1. downloaded from podcastsinenglish.com
transcript level 1
Try not to look at this until you’ve done all the exercises that go with the listening.
A town called Hamilton
Jackie: For this week’s podcastsinenglish.com I’m talking to Leigh - I know
you’re Australian, where do you come from exactly?
Leigh: I come from a town called Hamilton which is a town of only about
10,000 people. It’s about 3 hours west of Melbourne in Victoria State.
Jackie: Melbourne? Where is Melbourne?
Leigh: Melbourne is in southern Australia, and it’s the capital of Victoria
State.
Jackie: Right
Leigh: So we’re about three hours west of there.
Jackie: So Hamilton’s about three hours west of Melbourne.
Leigh: It’s only a small, country town.
Jackie: Um…so what are the things you can do in Hamilton then?
Leigh: Hamilton’s …er quite a small town but it’s …er has good access to
the coast, it’s only about one hour drive down to the sea so a lot of
people do that for weekends. And also, about a half hour drive to the
Grampians which is a mountain range, bit closer to Melbourne.
Jackie: So people go walking?
Leigh: Go trekking, mountain climbing…
Jackie: So what’s the weather like there?
Leigh: The weather’s …er can be quite cold in winter, it can get down to 3
or 4 degrees during the evening. It has the four seasons so spring’s
quite pleasant, autumn’s quite pleasant. In summer it can get quite
hot – 35 to 40 degrees so…
Jackie: Are Australians very different from British people?
Leigh: Well, I think Australians and British have so much in common because
er… we have so many links to England and so I guess in terms of the
language and the way our culture is very strongly linked to England
as well, television even…
© www.podcastsinenglish.com

2. podcastsinenglish.com
Jackie: Right
Leigh: …so it’s very close.
Jackie: OK. What kind of food do Australians eat?
Leigh: Traditionally we ate a lot of …er British food I guess it was sausages,
mashed potatoes, chops and you know carrots and peas but these
days it’s very modern food blended with French and Asian food…
Jackie: OK, one more question. Is it very easy to see kangaroos and koalas?
Leigh: Kangaroos are a lot more common than koalas there, not in the city
so much but in the countryside they’re quite common, in the bush as
we call it, but in Canberra, the capital, you actually have kangaroos
often in the city itself…
Jackie: Oh really?
Leigh: …cos it’s quite a country capital, it’s a very small city surrounded by
bush and mountains and so often you’ll get kangaroos in the streets.
Jackie: Are they dangerous?
Leigh: You shouldn’t approach them I guess unless you’re in a national park.
Jackie: So a little bit. OK, great! Thanks a lot, that’s super.
Leigh: No problem.
© www.podcastsinenglish.com