Sydney boasts the finest natural harbor in the world, comprising sandstone headlands, white sandy beaches and endless surf. Melbourne’s Victorian grace and easygoing charm belies a dynamic city that hosts the nation’s premier sporting and cultural events. Brisbane, the river city, is gateway to the tropical northeast, Adelaide is an impossibly well laid-out city oozing grandeur, while Perth is young, brash

and alluring.

Australia may be an island, but it is also the world’s largest one, encompassing a range of stunning landscapes, from immense, barren deserts to tropical rainforests and rugged mountains. Isolated from other continents, Australia has an abundance of unique plant and animal life recognizable by cuddly koalas, bounding kangaroos and ungainly emus.

One of the country’s greatest lures is its sense of space. A beach, patch of tropical forest or piece of sandy desert all to yourself is an easy reality. Watersports are ferociously popular, especially surfing. The hulking form of Uluru (Ayers Rock), an impossibly large rock plonked in the middle of Australia that soaks up the reds and oranges of the outback’s fiery sun, is Australia’s most iconic image.

Captain Cook stumbled onto Australian shores in 1770 to find an Aboriginal way of life that went back some 40,000 years. By 1868, Britain had sent more than 160,000 convicts to Australia.

Experiencing the culture of Australia’s indigenous population is one of the great highlights of a visit. Many tensions still exist between mainstream Australia and its indigenous people. The first European settlers treated the Aboriginal population with appalling brutality, which gave way to racist and cruel policies from subsequent administrations. However, the slow march towards reconciliation was given a boost in 2007 with the new government’s promise of a formal apology.

Geography
Australia is bounded by the Arafura and Timor Seas to the north, the Coral and Tasman Seas of the South Pacific to the east, the Southern Ocean to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the west. Its coastline, including islands, covers 59,736km (37,119 miles).

Most of the population has settled along the eastern and southeastern coastal strip. Australia is the smallest continent (and the largest island) in the world. About 40% of the continent is within the tropics and Australia is almost the same size as the mainland of the United States of America. The terrain is extremely varied, ranging from baking red desert to lush green rainforest. Australia’s beaches and surfing are world-renowned, while the country is also rich in reminders of its long history: these range from prehistoric Aboriginal art to Victorian colonial architecture.

The landscape consists mainly of a low plateau mottled with lakes and rivers and skirted with coastal mountain ranges, highest in the east with the Great Dividing Range. There are rainforests in the far northeast (mainly in Queensland). The southeast is a huge fertile plain. Further to the north lies the enormous Great Barrier Reef, a 2,000km (1,200-mile) strip of coral that covers a total area of 345,000 sq km (133,000 sq miles).

Although Australia is among the driest lands on Earth, it nevertheless has enormous snowfields, the size of Switzerland. There are vast mineral deposits. More detailed geographical descriptions of each state can be found in the individual state entries.Australia’s main tourist attractions are Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, the Gold Coast of Queensland and Uluru (Ayers Rock), in the rugged outback of the Northern Territory. Other attractions in the continent range from the wild flowers of Western Australia to the vineyards of the Barossa Valley, and from Western Australia’s ghost towns to the remarkable wildlife on the island of Tasmania. It is possible to visit the relatively undisturbed Aboriginal communities on Bathurst and Melville Islands, about 80km (50 miles) north of Darwin, providing valuable insights into the continent’s

ancient indigenous culture. The Australian coastline has thousands of miles of beautiful beaches. Information on resorts, excursions, places of interest, sports and activities within Australia is given under each individual State section.

Norfolk Island
Situated 1700km (1056 miles) off the east coast of Australia, Norfolk Island is not part of any State but is instead administered by the Australian government. The island is best reached by air from Sydney. Its history as one of the world’s harshest penal colonies has left the island with some of Australia’s finest Georgian colonial architecture. Many of the island’s small population are directly related to the mutineers of HMS Bounty who settled in the area. A variety of accommodation is available. There is excellent bushwalking and the island boasts 40 different plants and animals that are unique to the island.