and Reduce Poverty Community members from two neighbouring hamlets in Kayuloe Barat village, South Sulawesi, feel empowered by a community-led development program. It has been underway in their area for the past year. The ACCESS - The Australian Community Development and Civil Society Strengthening Scheme - funded clean water program is being facilitated by local NGO LEPPSEM (Lembaga Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Sosial Ekonomi Masyarakat). It aims to provide clean water to 200 families. This is done by drilling a well which is connected to a series of water storage ponds. Kayuloe Barat lies in the dry hinterland of SULSEL. During the hot season - July to November - the land is baked hard and non-productive. Many hamlets in this village have no dry season water access. Two of the worst affected hamlets are Dusun Pa'Bentengan and Dusun Batutarang. During the dry season local water sources are reduced to a trickle. Women can spend anywhere up to 10 hours a day collecting water for cooking and drinking. For this reason villages from Kayuloe Barat prioritised the hamlets of Pa'Bentengan and Batutarang for the clean water program. Over the past year the community has been involved in community-led poverty surveys, data collection and organisation. Drilling the well has not yet begun, but the community is in the process of organising someone to do that. Sainal is a farmer: "We have been involved Hildawati is a housewife: "Our right from the beginning. The community experience with this program is that carried out its own surveys and set up the everyone has been involved and the program. We formed groups and a meeting NGO came directly to the women. schedule. We were able to identify the root Women have not only been involved problem for poverty here - and that is clean in discussion, they have also been water. We feel like we own this program. involved in the physical work (collecting Before all the responsibility was in the materials for the well). We are very hands of the governments, but now we are happy because what was promised is responsible for improving things, not the actually happening. If we don't have government. We have learnt how to form clean water our village will never groups. God willing, if there is another develop. Before women were never program in a year's time we will be able included, programs were only for to use what we have learned." specified people." Why is clean water important for reducing poverty in the village? Women spend all their time collecting water. Women can spend between 1 hour and 10 hours collecting water. Therefore they have little time to help their husbands earn money. As a result of low family incomes more than 50% of the men leave their villages to find work in the city. If water levels are low then they have to buy water. It can costs up to Rp 6000 a day for water. If the water source is good enough then irrigation is possible for Nina Shatifan is a consultant and specialises in social development looking at issues to do with women, poor people, development of communities and what we call now community empowerment. Community empowerment shows communities how to develop skills so that they can basically take care of their own development. They're able to make decisions and plan for themselves to improve 6 Nina gave this example to KGRE. "If we take a water project, not only do we have communities build the project but we also work with them to develop management structures so that they can look after at themselves. We help them to develop ways of making sure that benefits go to all of the community including the poor. Work is also done with those communities to make sure that women are involved. As we know women have the main responsibilities for taking care of water in Indonesia, well all over the world actually". Nina is an old friend of KGRE. Nina is currently working with two AusAID projects: ACCESS and WSLIC. December 2004 Water Supply and Sanitation for Low Income Communities (WSLIC) We all know how important water is in our daily lives. Did you know the human body is over 70% water. Our blood is more than 80% water and our brain is over 75%. The human liver is an amazing 96% water! We need good, clean water to have a healthy body. Drinking lots of healthy water allows our body to perform all the healing processes that it is naturally capable of. Polluted water can cause serious illnesses and disease. Children are especially