Australia
Talk about prison reform. Send a bunch of criminals to an enormous island paradise and see what happens in a hundred or so years. If you like beaches, sun, waterfalls, gorges, adventure, fascinating animals, and friendly, laid-back people, Australia is the place for you.
Australia is the lowest, flattest and second driest, with Antarctica being the driest, continent in the world. Roughly the same size of the coast-to-coast contiguous United States with about 8% of its population, Australia is one of the least densely populated countries and 85% of its residents live along the coast, primarily the east coast. The island continent has 8,222 islands.
With by far the most national parks of any country in the world, opportunities for rough road adventures, hiking, and Outback exploring abound in Australia. The wildlife is diverse and, aside from some ill-fated imported invasive species, most of the animals are not found anywhere else. The only egg laying mammals on earth, the platypus and the echidna, are native to the land Down Under. Kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, wombats, dingoes, emus, quokkas, and Tasmanian devils are among the fascinating creatures endemic to Australia.
Next door are such exotic places as Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands.
There are 500 different Indigenous (Aboriginal) groups in Australia, each with its own language and territory. They trace their origins to the Dreamtime when the earth was first dreamed (created). The Dreaming is the belief that human society was started long ago and there are places and paths with sacred significance. It is a very poetic concept.
Before invasion by Europeans, the Indigenous Australians lived a nomadic hunter gatherer tribal life close to the earth in a similar way as Native Americans. Unlike Native Americans, they were not herded into reservations by the government, however, much of their population was wiped out by diseases brought by Europeans, land was taken away, and there has been injust treatment and a cycle of poverty and crime.
Developed by the Aboriginal peoples of Australia about 1,000 years ago, the froggy sounding didgeridoo is one of the oldest instruments in the world. A cylindrical or conical wind instrument, most are around four feet long and some ten feet. Select the link to hear some didgeridoo.
Folk music is part of Australia’s colonial past and the bush ballad “Waltzing Matilda” is considered an unofficial national anthem. Select the title to hear it sung by Australian folk singer Slim Dusty. The children’s song “Kookaburra,” about a bird who makes a laughing sound, is part of the worldwide campfire singing Girl Scout culture. If you make a long rolled “r,” you can encourage a kookaburra to laugh.
When I was growing up, Air Supply, the Little River Band, Men at Work, and Olivia Newton John were among pop performers from Australia. The opera legend Joan Sutherland also hailed from the land Down Under.
Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973, the only Australian Nobel Prize for Literature winner to date. In 1901, Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin published My Brilliant Career under the name Miles Franklin and the story later became a motion picture. For a look at growing up in the Outback, read The Road From Coorain by Jill Ker Conway. For more information about Australian writers, select 8 Australian Writers You Should Know and Eight new Australian writers you should read. Should is not one of my favorite words, but I liked the articles.
Australia is known for its vegemite sandwiches, perhaps because this was part of a well-known song lyric about life in the land down under. Vegemite is spread on toast and crackers in cautiously thin quantities because it is a strong mixture of yeast extract with vegetable and spice additives. The national food is roast lamb, often enjoyed for a Sunday dinner. For more information about Australian foods, select Australian Food, the Most Iconic Australian Cuisine.
Australia consists of six states, two territories, and a number of island territories. Australian Antarctic Territory is larger than Australia at 2,276,700 square miles (5,896,500 square kilometers) in area.
Following is a walk through the regions of Australia with information about specific places of interest. Select the highlighted words to learn more:
WESTERN AUSTRALIA is roughly the size of Alaska and Texas combined.
Perth is the youthful capital city of Western Australia, population 2,041,959 in 2020, with a relaxed atmosphere and sunny beaches
Rottnest Island is a car-free nature reserve just off the coast of Perth known as the home of “the happiest animal in the world:” the quokka.
The Pinnacles at Nambung National Park is a surreal landscape of limestone formations and shifting sand dunes just north of Perth.
Monkey Mia at Shark Bay is the place to go for a dolphin experience and to see aquatic life.
Ningaloo Reef is where you can swim with a whale shark.
Karijini National Park has gorges, swimming holes, camping.
Margaret River is south of Perth and has vineyards, galleries, ans limestone caves.
Lake Hillier is a bright pink lake right next to a white sand beach along turquoise waters on Middle Island off the southern coast of Western Australia.
Nullabor Plain is an area in southeast Western Australia and southwest South Australia with surreal landscapes and the longest straight road on earth. The word Nullabor means “no trees” in Latin. There are camels, emus, wombats, and kangaroos in the limestone region of the Nullabor Plain.
Great Victoria Desert is the largest desert in Australia and the eighth largest in the world. Gibson Desert is in central Western Australia.
