Country: Australia

OVERVIEW 

What firstly comes to a mind when talking about the country where you can find a kangaroo alive, of course the answer goes to -- AUSTRALIA, the sixth largest nation on earth where a discovery of a remarkable diversity of life forms seen nowhere else in the world are awaiting for you to be close!

With the capital city of Canberra and 90 % + Caucasian bodies, Australia is a perfect destination where you can enjoy just everything from its adventured activities, the animal and wildlife species to its variety of fresh food choices!
 

BASIC FACTS

Country Name-conventional long form: Commonwealth of Australia
Country Name-conventional short form: Australia
Capitol: Canberra
Flag description: blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and a large seven-pointed star in the lower hoist-side quadrant known as the Commonwealth Star, representing the federation of the colonies of Australia in 1901; the star depicts one point for each of the six original states and one representing all of Australia's internal and external territories; the remaining half is a representation of the Southern Cross constellation in white with one small five-pointed star and four larger, seven-pointed stars
Location: Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean Geographic Coordinates: 27 00 S, 133 00 E
Area: total: 7,686,850 sq km
land: 7,617,930 sq km
water: 68,920 sq km
note: includes Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island
Land boundaries: 0 km
Climate: generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north
Terrain: mostly low plateau with deserts; fertile plain in southeast
Natural Resources: bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum
Official Currency: Australia Dollar
Currency Code: AUD
Population: 19,913,144 (July 2004 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 0.9% (2004 est.)
Birth Rate: 12.4 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Death Rate: 7.38 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Ethnic Groups: Caucasian 92%, Asian 7%, aboriginal and other 1% (2004 est.)
Religions: 69% Christians, 1.94% Buddhists, 1.53% Muslims, 0.52% Hindus, 0.46% Jews, 0.3% traditional Australian Aboriginal religion
Languages: English, native languages
Military Age: 18 years of age
Literacy: definition: age 15 and above can read and write
Total population: 100%
male: 100%
female: 100%
Government: democratic, federal-state system recognizing the British monarch as sovereign
Administrative Divisions:
Independence: January 1901 (federation of UK colonies)
National Holiday: Australia Day, 26 January (1788)
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Constitution: 9 July 1900, effective 1 January 1901
Legal System: based on English common law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Head of State: Queen of Australia ELIZABETH II represented by Governor General Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Michael JEFFERY (since 11 August 2003)
Head of Government: Prime Minister John Winston HOWARD (since 11 March 1996)
Economy: capitalism
GDP: purchasing power parity - $571.4 billion (2003 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: 3% (2003 est.)
Agricultural products: wheat, barley, sugarcane, fruits; cattle, sheep, poultry
Industries: mining, industrial and transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, steel
Telephones-main line in use: 10.815 million (2003)
Telephones-mobile cellular: 14.347 million (2003)
Dialing Code: 61
Radio Broadcast Stations: AM 262, FM 345, shortwave 1 (1998)
Television Broadcast Stations: 104 (1997)
Internet Users: 9.472 million (2002)
Voltage Requirements: 220-240 volts, 50
Weights & Measures: Metric
Time Zone: GMT/UTC +10 (Eastern Standard Time), GMT/UTC +9.5 (Central Time), GMT/UTC +8 (Western Time)
Major Trading Partners: Japan, ASEAN countries, South Korea, China, New Zealand, USA, EU

GEOGRAPHY

Australia occupies the entire area of the world's smallest continent but is the world’s sixth-largest country.  It is a vast island lying between the Pacific and Indian oceans, with a geological history stretching back almost 3,500 million years.  Australia’s landscape is pretty consistent as the continent is only 300 meters above sea level on average (less than half of the world-wide average).  The interior of the continent which is dominated by the dry and desert area is called the “outback.”  The three deserts of the continent are the Great Sandy Desert, the Gibson Desert and the Great Victoria Desert. As the climate in this area is hardly suitable for settlement because it lacks water and other natural resources, approximately 80% of the Australia’s population live along the eastern coastal plain and on the southeastern coast.  The continent-long Great Dividing Range runs from the far north of Queensland down to the southern Tasmania.  The Great Barrier Reef lies 50-300 kilometers (30-185 miles) offshore and extends 2000 kilometers from Torres Strait to Gladstone.

Eastern Australia is generally more humid than its Western counterpart, and houses vast cattle ranches.  On the other hands, miners abound in the Western Australia.  The Northeast offers a tropical climate whereas the New South Wales is considered a mountainous region.  The Blue Mountains here owe its name to the haze caused by the oil from eucalyptus trees.  The Snowy Mountains in the Southeast are also well-known.  There is a regular tropical sea breeze known as "the Doctor" occurs along the west coast in the summer.  Noticeably, Australia has no large lakes or massive rivers like the Nile or the Amazon.

The climate is subtropical and the region enjoys over 280 days of sunshine a year.

WEATHER

• Spring: September-November 10-25 degrees celsius
• Summer: December-February 15-32 degrees celsius
• Autumn: March-May 10-25 degrees celsius
• Winter: June-August 8-22 degrees celsius

The seasons in Australia are the opposite of those in the Northern Hemisphere - when it is summer in the north, it is winter south of the equator (Australian winters are fairly mild, but a bit rainy). Anytime is a good time to visit Australia, but the most popular months are October and April although September-May is all right in most parts of the country. December and January are the hottest months where the sea up north is swarmed with box jellyfish, whereas July and August the coldest (Melbourne and Sydney, in particular, can be rather cold and drizzly then). The Great Barrier Reef is best visited September-December, but it can also be seen May-August (it is a bit cooler then; cyclones can disrupt sightseeing plans January-April).  Winter offers skiing in New South Wales and Victoria.  In spring and autumn the weather is mild.

Lightweight clothes are suitable for traveling to the southern and in the tropic regions all year-round.  They may also be worn during daytime in the summers, but a light jacket or sweater would be handy as the temperature usually drops in the evening.  The heavy jacket and warm clothes are highly advisable for the winters as the weather can be quite cold.