in danger. This does not just mean clean drinking water but also clean water for washing and cleaning. WSLIC stands for Water Supply and Sanitation for Low Income Communities. WSLIC is funded by the World Bank with substantial co-financing support from AusAID in the technical assistance area (i.e. providing management advice to an Indonesian government unit, which is responsible for overall project management, training needs for facilitators in the villages, monitoring and evaluation activities.) WSLIC, a 5-year project, has a budget of US$100 million and provides support for improvement in water supply and sanitation for approximately 2000 villages across seven provinces of Indonesia. They include South Sumatra, West Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, West Java, East Java, Nusa Tenggara Barat and South Sulawesi. How were the provinces chosen? The first criterion was the health status of the province and particularly the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases. Diarrhoeal disease, mainly caused by poor water and sanitation, is one of the biggest killers of children under 5 years of age worldwide. Secondly, the economic situation of the villages in the various regions, as the project focuses on poor communities. The third was the level of water supply and sanitation coverage in those The project is a community-based project providing grants to communities. The overall aim of the project is to increase the health conditions in those communities and to increase the productivity and quality of life through improved water and sanitation and associated hygiene improvements. Actual facilities are selected by the community as part of the community planning process and subsequently designed and constructed by them with 80% of the funding coming from the project and 20% from the community. An excellent example is this very simple and inexpensive washstand from Pakel village, Lumajang, East Java. It was designed by the local Village Implementation Team using locally available components. Its key features include places to store soap and a towel, closed water container with a simple tap and a bucket for collecting wastewater. As Country Program Manager, Mike Ponsonby says, "The risk reduction for diarrhoeal diseases from hand washing with soap is something like 45 to 50 percent which compares with figures around 15 percent for clean water supply and about 20 to 25 percent for improved sanitation. So there's huge gains to make by very simple changes in behaviour". Indonesia-Australia Partnership in Basic Education (IAPBE) This new AusAID project is based in Malang, East Java. The goal of the partnership is to help improve the quality and management of basic education, the first nine years of schooling, in Indonesia. The purpose is to build the capacity of targeted local governments, schools and community groups to plan, manage and deliver quality basic education services. The Australian and Indonesian staff members are already working with schools, teachers, communities, the dinas Pendidikan and the KanDep Agama, in their three target districts: Jombang, Gresik and Jember. In October 2004, over 70 selected teachers, supervisors and school principals attended the first phase of their training to become IAPBE trainers. Once trained, they will train teachers in SD/MI/SMP and MTs in each district - a total of 60 schools. Fourteen trainers were selected from each district. The candidates were chosen from a field of over 150 applicants following an open and transparent selection process that involved an interview and test of practical teaching skills. One of the most important objectives of IAPBE is to improve teaching skills by working directly with teachers in schools. The districts will decide their own subject priorities. However, the key subjects of Science, Mathematics, English, Kelas Awal and Indonesian will be focused upon in the first year of operation. A big issue for teachers at the moment is Competency Based Curriculum, so IAPBE will assist in that area by providing training in syllabus writing and lesson planning. IAPBE will also work with school administrators, school committees and communities to improve school management skills. The national education act now divests a great deal of the responsibility for educational decision-making and planning to the Kabupaten, the community and the Dewan Pendidikan. Therefore IAPBE will be working in partnership with these key