Photo credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Switzerland_satellite_enhanced.jpg

For my final post I chose to do Switzerland. I picked Switzerland because I know absolutely nothing about it and it's ranked highly as one of the best places to live in the world.


Facts about Switzerland:

• Switzerland has a population of around 8 million and the capital city of Switzerland is Bern.
• The currency in Switzerland is the Swiss Franc (CHF).
• Chocolate is one of the biggest exports in Switzerland. Lindt chocolate is one of their most famous brands of chocolate.
• Switzerland has one of the lowest crime rates of all and according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's research, Switzerland is the best place in the world to be born due to high quality of family life, great employment, marriage equality etc.
• The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 30 years old, this is one of the oldest ages in Europe to have a first child.
• They speak 4 languages in Switzerland: German, Italian, Rhaeto-Romantsch and French.
• The largest particle physics laboratory (CERN) is situated near Geneva on the Swiss-French border.
• Switzerland's main source of domestic power is via hydroelectric power stations. This makes hydro-electric power the country's most important source of renewable energy.
• The average swiss person eats 10 kilos of chocolate a year.

Lake Silvaplana

Alphorns

Bern, capital city of Switzerland.

In Switzerland there are 3 primary geographic regions: there is the Jura (10%), the Alps (60%) and the Swiss Plateau (30%). The typical climate of Switzerland depends on where you are. In the north of Switzerland the climate is moderate. Winters can be cold and summers usually are sunny and warm. In the mountainous areas of Switzerland the temperatures drop below freezing especially in the winter months. Switzerland is one of the top skiing holiday destinations and when there is no snow its also a popular hillwalking destination.

There are 26 cantons/sections to Switzerland and some vary to others. Some speak different languages like the German cantons in the centre, east and north to the Italian ones in the south. Different languages have  a big impact on food, culture and architecture so you can imagine how different the cantons are. In Switzerland, health care is available, affordable and high in quality. There is a really good transport system throughout Switzerland making it easy to commute and travel around the place.

Credits: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/2011-08-01_17-39-33_Switzerland_Segl-Maria.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Alphorns_Grindelwald.jpg
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0507/living_in_switzerland.shtml
http://www.eupedia.com/switzerland/trivia.shtml

Credit: http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/nov/13/hawaii-kilauea-volcano-lava-pahoa-video

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hawaje-NoRedLine.jpg

Next post is going to be about Hawaii. The reason why I picked Hawaii for this next post is because its one of the most beautiful and isolated places on Earth.

Facts about Hawaii

• There are 8 Islands in the state of Hawaii. Their names are: Maui, Niihau, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Kauai and the big island of Hawaii.
• Hawaii is over 2,300 miles away from the coast of America, almost 5,000 miles away from China, over 5,200 miles away from the Philippines and over 3,800 miles from Japan. This makes it one of the most isolated places in the world to live in.
• Hundreds of years ago, under water volcanoes erupted and caused the formation of the Islands of Hawaii.
• Stretching east to west, Hawaii is the widest state in America and is the only state that grows coffee.
• Hawaii has it's own time zone.
• Hawaii is home to many different ethnic backgrounds, including Japanese-Americans, Caucasians, Filipino-Americans and Chinese-Americans.
• Mauna Loa is the active volcano in Hawaii and is the most active volcano and largest volcano in the world.

There are positives and negatives about every place in the world. In Hawaii, negatives include earthquakes, volcanic activity and tsunamis due to the volcanos present. This is what I'll be mostly discussing in this article. Most of the volcanic activity is moderate in Hawaii. What I mean by that is the eruptions aren't explosive normally. Usually there is a mostly quiet and smooth flow of lava. However there is a danger of lots of lava surfacing and flowing down steep slopes many miles away from it's source.

In 1950, the volcano Mauna Loa erupted and destroyed the village of Ho'okena-mauka. Luckily the people living there got out in time. Kilauea has caused destruction in the past and is said to cause more in the future. Its most recent big eruption lasted for 3 years and buried 8 miles of roads and caused lots of damage in towns and villages nearby. It destroyed nearly 200 houses along it's southern coastal flank.

The United States Geological Survey closely monitor all volcanic activity in Hawaii and educate it's civilians to ensure their safety. The people of Hawaii who live near the volcanos may suffer from occasional volcanic smog, minor and major earthquakes and tsunamis, but thanks to the USGS they adjust their lifestyles to where they live in order to stay safe around volcanos. They are educated to know what to do in case of an emergency evacuation and are therefore able to live alongside volcanoes happily.

