Australia

Geography: Australia has a area about 7,682.300 square kilometres, on this kilometres live about 15 Millions people. Australia is the sixth largest country of the world after Russia, Canada, China, the US and Brazil. It lies between the Indian Ocean on the north-west, west and south and the Pacific Ocean on the north and south. The coastline consisting of tranquil bays and wonderful beaches is about 40.000km long. Australia occupies one of the oldest landmasses, the highest point: Mt. Kosciuszko being 2223m in the Australian Alps between NSW and Victoria. The longest river, originating in Queensland, is the Darling measuring 2.736 km

States and Territories: Australia consists of six states, they each have a capital city - New South Wales/Sydney, Victoria/Melbourne, Queensland/Brisbane, South Australia/Adelaide, Western Australia/Perth and Tasmania/Hobart - and two territories, they have also capital cities; the Northern Territory/Darwin and the Australian Capital Territory/Canberra.

Capital: of Australia is not the largest city Sydney - the capital is Canberra in the Territory Australian Capital Territory.

Climate: Fact is, Australia's seasons are the opposite of the

northern hemisphere - summer starts in December, autumn in March, winter in June and spring in September. Australia is the driest continent on earth. In fact in our winter you can ski in the southern states one day and be diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland the next.

Pristine Environment: Australia has more than 2.000 national parks

and nature reserves, protected wilderness areas of natural

and environment importance that range from desert lands-

cape to mountains to coastal dune and rainforests. Fill your cup!- the water is safe to drink anywhere. On the UN World Heritae List are Kakadu National Park, Uluru, Tasmanian Wilderness and many islands.

Fauna: Whales migrate from Antarctica during winter to warmer

waters off Australia. The Great Barrier Reef along the east coast off Queensland is the longest and most complex living system in the world an provides a habitat for a wide range of marine animals.  The kangaroo is the symbol of Australia. They and the wallabies are found throughout the zoogeographic region. The koala, quite similar to a toy teddy bear, is a member of the phalanger family. The koala bears, with is sleepy and slow reaction, has more than a superficial resemblance to the sloth of South America. Australia has a widespread reptile fauna of snakes, crocodiles and turtles. On of the approximately 150 specie of Australian snakes, the taipan is the largest of the venomous group. The Queensland python attains a length of about 6 meters. About 80% snakes in Australia are venomous. The venomoustest snake are the TIEGEROTTER, the bite from it is almost (nearly) always (all the time) fatal (deadly).

The Aborigines: The Aboriginal human inhabitants of Australia,

however, came from south-east Asia. The arrival of Europeans in Australia was a disaster for the Aborigines. When European settlement began in the late 18^th century, there were perhaps as many as 1,200.000 Aborigines living in the continent. Many Aborigines were driven away from water holes and hunting ground, in the south and east, and died of hunger and thirst. Many were killed outright. In Victoria an Aboriginal population of more than 10.000 was reduced to 2.000 in 30 years. By 1921 the total Aboriginal population in Australia had declined to 60.000.

Famous Sights in Australia

The Great Barrier Reef: The Great Barrier Reef has a long

about 2.500 kilometres from Cape York in the north and Bundaberg in the south. The scope of the reef is enormous - larger than the combined total area of Ireland and the United Kingdom. There are over 1.000 islands with beautiful soft sandy beaches in the Great Barrier Reef.

The Reef is ideal for scuba diving and for snorkelling. You can go to many reefs on day trips from towns on the coast, or you can spend a few days on one of the beautiful islands.

Kakadu National Park: is in the northern Australia. The park is 6.000 square kilometres (this is over 2.000 km larger than the Burgenland) and there are lots of things to see. There are wonderful cave paintings, which may be more than 20.000 years old, and there are waterfalls.

Ayers Rock/Uluru: Ayers Rock is a huge, rounded, red sandstone

monolith 9.4 kilometres in circumference and rising to a height of over 348 metres above the plain. About 32 kilometres to the west of Ayers Rock. From the top there is a wonderful view. But for the Aborigines, Uluru is a holy place and they do not really like it when tourists climb on it.

Sydney: is the largest and oldest city in Australia. It's most

beautiful city in the world. There are lots of parks and from the many hills you have a wonderful view of the blue sea. The most famous building in Sydney is the opera house. It looks like a huge sailing boat. There's not only an opera house, but there is also a concert hall, two theatres and library.