stake-holders, to identify local educational issues and to support them in seeking sustainable solutions to these issues. IAPBE is a three year, $AUD 7.9 million project, managed by IDP Education Australia for AusAID. December 2004 7 Oz-Indo Connections Islam in Australia Muslims in Australia have a long history. Some of Australia's earliest visitors, pre-dating European settlement, were muslims from the Indonesian archipelago. Fishermen and traders from the Makassar region have been visiting Australia's Top End from as early as the 16th century. However, the first significant Muslim population came from Afghanistan. They were Afghan camel drivers. They played a significant role in opening up Australia's vast outback areas, carrying explorers, supplies and even the telegraph.The camels were strong and they didn't need to drink water everyday. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, small numbers of Muslims went to Australia from Dutch and British colonies in Southeast Asia to work in the Australian pearling industry. Australia's first mosque was built at Marree in northern South Australia in 1861. Remnants of that first mosque can still be seen in Marree (see photo left). The first major mosque was built in Adelaide in 1890. Another was built in Broken Hill (New South Wales) in 1891. The real basis for Australia's modern day Muslim population came after World War Two. Between 1947 and 1971 the Muslim population increased from 2,100 to 22,300, as European Muslims, mainly Cypriot Turks, sought a new life in Australia. Today there are over 600,000 Muslims living in Australia. Photo right is modern mosque in Sydney. Indonesian Independence Celebrations in Darwin KGRE's good friend, Ruth Rynehart, is the Head of Faculty, Languages Other Than English at Darwin High School. Ogi visited Darwin High School as a part of her 2003 trip 'Down Under' and in August 2004 Ruth also welcomed Kevin to Darwin. While in Darwin Kevin was invited by Ruth to attend the Indonesian Independence celebrations at the Indonesian Consulate. Hundreds of Indonesians living and working in Darwin attended the day's event. It was a terrific day and special thanks go to the Indonesian Consul, Zacharias Deputy Consul, Muhari Hasnil Bakar. The Darwin High School band provided the music for the day, including a fine rendition of 'Indonesia Raya'. The Consulate has strong ties with the Indonesian language departments of several local schools including Darwin High School. Students from O'Loughlin College in Darwin played angklung while a fellow student sang 'Rayuan Pulau Kelapa'. Many students, both Australian and Indonesian, attended the day's celebration activities and you can hear them speaking on Indonesia's Champion Swimmers Albert, Bobby, Sherly and Delfina are four young Indonesians. They are all top sports men and women and Indonesian swimming champions. They have already been overseas and will go again in the next twelve months. They speak English and were very keen to chat with KGRE last October before they began their daily practice session at the Senayan Pool, Jakarta. Albert Sutanto was a member of the 2004 Indonesian Olympic Swimming Team and went to Athens to represent his country. He also represented Indonesia at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Bobby Bangkit Guntoro also went to Athens. Bobby was chosen as one of the two Indonesian representatives at the Olympic Youth Camp in Greece. He was chosen because of his swimming potential. Look out for Bobby in the 2008 Olympic Games in China. He has a great future in the pool. Sherly Yunita and Delfina Chandra are also members of the Indonesian National Swimming Team. Together with Albert and Bobby, they attended a 5 month pre-Olympic training placement in Perth, Western Australia. As Albert recognises, his interest and passion for swimming has given him and his friends many wonderful rewards. Swimming has taken him overseas, given him a career and a future and introduced him to friends from all over the world. 