I was just checking the list of registered teams and noticed that not only are there now exactly 1000 (!) teams registered for 2005, but there is a new team hailing from Perth, Western Australia! :ahh:
Team 1681 - University of Western Australia & Chisholm Catholic College
They are currently registered for the Buckeye Regional in Cleveland, Ohio.
I’d like to welcome Australia to the official FIRST community!
This is true. I believe this is a team founded by 461 alumni (still in highschool) Nelson DeSouza, unless there is more than one Australia team.
I commend the Australia team for coming out hear to compete. Huge commitment, as I believe Build Season is on their summer break?
Is 461 from Ohio? Why else would an Australian team come to Ohio, rather than a West coast regional.
Well… we soon shall see.
Welcome to the games Australia!
This is awesome… First a regional in Israel… now team from Australia.
i can see one regional at a lot of other countries, probably by 2010, there will be about 100s of regionals.
Welcome to FIRST team 1681. 
this is very cool news!!!
welcome to a great community of ppl!!
i hope they dont’ have trouble shipping their robots— our school has a hard time getting textbooks for ib from australia for lovely math methods (i’m sry to the class of 06 for that problem)–all well it’s all good
FIRST is getting so big and it’s just great
Correct…build season is during our summer vacation…I imagine it would be, too , in australia…
back on topic…this is soooo great, an australian team!!! and a potential international partner, i’d hope…
No, Team 461 is from that equally *boring* and *uninteresting* state known as "Indiana". :rolleyes: Actually, I'm surprised they haven't found a spot for the Australian team at the Boilermaker Regional. Well I'm personally thrilled that, for now, they're planning on coming to the Buckeye State, and I look forward to meeting them in person. I'd also like to see if there's anything we can do to help them out ahead of time. If anyone has any contact information for Team 1681, could you please PM it to me?
Wherever they end up going, it's great to see FIRST spread to yet another country/continent!
Travis,
Have your main contact enter the TIMS system, and plug in the team number to obtain contact info. As long as our Australian friends entered the info for public display, it should be viewable. I think offering them support now is key!
The coolest thing this season is the amount of foreign teams that have joined FIRST. Like the French team that is going to Chicago. The sudden explosion of Brazilian teams (6 of them going to New Jersey) the continued strong growth of teams in Canada (including teams outside of Ontario). A new team in England ( at Chesepeak) and a team in Ecuador. FIRST has truly become an international sensation.
This is so cool! I’m excited now, though I don’t even know this team nor are they coming anywhere close to Maryland. But welcome, Team 1681! =)
So basicly only Africa and Antarctica don’t have teams now…
There are no teams in Asia.
I beg to differ
Which team?
Israeli teams, all 11 of them
That’s Asia? I’ve always considered Isreal closer to Africa than Asia.
we border africa
oh.
you learn something new everyday.
very true, yesterday I learned that those cigarette lighters that plug into the car heat up very very fast.
my thumb is extra crispy
And where do I find it in the new TIMS system? It’s either buried really deep somewhere or I’m just blind. :ahh:
Also, awesome to hear about this new team from Australia! In a few years we’ll have a Hemispheres competition in Equator or some Pole 
And seems Cyber Blue and Chris Fultz will have a hard time trying to find American partners for all those new teams. What a huge leap for the FIP’s! 