About 84% of Australia’s 19 million people huddle in cities around the coast covering a mere 1% of this vast continent. The reason is simple: Much of Australia is harsh Outback country, characterized by savannah land, spectacular rocky outcrops, hifting deserts, and dry salt lakes. In these parts of the country, the soil is poor, the rainfall scarce, and some rivers don’t even make it to the ocean. The roads that traverse the interior are sometimes barely worthy of the name, and most people choose air travel or stick to the coastal fringe.
In spectacular contrast, on the coast—particularly the east, where most people live—Nature’s bounty has almost overdone it. Here, Australia is blessed with one of the greatest natural attractions in the world—the Great Barrier Reef. There are also rainforests in Queensland, alpine scenery in Tasmania, wildflowers in Western Australia, rolling wine country in South Australia, a great coastal drive in Victoria,
Bird-filled wetlands in the Northern Territory, and countless sand beaches more or less everywhere.
Australia is made up of six states—New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania—and two internal “territories”—the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory. The national capital is Canberra, in the ACT.
No comments:
Post a Comment