8 December 2004 Indo/Aussie I d o l s In recent years the 'Idol' phenomenon, known here as 'Indonesian Idol', has swept the world. Millions of people watch every week. The 'Idol' format has worked very well in countries such as Australia, USA, Sweden and Britain. The winning 'Idols' from participating countries finally meet in the ultimate talent quest each year with the grand winner being called 'World Idol'. The basic idea of 'Idol' is this. A giant talent search is conducted in each participating country. Hundreds and hundreds of young singers follow a series of heats in front of three judges. These heats run over many months and are held all over the country. Eventually an Idol Final Series is presented to the general public in each country. People then vote for their favourite artists. That lucky winner becomes the 'Idol' for the country. In 2003, Guy Sebastian was a 22-year old from Adelaide. Now his voice - and his hair - have captivated Australia. Guy's debut single 'Angels Brought Me Here' became the biggest-selling Australian single in Australian music history - in just two weeks. Talking about 'World Idol', Guy said, 'To me this is just an amazing opportunity to meet people who have gone through the same things that I have been through and I will be able to ask them how they dealth with stuff'. He is also quite well known here in Indonesia and visited Indonesia just a few months ago. Guy has very strong and distinctive voice. He was voted by Australians in 2003 as the best singer in the 'Australian Idol' competition. He went to London to represent Australia at the 'World Idol' final but was not successful in becoming the lucky winner. Indonesia's current 'Idol' is Joy Tobing. Joy is from Sumatra and she has a truly wonderful voice. It doesn't seem to matter if Joy sings songs in English or in Indonesian. Her words are clear and strong and it is obvious that Joy really understands the lyrics and enjoys performing. The runner up idol in the current 'Indonesian Idol' series is Delon. KGRE was lucky enough to chat with Joy and Delon in Jakarta in October. Congratulations to all of the 'Indonesian Joy told KGRE that she was very happy winning 'Indonesian Idol'. "Well, I'm very happy because I'm the winner of Indonesian Idol". Joy went on to tell KGRE that some of her favourite music includes Pop, Blues, Rock and Roll and R and B. Her favourite female singers are Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. As for Indonesian singers, she likes Ruth Sahanaya and Krisdayanti. The future? Joy told KGRE that the Asian Idol Competition is next and then perhaps World Idol. Joy was busy planning a well deserved holiday in Bali with her family. Let's hope that Joy Tobing will be the next 'World Idol'. We wish her all the luck in the world. Delon also spoke with KGRE and talked about his English language studies. He said, "For me English is a little bit hard to practice". Kevin asked Delon about any problems areas that he still has with English. He said that structure and grammar are still a little difficult as well as pronunciation, but Delon is working on those areas. One important thing is to be willing to talk as often as you can and Delon uses English whenever he can. When singing in English Delon needs to be sure of the meanings so that he can sing the lyrics effectively and with feeling. Some of his favourite songs are 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' by Elton John, 'Heaven Knows' by Rick Price and 'Angels Brought Me Here' by Guy Sebastian. His favourite artists include Rick Price, Josh Groban, Air Supply, Chrisye and Ruth Sahanaya. On his success, Delon says, 'I'm still Delon like before. Still the same. But the change is with my schedule. It is very full'. Task 3. Perhaps do some research and try to answer the following questions. The best entry will receive a great CD of 'Indonesian Idol' finalists plus some other KGRE souvenirs. a. Who were the 'Indonesian Idol' finalists and where do they come from? b. What is the title of Joy's new album and what is the name of the hit song from that album? c. How did Delon learn his English? A clue - you must listen to KGRE radio - program number 4503. December 2004 9 In 2005, the Kang Guru Connection Club network will be bigger and better. Beginning in 2005, will have a full page of KGCC news in every edition. KGRE visited these two active KG Connection Clubs recently. Junior Club in Ngoro - Mojokerto, East Java KGCC # 011 - The Junior Club is based at SMP 1 Mojokerto. They are a very active club. During Kevin's meeting with them on the 27th of September they performed a series of dances which were quite spectacular. Then members sat in small groups enjoying English language games, including Snakes and Ladders, vocabulary games and magazine discussions. Even Joy and Delon from 'Indonesian Idol' were the subjects of the discussions in one of the