Backpack Bear - Quiz 8

Instructions

1. As a team answer the questions you know then find out the answers to the questions you don’t know.

2. Record the answers in a Word document and then save it as a pdf to attach to your email.

3. Remember there is a point for the correct answer and a point for the correct spelling and punctuation. Number the answers correctly. Do NOT repeat the question.

4. Answer the bonus question.

5. Use a font that is easy to read.

6. Make sure your team name is on the top of your document.

7. Open an email and address it to your Quest Co-ordinator which is likely to be your teacher or your teacher librarian.

8. In the subject line put Quiz 8 and your team name.

9. Attach your answers to your email.

10. Send it so that it arrives with your Quest Co-ordinator by the due date.

Which Australian icon stands on Bennelong Point in Sydney?
What is the common link between A.B. Paterson, Adam Lindsay Gordon and Henry Lawson?
You like to read the Tom Weekly series - who wrote them?
Which Australian yacht won the Americas Cup in 1983, the first time in history that the USA lost?
What international conflict was Australia involved in from 1950 - 1953?
Why is Mervyn Victor Richardson in the Inventors' Hall of Fame?
Which Australian actor is the star of the Lethal Weapon series of movies?
You have won the Brownlow Medal - which sport have you excelled in?

At what age can you vote in a federal general election?
Does Australia lie north or south of the Tropic of Cancer?
Which country is closest to Australia - Papua New Guinea or New Zealand?
Which feature of our natural landscape can be seen from space?
What do the letters A.C.T. stand for?
How old is the landform known as Australia?
- 4300 billion years
- 4300 million years
- 4300 thousand years
- 4300 years?
You are in the Kalbarri National Park - which state or territory are you in?
Which two authors teamed together to write the Wicked and Deadly series?
In what year did Australia first host the Olympic Games?
Who was known as "Thorpedo"?
What is the name of the stretch of water between Australia and Papua New Guinea named after a Spanish explorer?
Which Danish architect designed the Sydney Opera House?

This week come with me to one of the many iconic rock formations that dot the Australian landscape and attract visitors from all over the world.

This particular landform has been formed by the effect of erosion from the constant harsh and extreme weather conditions that blast in off the Southern Ocean and eat away at the soft limestone cliffs of this part of the coastline. The waves, wind, rain and the salt sea air wore away the soft rock leaving amazing caves and arches, but when these eventually collapsed, large stacks of harder rock up to 50 metres high have been left standing like sentinels. And as the elements continue their attack over the centuries, more will form while others collapse.

I would have seen the evidence of this if I’d been here before January 15, 1990 when there was a formation known as London Bridge because it was like a bridge with two spans connected to the mainland, but it suddenly collapsed with the first span plunging into the ocean. I don’t know if it would have been fun or scary to be one of the two people left stranded on the outer part and having to be rescued by the police helicopter!

This is a really popular site for tourists as they drive along the Shipwreck Coast, known for the number of ships that have been wrecked here as captains hugged the coastline as they entered the mouth of Bass Strait. Although only about 240 wrecks have been discovered, it’s estimated that there are 700 scattered along this coast! The most famous of these is the Loch Ard with 52 of its 54 passengers perishing, and the story of the survivors Eva Carmichael and Tom Pearce being a fascinating one, in itself. When I get home, I’m going to find and read Gary Crew’s book The Story of Eva Carmichael: The Wreck of the Loch Ard so I can learn more.

But I’m here at sunset because that’s the best time to view these formations as the setting western sun turns the limestone a hundred hues of red, orange and yellow. If I’m lucky, I may even see some Little Penguins returning to their burrows. And because it’s winter I’m also looking out for passing Southern Right Whales and Humpback Whales on their migration north.

Where am I?

A printable version of this quiz is available here.