Now the part i need your help on is...it says that we will be living in Brisbane. the service projects we will be doing are in sydney. Also, while we are there, we will visit Canaberra, Alice Springs, Darwin-Katherine, and Brisbane.

What are these places like?? what will the weather be like?? (it will be july and august). just to let you know, i will be there for 6 WEEKS!!!!!!!
please help me!!!!

Also, they speak english. If you saw any of Olympics you saw some of Sydney which is a wonderful city.

Until then suggest to go to 'Destinations' on this site- all kinds of info there. In your favourite 'search' engine, type Australia, enter and see what happens. If possible, visit Fraser Island - Sydney - there's a million things to do - Alice Springs - walk the maim street and observe the people - you must take a trip to Ayers Rock - stay and view the sunset - arise early and see dawn break - climb it if you must - at least walk all the way around it.
I spent 6 weeks in OZ and look back on that trip as SPECIAL,SPECIAL PLUS!
I'll keep an eye on the replies you receive.

(Note: My personal opinions only)
Living in Brisbane - a very pleasant experience, a nice city, quite laid back due to its constantly warm climate (although a lot of the locals think 25 degrees C is cold in winter and don coats). Plenty of touristy things to do.

All the places listed are quite some distance from one another. For example Canberra to Sydney by road is 4 hours, air just under 1. (They're probably the 2 that are closest to each other from those you've mentioned.) Sydney to Brisbane, couple of hours by air, loads by road. Darwin is a long flight from most anywhere, even Alice Springs (which is 450kilometres away from Ayers Rock) although only a few hours or so from Brisbane (depending on the size of the plane of course).

Sydney is a beautiful city by most people's standards. I love to visit it but could not live there again (I did once in my youth). Loads of maritime history and places of interest though and of course the harbour is just gorgeous, from any angle.

The weather will be very varied given the places you mention. It will in fact be the dead of winter, however it will still be warmish in Brisbane, Darwin. Sydney normally doesn't experience solid, cold winters although they do get cold weather throughout the season.

Here in Canberra it is cold at that time of year. End of story. That's why I always try to go north then (as do half the population!) By cold I don't mean US East Coast cold, but cold for Oz. Nightime temps usually go down to below zero celsius (sorry I'm not up on the Fahrenheit conversions anymore, lived here too long), plenty of frosts overnight and morning fog but normally beautiful clear, crisp, sunny days with max temps of low teens if we're lucky. It is a planned city (like Washington) and very organised and well laid out. Most people think it is too sterile because of that, but people that live here love it. I am always glad to get back to our clean fresh air (we are a little higher up than the coastal cities) and lack of pollution when I've been overseas (or in Sydney!)

We are also the national capital so there are a lot of 'National' things here. Library, Art Gallery, War Memorial, Parliament, Archives, High Court etc. as well as all the Foreign Embassies and Diplomatic Missions.

Alice Springs - middle of the desert. Need I say more. It also gets cold though in winter, especially overnight - there's nothing much around to keep the heat in.

Let me know if you would like some local brochures (have much more information than you can get from those at a TA) and I'd be happy to send some. Happy to answer any other questions for you too.

You'll love it down here!!!

cheers
Elaine

That on top of the difference in general terms between here like the UK, and the US(as described on an earlier post on this site which was very fascinating) - things like pavement versus footpath, bonnet versus hood (of a car) and so on - make it a great learning experience. You almost need a translation guide!

After 6 weeks you'll go home with a whole new vocabulary I'm sure!!