groups. The club members are also very interested in health and healthy environments.Their school had beautiful gardens with lawn and flowers and lots of trees. There were colourful murals painted by students on themes such as anti-drugs and anti-smoking. They even had special areas where students were growing plants for use in traditional medicines. It was terrific to see classroom walls covered with posters and more importantly, students' work. Fantastic! English Society Club RRI Semarang This club is located at, and supported by, RRI Semarang. Members meet every Sunday at 11am in the Karawitan Room of RRI Semarang. They have about 10 - 50 active members including senior high school students, college students, workers, and even housewives. Besides the core committee they have three other committees - public relations, the education division and general affairs. 'New Pages for the Magazine' Competition In 2005 KGRE magazine will have four extra pages. That is fantastic, isn't it? One page will be for SMP level learners. One of the new pages will be for English language teachers and the third will be for the KGRE Connection Club network. That means there is still one page FREE! Can you suggest what that page should be used for? Perhaps you can think of something different? Something new and exciting? Maybe even something innovative and educational? Write to KGRE before January 31st with your suggestions and some of the details of what you think could be included on the page. Five clever winners will win a brand new KGRE Gift Package. The special package includes a KGRE t-shirt, Aussie music and KGRE cassettes, as well as Echolls and Shadilly dictionaries. They will also win a special certificate from KGRE, IALF and AusAID thanking them for their valuable contribution to the development of KGRE. 10 The club is closely aligned to RRI's English language interactive program named 'Central Java at A Glance' broadcast every day at 6pm on FM 95.3 MHz. Members, under the guidance of Leader Sweety Keyko, are interested in social work and conducting outdoor meetings such as excursions. For all KG Connection Club Profiles please visit http://www.kangguru.org/ kgconnection.htm In 2005, KGRE plans to develop a fantastic new Teacher Package aimed at SMP level students and their teachers. SMP level segments will also be included in all radio programs and magazines. Language learners studying English at the mid-elementary level will find more material to listen to and to use. The new package will be topic-based and will contain a wide variety of activities for practising listening in the classroom. As with the current KGRE Teacher Package (Revised March 2004) some reading, speaking and writing activities will also be included, plus songs and quizzes.To order KGRE Teacher Packages just contact KGRE or check out the KGRE website. http://www.kangguru.org/kgclassroom.htm December 2004 Different pOND Lain Lubuk Different fish Lain Ikan Money Matters Black or white tea, please? I have been living in Australia for two years doing my postgraduate study. I have a story that I'd like to share with you. This is about how to manage Australian money for living and how to manage my clothes the first time I was in Oz. I have another story about being embarrased in Australia due to differences in culture. My story is about ordering tea at a coffee shop. I always had a nice cup of tea every morning in Indonesia. It gave me a great feeling in the morning. So when I arrived in the early morning for the first time at Sydney airport, the first thing that I looked for was a coffee shop. Finally, I found a nice coffee shop with many people queuing to order. Quite confidently I jumped into the queue. I thought that I had better English than before since I had recently learnt English at IALF. Then a very friendly girl asked me if she could help me. I said that I would like to have a cup of tea. Then she asked me what kind of tea I would like to order, black or white tea? I thought she was making a morning joke with me. My quick response, but with some confusion, was that I said red tea please. With a very unfriendly face she asked me again, "Black or white tea, please?", I didn't say anything as I didn't know what actually black or white tea was. I only knew that having tea is normally with or without sugar. Then she said, "Next please". She then asked the next customer behind me. I realised then that I didn't understand Oz customs. One day