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 18th
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.