Great Sandy Desert is in the northern part of the state. Select the name of the desert to see Great Sandy Desert sand dune movement images from space.
The Kimberley is a region of gorges, waterfalls, swimming holes, four-wheel drive rough roading in the northern part of Western Australia
The Gibb River Road provides 660 kilometers (410 miles) of Outback four-wheel drive water crossings adventure with plenty of waterfalls, gorges, and swimming holes. Here is a Map of the Gibb River Road.
Broome is a beach town in the Kimberley region known for pearling and camel rides.
Horizontal Falls is an intriguing natural phenomenon along the north coast of Western Australia.
Purnululu (Bungle Bungle) National Park in northeastern Western Australia has karst sandstone domes.
NORTHERN TERRITORY has five regions: Darwin (The Top End), East Arnhem, Katherine, Barkly Tableland (grasslands), Alice Springs (the Red Centre). Northern Territory is larger than Texas and about 100,000 square miles smaller than Alaska.
The Top End
Darwin is the capital and largest city in NT with a population around 140,000. On the Timor Sea, it is the gateway to Southeast Asia, providing a link to Indonesia and East Timor. The wettest city in Australia, it has a tropical climate with roughly the same temperature all year round. The sunny dry season is from May to September and the wet season with monsoon downpours and cyclones begins in late November. The last cyclone to hit was Cyclone Tracy on Christmas morning 1974. The area was named Port Darwin in honour of former shipmate Charles Darwin in 1839 when HMS Beagle arrived. Darwin Harbor was bombed by the Japanese during WWII with the same aircraft carriers that bombed Pearl Harbor two months before. The waters surrounding Darwin have deadly box jellyfish, saltwater crocodiles, riptides, and dangerous currents. Because of these dangers, instead of beaches, there are cruise and waterpark options to enjoy the tropical climate and see the beautiful views safely. The Larrakia people are the original inhabitants of the Darwin area. In ancient times, they had trading routes with Southeast Asia. They refer to themselves as “Saltwater People” because of their close relationship with the sea.
Crocosaurus Cove is an attraction in Darwin with one of the world’s largest displays of Australian reptiles.
Nearby Crocodylus Park has more than a thousand freshwater and saltwater crocodiles, and also meerkats, lions, tigers, monkeys, tortoises, chameleons, lizards, snakes and dingoes.
Parap Village Market and Mindil Sunset Market (April – October) and two outdoor market and event locations in Darwin.
Deckchair Cinema in Darwin is an opportunity to watch movies from a deckchair outside overlooking the harbour.
Tiwi Islands is “The Island of Smiles” that is actually two islands just off the coast of Darwin.
Kakadu National Park with Aboriginal rock art and waterfall trails is just east of Darwin.
Madjedbebe is a sandstone rock shelter in Arnhem Land surrounded by Kakadu National Park and privately owned. Madjedbebe is the site of the oldest evidence of human habitation in the country, dating possibly 80,000 to 65,000 years ago.
Litchfield National Park is a region of waterfalls and swimming holes in the Top End.
Barkly Tableland and Tenant Creek are a fascinating remote region in the Northern Territory. Select the links for more about the Barkly Tableland.
The Red Centre
Alice Springs is the town smack dab in the middle of Australia and the jumping off point for adventures in the Red Centre. Its population is roughly 28,000.
Uluru is a red sandstone arkose, a type of sandstone characterized by an abundance of feldspar. An inselberg or “island mountain” five hours southwest of Alice Springs, Uluru is believed to have formed during The Dreaming. Uluru is sacred to the indigenous people of Australia.
Kata Tjuta are rock formations with 36 domes, sacred sites dreamed by the ancestors.
MacDonnell Ranges provide more backcountry adventures. Select the links for more about the MacDonnell Ranges.
QUEENSLAND is nicknamed the Sunshine State. Humid and subtropical with mangrove beaches, Queensland is larger than Alaska and 2.5 times the size of Texas. One quarter of Queensland’s inhabitants are immigrants. The Great Dividing Range, Australia’s largest mountain range, goes from North to South through Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.
Brisbane is the capital and largest city in the Sunshine State with a population of 2,406,182 in 2020.
Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost point in mainland Australia and its tip is 150 kilometers from Papua New Guinea. Further north, Australia’s northernmost island, Boigu, is only five kilometers from Papua New Guinea.
Cairns is a tropical northern town with access to the Great Barrier Reef. It is noted as the best place to stay in order to snorkel and dive in the reef.
Wallaman Falls is Australia’s largest single drop waterfall at 300 meters (980 ft).