I had a cup of tea at the University tea room and I saw a lady drinking tea with milk in it. Then I asked her, "Can I say that you are having a white tea?" She smiled and said, "Yes you can". Finally I understood that black tea is no milk added and white tea is with milk. Oh God, how big the difference is in the way of having tea between Indonesian and Oz people!!! I had never prepared and cooked my own food before so when I lived in Oz for the first time I always bought food for my lunch and dinner. That cost a lot of money. I soon began to run out of my money. Then I had to start learning how to prepare my own food beginning with grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning the utensils, etc. It was a new experience in my life as generally Indonesian men never work in the kitchen for their entire life. Well, this is true for my family anyway! The second thing that I found a difficult experience was to manage my dirty clothes. I brought many clothes from Indonesia. My total luggage weighed approximately 50 kgs. During the first, second and third week in Oz my clothes were not a big problem. But for the fourth week I had a problem as nearly all my clothes were dirty, especially the underwear. Then I thought how difficult life is in Oz as nobody was there to help me wash and iron my clothes. Then I started to learn how to iron my clothes, but first I learnt how to operate a washing machine. Finally I learnt how to live in Oz as a single person and I started to enjoy life in Oz. Then when I got the chance to continue my study again in Oz I took it. This year is my first year for my PhD. I have no problems at all with how to manage money and clothes anymore. (These stories are from Penta, former ADS student in Sydney now doing his PhD in Food Technology) Tea? Not again ... I like drinking tea but not so often. One day my host-mother offered me tea in the morning. Later at school I had tea during recess and once more with lunch. I felt a bit sick of tea actually but I had to respect them. Soon after I arrived home from school I was offered another 'cuppa'. I couldn't help myself as my host invited me for tea just before dinner. "Adi, it's tea time", shouted my host. "What? Tea again? You know what? I drank a cuppa in the morning, then two at school, once more as I got home and now again? Please, I can't have anymore. Can I have water?", I asked. Immediately all members of my host family turned their heads towards me in confusion. I felt I had hurt them by yelling out. I felt guilty as my host mother said, "Adi, we're about to have dinner now. We're going to have a cuppa later after dinner. If you'd like to. So would you like to have dinner with us?". Oh gosh, I found out later that Australians usually call dinner or makan malam - 'tea time'. I got used to that but not drinking so much tea. I kept rejecting their offers for a cuppa if I had already had one earlier in the day. But in my view, Australians really like drinking tea: they have morning tea, afternoon tea and evening tea. And then there are the other occasions too. I don't know why. (from Adi Waluyo, IALF Teacher Exchange) December 2004 11 A Keen KGRE Presenter My name is Fathul Muin. My date of birth is November 30th, 1968. I graduated from IKIP PGRI Tuban in 1993. I am an English teacher of SMPN 5 Tuban. I have been a member of KGRE since around 1991. However I was not active as it was difficult for me to listen to the KGRE program at that time in my town. In January 2003, after reading the December 2002 edition of KGRE magazine, I found information that KGRE welcomed any radio stations to broadcast their programs. I tried to contact the English department of IKIP PGRI Tuban, English Teachers Forum and Swara Pantura FM Radio to cooperate with this program. They agreed and I sent my proposal to KGRE in Denpasar, Bali. IKIP PGRI Tuban then asked me to be the coordinator as well as the presenter of this program. To tell you frankly the public interest in English is still low in Tuban so I have to do many things to improve my program. I have been developing it by coordinating with students, English teachers, English Students' Association (SEA) and English Conversation Club (KGCC). We have conducted English debates, practised reading English news articles and developed English dialogues for our interactive program. Every first week of each month we have an 'English for Children' segment on the show. It is hard work but I enjoy