Nomadic People of the Sahara Desert.
Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuareg_people

photo credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Sahara_satellite_hires.jpg

Now I'm going to look at life in the Sahara Desert, famous for being the biggest desert after the Arctic and Antarctica, this desert is not one you'd want to get lost in. It stretches for almost 10,000,000 square kilometres and takes up 8% of the earth's land area.

Facts

• 2 million people live in the Sahara. These are mostly nomadic people who travel around the desert.
• Temperatures in the Sahara drop at night time to below freezing and during the day can climg to as hot as 57 degrees celsius.
• It is said the Sahara desert is 30% sand and 70% gravel.
• The highest point in the Sahara desert is a volcano in northern Chad called Emi Koussi. It stands almost 3,450 meters tall.
• The average rainfall in the Sahara desert is 2.3inches per year.
• The most common animals that are domesticated in the Sahara desert are goats and camels.
• The climate adjusts the size of the Sahara desert.
• Below the surface of the desert are water sources called aquifers. Aquifers sometimes resurface and form oases.

Life in the Sahara desert is very tough as you can imagine. People who live in the Sahara grow crops on land that has been irrigated in an oasis. Some others herd goats, sheep and camels in search for grass which has grown due to recent rainfall or is situated along the fringe of the desert. These people live in collapsable tents so they can move fast once the grass has been eaten.

To protect themselves from the sun, Nomadic people living in the Sahara  wear long robes made out of wool called barracans, turbans, and sandals to protect their feet from the burning ground. Water is very scarce and very precious, and nomads trade the commodities they make/find themselves (wool, animal hide and fruits) at markets in villages. They eat fruits that grow on trees in the oases like dates, and make cheese out of goat's milk or camel's milk.

Villages are spread out in the Sahara where there is an oasis. Now, in these villages there are places for the Nomads to rest and trade. Nowadays some villages look like cities and transport to these places has improved.

Siberia

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Siberian_Plain#/media/File:Západn%C3%AD_Sibi
ř.png
Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit#/media/File:Inuit-Kleidung_1.jpg

Next post is going to be about Siberia, Russia. This is one of the harshest environments to live in on Earth, if not the harshest.

Here are a few facts you may not know about Siberia.

• Siberia takes up 77% of Russia and stretches out for 13.1 million square kilometres. 
• The highest point in Siberia is the volcano (which is active) called Klyuchevskaya Sopka, located on the Kamchatka Peninsula. It is 15,253ft tall. This is the equivalent  to 10.4 empire state buildings stacked on top of each other.
• 40 million people live in Siberia, it's population density is in and around 3 people per square kilometre. Siberia is one of the most sparsely populated regions in the world.
• The majority of land in Siberia is a boreal forest/snow forest called taiga. It mostly consists of pines, spruce trees and larch trees. To the north there is artic tundra and to the south, a temperate forest.
• Weather in Siberia does vary considerably. There are short summers and long winters. The average temperature is 0.5 degrees centigrade. In the summer the highest is around 20 degrees centigrade, in the winter however, it can drop to as low as -71 degrees centigrade.

There are many tribes of people living and travelling around Siberia. Some examples include the Dolgan, Khanty, Nenets and Chukchi people. These people travel in sleighs pulled by reindeer or dogs (Siberian Huskies). They set up tents made out of reindeer skin and herd reindeer. They wear animal furs and skins to protect themselves from the bitterly cold temperatures that freeze your moustache and your eyebrows if you're outside too long!


Lets talk about the clothes Siberian Eskimos wear to survive. Anyone own a parka? Eskimos wear layers of parkas made of caribou hide, they also have a couple of fur lined hoods which keep your head and face warm in the cold. They wear layers of mittens also made from deer hide. Eskimos even incorporated seal skin in. Often they wore big, heavy, well-insulated boots made of fur and seal skin.


If you're a vegetarian I wouldn't advise joining an Inuit tribe because surprisingly there aren't many quinoa salads lying around in Siberia. The Inuits in Siberia, just like other Inuit tribes, travel and survive on the land. Their diet includes reindeer, seal, narwhal, walruses or anything they can catch.

So to kick it off, I'm starting with Australia. This Christmas I went and visited Perth, Melbourne, Armadale, Sydney, the Gold Coast and Cairns and I was blown away by how gorgeous Australia is. I hope I can go back again and visit more of it.