Capricorn Caves is a complex system of subterranean limestone caves including a natural cathedral.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. Visible from space, the Great Barrier Reef is over 1,400 miles long from Torres Strait to Fraser Island.
Whitsunday Islands are 74 islands in the Great Barrier Reef up the coast from Brisbane near Townsville with beautiful white sand beaches and green water.
Whitehaven Beach on the largest of the Whitsunday Islands is considered one of the world’s best beaches.
The Ngaro are the indigenous people of the Whitsundays region.
North of Brisbane, Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island, has over 100 freshwater lakes and a sand highway. Select the links for more about Fraser Island.
Noosa National Park abounds with hiking and wildlife.
Tangalooma on Moreton Island just off the coast of Brisbane offers dolphin feeding, parasailing, and pristine waters.
NEW SOUTH WALES
The oldest and most populous state in Australia, New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788.
The highest mountain, longest river, two biggest cities and capital are within NSW.
Sydney is the capital of New South Wales and the largest city in Australia with a population of 4,925,987 in 2020.
Bondi Beach is a 6 kilometer coastal walk along sandstone cliffs in the Sydney area. Crowds gather here for Christmas and New Year celebrations.
The Sydney Opera House in Darling Harbour is a World Heritage Site.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge, also known as “the coat hanger,” connects Sydney’s north shore to its central business district. Guided ascents to the top of the world’s largest steel arch bridge are available.
The Blue Mountains named for blue haze from the Eucalyptus trees, gorges, waterfalls, hiking, and the Three Sisters rock formation are just west of Sydney.
Port Stephens is a great place for dolphin watching and swimming with dolphins.
South West Rocks has beautiful sandy beaches and Trial Bay Gaol (a jail) from 1886 and Smoky Cape Lighthouse from 1891.
Byron Bay in the northern part of New South Wales just south of Brisbane has gorgeous beaches, snorkeling, and whale watching.
Budderoo National Park, south of Sydney, is known for gorgeous waterfalls and birdwatching.
Lord Howe Island is a remote island off the coast of Sydney with the world’s most southernly coral reefs.
The Australian Capital Territory with the capital city Canberra is an exclave within New South Wales with a population of an estimated 457,330 in 2020.
Jervis Bay Territory is a bit of a strange exclave within New South Wales. It came about because the Australian Capital Territory needed a port. It is a small area, 26.18 square miles, and it has the world’s whitest sand beach, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
Mount Kosciuszko and the Snowies: the highest point in Australia and the highest mountain range in Australia.
Thredbo Ski Resort is near Mount Kosciuszko.
VICTORIA, the most densely populated state in Australia, is separated from New South Wales in the north by the River Murray, the longest river in the country.
Melbourne is the cultural and cosmopolitan capital of Victoria and was the first capital of Australia before it moved to Canberra in 1927. Its population is estimated at 4,968,000 in 2020.
The Great Ocean Road is a beautiful 400 kilometer ( 249 mile) drive along the southern coast of Victoria with stunning views that include the 12 Apostles rock outcroppings.
Phillip Island is just south of Melbourne and has a penguin colony
Gippsland is a wine growing region of Victoria with a Gippsland Food and Wine Trail.
Grampians National Park is a stunning nature area in western Victoria.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA is one of the world’s leading wine producing regions. Go here for the 11 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in South Australia. Select the links for more about South Australia.
Adelaide, the city of churches, is the capital of South Australia with an estimated 2020 population of 1,336,403.
Kangaroo Island is a great place to see wildlife, especially kangaroos.
Barossa and Clare Valleys are wine producing regions.
Innes National Park is a coastal park on a peninsula west of Adelaide with sealife and emus, kangaroos and wallabies.
Lake Eyre is actually two salt water lakes, North Lake Eyre and South Lake Eyre, joined by the 15 km long Goyder Channel. The water levels fluctuate widely based on rainfall.
Coober Pedy is an opal-mining town near Lake Eyre where most inhabitants live in underground dug-outs.
TASMANIA is Australia’s only island state. Tasmania is a protected area with desert wilderness, forests, waterfalls, dolphins, penguins, seals, wombats, echidnas, and, rare for Australia, snow. Select the link for some fascinating facts about Tasmania.
Hobart is the capital of Tasmania with an estimated population of 246,970 in 2020.
Information about the 10 Deserts of Australia and Australia’s Pink Lakes can be found by selecting the links.
For a Travel Documentary 35,000 km 4×4 Road Trip around Australia and an Australia Travel Website, select the links.
For the curious, the following actors are from Australia: Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana, Guy Pearce, Chris Helmsworth, Errol Flynn.