it very much because I consider this is very useful and helpful to improve my poor English and at the same time help others. Thank you to the Australian government for their AusAID programs in Indonesia especially KGRE. A Big Welcome To Our Latest Private Radio Stations Kang Guru Radio English can now be heard on Radio Wijaya Kusuma (RWK) FM in Klaten every Sunday at 18.30 wib FM 89.9 MHz Radio LIUR FM in Tulungagung every Saturday at 18.00 wib FM 90.9 MHz Radio CONTREND FM* in Selayar every Sunday at 09.00 wita FM 98.5 MHz 12 Radio MITRA FM in Manna, South Bengkulu every Sunday at 11.00 wib FM 101.3 MHz PRIVATE RADIO STATIONS Station Day Time Frequency Suara Padang FM Sunday 09.00 wib FM 102.6 MHz Suara Kelimutu RSPD Ende Saturday Sunday 17.30 wita 17.30 wita AM 1185 kHz SW 2695 kHz RPD Ruteng Monday 17.30 wita Thursday SW 2.96 MHz 101.3 m * Oisvira FM Friday 16.00 wita Sumbawa Sunday Radio Hikmah Sunday 20.05 wit Ternate * FM 95.1 MHz FM 103.4 MHz RSPD Banjar Martapura Sunday Thursday 16.00 wita FM 100.4 MHz RSPD Balikpapan Tuesday 19.00 wita FM 99.9 MHz Radio Kutai Barat Monday 19.00 wita FM 95.3 MHz Suara Slawi Ayu* RSPD Tegal Sunday 15.00 wib AM 783 Citra Pertiwi* RSPD Tegal Sunday 15.00 wib FM 103.9 MHz Persada FM Blitar Wednesday 19.30 wib FM 94.3 MHz Swara Indonesiana Tidore Friday 16.00 wit FM 107.1 MHz Swara Pantura FM Tuban* Sunday 15.30 wib FM 93.55 MHz RKPD Magetan Indah Sunday 07.00 wib AM 774 kHz Cakra Dipayuda FM Banjarnegara Monday 19.00 wib FM 104.4 MHz Swara Bahana FM Jembrana Sunday 16.00 wita FM 99.9 MHz Radio Berlian FM Natuna Sunday Wednesday 20.00 wib FM 102.50 MHz Suara Habibulloh FM Sunday Banyuwangi 09.30 wib FM 94.8 MHz Radio NBS Sukabumi Sunday 21.00 wib FM 92.3 MHz Pelita Kasih Waikabubak to be advised Sonia FM Maumere Monday Wednesday 18.30 wita FM 102.9 MHz Duta Suara Selapindo Sunday Bengkalis Monday 17.00 wib 19.30 wib FM 91.6 MHz RSPD Sumba Timur Sunday Bengkalis 09.00 wita 17.00 wita AM 720 kHz Prima Jepara FM Sunday 09.00 wib Jepara RaDa Way Kanan Sunday 18.00 wib Lampung FM 104 MHz * * SURGA FM Monday 16.00 wib Jombang CASSANOVA Friday 20.00 wita Bali Sunday FM 96.7 MHz FM 97.05 MHz FM 102 MHz All winners of the task activities from the August 2004 magazine will be announced on the KGRE website in late December 2004. http://www.kangguru.org/englishmagazine.htm December Schedule for Kang Guru Radio English across Indonesia Kang Guru Radio English is broadcast throughout Indonesia on over 80 RRI & private radio stations. Listeners are asked to call radio stations direct if they are having problems listening to KGRE broadcasts. Contact the station to check on broadcast times for KGRE, changes to the schedule AND the availability of other English language programs including interactive programs. GET INTO THE HABIT - Listen to Kang Guru Radio English EVERY WEEK! Station Day Time Frequency Station Day Time Ambon Friday 07.30 wit FM 90.3 MHz Medan Monday 17.15 wib Banda Aceh Tuesday 17.30 wib FM 97.6 MHz Merauke Sunday 14.30 wit Thursday MW 240 kHz Bandar Lampung Friday 15.30 wib FM 98 MHz Nabire Monday 09.30 wit Tuesday 16.30 wit Bandung Sunday 17.00 wib FM 97.6 MHz Palangkaraya Monday 06.35 wib Thursday Banjarmasin Sunday 17.30 wita FM 97.6 MHz (Pro 1) Palembang Saturday 16.30 wib AM 264.55 kHz Bengkulu Monday 15.00 wib FM 93 MHz Palu Wednesday 19.30 wita (Programa 1) Biak Monday 08.30 wit FM 96.30 MHz Pekanbaru Sunday 17.00 wib Thursday (Programa 2) Bogor Monday 14.15 wib AM 1242 kHz (Pro 1) Pontianak Sunday 10.30 wib Bukittinggi Thursday 16.00 wib FM 107 MHz Purwokerto Sunday 14.40 wib Tuesday MW 1512 kHz Ende Monday 17.00 wita FM 105 MHz Ranai (Natuna) Sunday 08.00 wib Thursday AM 783 kHz FakFak Thursday 19.30 wit FM 89 MHz Samarinda Tuesday 20.30 wita MW 774 kHz Friday Gorontalo Saturday 19.15 wita FM 102 MHz Semarang Thursday 20.00 wib Monday, Wednesday 19.15 wita FM 93 MHz Jakarta Sunday 17.00 wib SW 9680 kHz Serui Monday 10.30 wit Wednesday 17.00 wib FM 92.8 MHz Wed & Friday 19.30 wit Jambi Saturday 09.00 wib FM 88.5 MHz Sibolga Sunday 09.00 wib MW 273.22 m Jayapura Wednesday 18.00 wit FM 90.1 MHz Singaraja Monday 17.00 wita Friday ( Pro 2 FM ) Saturday Jember Rabu 18.30 wib FM 97.8 MHz Sintang Saturday 16.30 wib AM 963 kHz Kendari Wednesday 07.30 wita FM 96.6 MHz Sorong Tuesday 16.30 wit 17.00 wita MW 314 m Kupang Tue & Thurs 16.00 wita FM 93.5 MHz (Pro 1) Sumenep Sunday 16.00 wib Saturday 16.00 wita FM 90.6 MHz (Pro 2) Lhokseumawe Saturday 15.30 wib FM 