Satellite image of Australia

Here are a few facts about Australia:

• There are presently over 23 million people living in Australia.
• Capital city: Canberra. Biggest city: Sydney
• Total area of Australia: 7,692,024km squared. Ireland could fit in Australia 91 times!
• It is the worlds biggest Island and smallest continent. There are three different time zones in Australia.

Australians have adjusted to life in Australia very well, from waterproof currency (for all you surfers out there!) to knowing which spiders are harmless and which are lethal. I was very impressed by how safe it is in Australia despite the threat of poisonous snakes and salt water crocodiles. The Australian Government have made it so that it's safe to explore and observe the beauty of Australia. As long as you obey the signs and have a bit of common sense!

 One of the most important things the Australian Government has done is educate it's citizens on the dangers of the sun and the importance of wearing strong sunblock and covering up when going out in the sun to prevent bad sunburn and skin cancer (the most common type of cancer in Australia). The Australian sun is very strong and unforgiving. According to the Australian Cancer Council, 2 in 3 Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer before the age of 70, and more people die from skin cancer than transport accidents every year in Australia.

Main Beach in Southport, Queensland

So what have they done to help?

Uniform regulations in Australia require students to wear wide rimmed hats, wear shirts with high collars and sleeves down to their elbows and wear shorts or skirts down to their knees. The fabrics should be loose and closely woven to prevent as much sun exposure to your skin as possible.

Schools all over Australia (especially at primary level) are encouraged to join their SunSmart Schools program. Just like we have Green-schools in Ireland.

In order to reach the SunSmart status, primary schools must do the following:

• Schedule outdoor activities to when the sun's UV rays aren't at their peak.
• Have a written sun protection code hanging in the school that meets basic standards relating to environment, behaviour and curriculum. 
• Teach students about the importance of protection from the sun.
• Agree to check ups and policy reviews performed by their local SunSmart organisation and adjust their sun protection guidelines to meet the standards of the SunSmart organisation.
• Work to create more shade.

The Australian Cancer Council has also created the 'Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide' sun protection measures to increase awareness and help children know what to do when they're in the outdoors. 

Applications are available in the App Store which alert you when UV rays are at their peak. Alerts are also found in Australian newspapers in the weather section.

Aussies are very outdoorsy and everyday, people go out to surf, dive, waterski, hike, camp, fish, canoe, parachute, snorkel, sky-dive, bush-walk, bike, the list is endless. And why wouldn't they? If you live in a place as gorgeous as Australia with Tropical rain forests, mountains and of course the Great Barrier reef it would be very hard not to be outside all the time. 

Cape Tribulation, Northern Queensland

Due to the currents, riptides and dangerous marine life in Australia, water safety is very important and taken very seriously. Ways that Australians stay safe, be it simply swimming in the sea or catching some waves, is by having fully qualified lifeguards on patrol and recommending to the public to only swim in patrolled waters. 

I always felt very safe swimming in the sea when I was in Australia because no matter what there was always a lifeguard watching. At the beach there was a sign beside the lifeguard's chair that stated the surf conditions and UV ray peak times. There were also colour coded flags stating the strength of the surf, and whether or not there were any dangerous marine life around. 

Dangerous marine life, as you can imagine, can be a problem for swimming in Australia. Animals like saltwater crocs, sharks and jellyfish inhabit Australian waters and while they don't target humans they can do serious damage if encountered.

Great White Shark

One jellyfish in particular is a big problem. The Box jellyfish has killed over 5,000 people since 1954 and has enough venom in it to kill 60 adult humans. It's 15 tentacles can grow to be 3 meters long and are covered in half a million poison filled teeny tiny darts. 

Box Jellyfish

But wait theres more! A sting from one of these guys is known to be so painful that victims often die of cardiac arrest or drown before they have any access to an anti venom. Even if you survive the sting, the pain and scar will stay with you long after it happens. The summer season is when the jellyfish come in to Aussie beaches to breed because the water is warmest at this time. Pretty bad timing right?

So the Australian Government put big, long nets in the water. Some stretch along the coast for miles and others cover a square mile of water to it keep shark/jellyfish-free and perfect for swimming.

Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia.

Overall my trip to Australia was a blast and I'd definitely recommend sitting through over 15 hours of flying because the reward of visiting this amazing place is definitely worth it.

The Sydney Opera House