Australian's take their sport seriously. This fact is reinforced by the degree of success experienced by Australian athletes in the international arena. Many experts believe that the climate and the healthy lifestyle generally enjoyed by the Australian population provides the perfect breeding ground for our athletes.

As in most countries around the world sports have their strong supporters in various states. The most popular spectator sport is Australia Rules Football. This is a high speed, extremely physical sport mostly played in the cooler Southern climates of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. It is a difficult sport to describe but it is entertaining to watch. Australians are very vocal about their favourite teams, with supporters showing up in large numbers during the cooler winter months to watch the teams do battle.

The pinnacle of the sporting year for the Australian Rules Teams is the Grand Final which see the two best teams in a playoff.

In New South Wales and Queensland Rugby League is the most popular sport. Every year there is a major tournament called the "State of Origin" which sees the best New South Wales players put into one team to play a matching Queensland team. Three games are played and the winner takes home the coveted State of Origin Cup for 12 months until the process is repeated.

Cricket is also extremely popular with the Australian Team having a lot of success in recent years. There is considerable rivalry between Australia and any other cricket playing country and Australians can tend to be a bit one eyed when it comes to supporting not only their cricket team but all of their sporting teams.

Australians play many other sports. In fact there are over 5.5 million people (over 25% of the population) registered to play organised sport on a regular basis. Over 44% of Australians attend sporting matches on a regular basis. The most popular organised form of physical activity in Australia is Aerobics.

If you are travelling to Australia and you are interested in a particular sport there are plenty of opportunities to visit a local match (depending on the game and the season) during your stay. Local newspapers are the best source of information to find out what is going on.

Please remember that Australia is an extremely large continent. Whilst it may be snowing in the mountains of NSW it is tropical and balmy in the far north. This means that virtually all sports are played throughout the country at various times of the year.