89.3 MHz Sungai Liat Monday 08.00 wib Madiun Sunday 05.30 wib FM 96.3 MHz Surabaya Sunday 18.30 wib FM 97.75 MHz Makassar Friday 17.00 wita FM 97.6 MHz Surakarta Monday 14.30 wib SW 476.19 m Wednesday Malang Sunday 08.30 wib FM 94.8 MHz Tanjungpinang Sunday 11.00 wib AM 891 kHz Sunday 13.00 wib Manado Thursday 20.30 wita FM 104.4 MHz Tual Saturday 08.30 wit AM 1188 kHz 15.30 wit Manokwari Monday 18.30 wit FM 97.8 MHz Wamena Tuesday 09.30 wit MW 702 kHz Yogyakarta Monday 18.30 wita Mataram Monday 19.00 wita FM 96.3 MHz AM 855 kHz * * * * * * * * * Frequency FM 94.3 MHz AM 855 kHz MW 810 MHz FM 98.1 MHz FM 96.3 MHz SW 90,22 m MW 3325 kHz FM 93.1 MHz MW 233.1 m FM 93 MHz SW 75.75 m FM 91.2 MHz MW 323 m FM 104.2 MHz FM 93.1 MHz MW 756 kHz FM 90 MHz FM 104.1 MHz FM 96.90 MHz MW 1215 kHz FM 97.75 MHz AM 801 kHz FM 97.5 MHz FM 98.1 MHz ( Pro 1 FM ) FM 103.7 MHz FM 90.7 MHz FM 96.7 MHz MW 4875 kHz FM 98.5 MHz AM 1098 kHz FM 97.3 MHz AM 1413 kHz FM 99.2 MHz AM 585 kHz FM 101.95 MHz MW 972 kHz FM 98.3 MHz FM 92.1 MHz FM 93.2 MHz FM 97.8 MHz FM 97.8 MHz SW 215 m FM 102.5 MHz ( Pro 2 FM ) * These radio stations also conduct an English Interactive Show linked to KGRE. Do you have a KGRE linked interactive program on your local station? If not, then contact the station and ask them to develop one - KGRE will be happy to assist them to do this. Capt. Kang Guru sees amazing things in the Outback!! Indonesia in Darwin... One of the most outstanding Indonesian boats on display was built in a traditional manner by a boat building community in south-east Sulawesi. Known as a perahu padawakang, this type of historic boat was the kind of vessel in which the Macassans sailed the Timor and Arafura seas. During the nineteenth century they sailed to northern Australia in search of trepang, turtle shell and other marine products. During a visit to the Darwin Maritime Museum I was pleasantly surprised to see Indonesia strongly represented. There were authentic examples of traditional Indonesian boats in the museum. Each of these has a story behind it. There is a permanent display of 21 boats and canoes. They include an Australian pearling vessel, an Indonesian perahu lambo, a perahu lete lete and a fine Balinese jukung. Mosquitos and flies... Holes in the ground... Mosquitos and flies are a real nuisance in the outback. There are millions of them. There are big ones and small ones and they are all very annoying. They never seem to go away. Some people wear special lotions and creams that keep the insects away. This method isn't always successful so Ron decided to try another method. He often wore this full length mosquito net just to make sure that he was comfortable and safe from bites. For miles and miles around Coober Pedy in South Australia there are holes in the ground. These mine shafts are often 15 to 20 metres deep. They are circular in shape. These are holes left over from opal mining. People dug these holes searching for opals. After they finished looking for the opals they just moved on and dug a new hole nearby. So one thing visitors do not do around Coober Pedy is go for a walk at night. If you fell down one of these holes you would probably stay there forever! Zebra Rocks... Rubbish bins... Australians are very aware of rubbish and how it damages the environment. Rubbish bins can be found in caravan and national parks, beside restaurants and roadsides and even in out of the way places. There are often several bins side-by- side. One for plastics, another for bottles, one for cans and another for paper. This makes it easier to recycle the rubbish afterwards. Littering, or throwing away rubbish, is a serious offence in Australia and if caught you can be fined hundreds of dollars. 'Keep Australia Clean' is the well-known Aussie motto. Zebra Rocks were another amazing discovery. These distinctive reddish-brown and white banded sedimentary rocks are only found in a small area of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. They were first discover in 1924 but are over 600 million years old. They are hard to describe except to say they are beautifully marked with vibrant and bold colours. These stones can be cut and polished into a wide variety of shapes. They are mainly used as ornaments. Kang Guru, PO Box 3095, Denpasar 80030 - Bali Kang Guru magazines are free and should not be sold for profit I/A/L/F Education for Development RADIO REPUBLIK INDONESIA and selected private radio stations www.kangguru.org