Visiting Australia

G'day, travelers!  How are you today? I'm writing this entry about Australia because I think it's a very interesting country with breathtaking views and interesting animals. If you're an animal lover like me, you'll love this country!

1. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

Australia map divided by regions
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Australia is the sixth biggest country in the world in size, and it's situated on the Oceania continent. It's full of uncharted lands and incredible species. The capital of this country is Canberra. There are approximately 25 million people living in Australia, in a geographical size of 7,6668 million kilometers.

What languages do they speak? Well, your first thought was English, right? You're half right! They also speak aboriginal languages, because they were the original inhabitants of Oceania.

2. RELIEF, HIDROGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

Some people call Australia the biggest island in the world, and with rightful reasons, because it's surrounded by water; in fact, there are over 34,000 kilometers of coastal areas. If you're looking for a place where you can practice watersports you're in luck!

There are many climates present in this country. First, we have tropical jungles; secondly, incredible mountain ranges; thirdly, a huge desert which is the biggest territory. Also, if you didn't know, Australia is the driest inhabited continent, so that's the reason why most people live in coastal areas.

Uluru montains
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However, I think one of the most important natural landmarks is the Great Barrier Reef, which is the biggest in the world, and with a good reason. It has a very diverse biodiversity, and honestly, it's amazing.

The Great Barrier Reef
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About the climate, it's pretty hot with frequent droughts. In fact, a big part of the land of Australia is composed of deserts and semi-arid. Only the South-east and South-west corners have fertile soil. As a fun fact, Australia holds most of the highest temperature records. Therefore, rainfall is not very common, and nowadays with the problem of the climate change, even less.

3. FLORA AND FAUNA

Quokka
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We all know koalas, but there are many more animals in Australia. Some of them aren't so cute. Surely you remember when the Spanish actress Elsa Pataky who lives in Australia killed a huge spider, right? That's Australia to you, there you can see the biggest spiders and tarantulas in the world.

Also, Australia is the country with most marsupials. There are over 100 species beyond kangaroos. Some other animals that are well-known are dingos, wombats, quokkas, platypuses, possums...there are a lot of them, and most of them are very interesting. 

But it doesn't end at marsupials, you also have many reptiles, fishes, tarantulas and so on. Australia is, without a dobut, one of the most interesting places to visit if you're an animal lover, because there are animals that you hadn't ever seen in your life. That's rad.

Clownfish
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What about the flora? If we get into numbers, we have over 20,000 different types of plants. In fact, Australia is considered a megadiverse country, that is, it's one of the locations with most biodiversity on Earth. However, other nearly places such as New Guinea and others do not share the same floral kingdom. A floral kingdom is how the vegetation is divided on Earth.

There are different categories: vascular, non-vascular plants and funghi. There are over 30,000 vascular species, between 10,000-12,000 non-vascular plants and over 250,000 fungal species. Yes, there are too much funghi. Some plants that can be found are: Tropical Bamboo, over 800 orchid species, mosses and more.

Laccocephalum mylittae, a type of edible fungi eaten by Aboriginal people
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4. GASTRONOMY

Like other countries with a long tradition of inmigration, so it's natural that dishes from another countries have made their way to Australia. Some influences include British food, Chinese meals and more. Since the dawn of globalization there are many more fast food chains from other countries, mainly from the United States. Also, there is fusion cuisine called Modern Australian, where they mix classic dishes with contemporary food.

Fairy Bread
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Some well-known foods from this country apart from fairy bread are: meat pies, fish and chips with dimmies (did you notice the British influence?), Aussie BBQ and the classic coffe "flat white". As you can notice, there is much foreign influence since the days of the Aboriginals.

Meat Pie
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Also, if you didn't know...yes, they eat kangaroo and crocodile meat. It makes sense but it's interesting to point it out, nevertheless. Why? Because Aboriginal people used to eat them before conolizers came to Australia.

5. HISTORICAL AND PATRIMONIAL DETAILS

Many people have lived in Australia for a long time. The oldest inhabitants were the Aboriginal people, which were living in this country over 40,000 years ago. 4,000 years ago, The Torres Strait Islander people arrived in the continent.

However, what became of Australia today is due to the influence of the colonization during the 18th century by the British people. However, the first non-Indonesian people who set foot on the country were Dutch explorers during the 17th century. 

Landing of Thomas Cook on April 1770.
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Thomas Cook was the first British explorer to set foot on this land. The name may ring a bell, because he was the father of the touristic tours we know today.

After the loss of American colonies during the later 18th century, the British Empire created a new penal colony on New South Wales, where the Union Flag was raised at Sidney Cove on 26th January 1788 (Australia's National Day). There were many political conflicts, and due to the spread of unknown diseases for the Aboriginal people, their population decreased during the nex 150 years.

The expansion of the colony came to fruition during the 19th century, and on the later half the schools applied discriminating policies on Aboriginal children, not letting them have the same education In the year 1901 the Commonwealth was established, and Australia was part of it as it was a former British colony. Nowadays it's still part of it, and they're royal subjects of the King of England.

Aboriginal rock painting
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Getting into the topic of patrimonial details, there are over 100,000 Aboriginal rock sites, and they are very interesting. In the picture you can click on the source link and see the 7 best ones. There's also the Australian Impressionist movement (or Heidelberg School) during the 19th century composed of artists such as Tom Roberts.

However, if you're a music junkie like me you'll already know bands like Silverchair, Midnight Oil and AC/DC. On Australian grounds you can visit the places where these bands formed.

By the way, if you didn't know movies like Mad Max and Crocodile Dundee were filmed in Australia. Yes, not every blockbuster is from the USA.

6. MAIN TOURIST DESTINATIONS

Are you looking for adventure and enjoy nature? Australia is your place, then. There a lot of nature to visit and watersports to practice. I've selected four places that I think that are really Australia's best. Fun fact, only one is not based in nature!

Great Barrier Reef (Queensland)

Great Barrier Reef
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It is one of the seven wonders of the world. It stretches over 3,000 km. Amazing, right? If you love watersports, this is the place for you. There you can do activities like scuba diving and snorkelling.

Sydney Opera House (New South Wales)

Sydney Opera House
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The Sydney Opera House opened in 1973 as is one of Australia's most iconic buildings. It is a must-see tourist attraction.

Uluru Mountain (Northern Australia)

Uluru Mountain
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It is also known as Ayers Rock and it's sacred to the indigenous people. Here you can do a tour with an indigenous guide who can tell you everything about this sacred place. 

Maria Island (Tasmania)

Maria Island
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If you're looking for a very interesting national park, here you go. You can see the incredible mountains and beaches, and even the whales on their annual migration if you're lucky!


Australia is an amazing country worth visiting, don't miss it.

This is the end of this post, I hope you enjoyed this breakthrough through Australia. See you soon!