Location

Australia sits between New Zealand in the south-east, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia to the north and a host of South Pacific islands and attols to the nor-west. Africa lies the length of the Atlantic west, while Antarctica is directly south. Europe and the Americas are datelines away. It's a remote place. Perth, the Capital City of Western Australia, is the world's most remote city.

Climate

Much of Australia is arid to semi-arid, which in non-weather-spotters terms means desert and almost desert. The climate is temperate in the south and south-east, while further north you go the more tropical it becomes. Tropical in this case means that it's hot and dry for six months of the year, and then hot and wet for the remaining six months. The locals have long replaced traditional seasons like 'summer', 'spring' and 'autumn' with just two season known as 'wet' and 'dry'.

Just how big is Australia?

Australia is vast in size. The world's sixth largest country, it's the smallest continent in the world. Some of its privately owned sheep stations are bigger than entire European countries. With an area of 7,686,850 sq km (4,776,385 miles), you could fit 30 or so Great Britains into Australia. The island-continent's coastline is 25,760 km around, and if you drove it you could proudly tell people you had driven a very long way indeed - 16,006 miles.

Terrain

95% of Australia is sea-level flat. There are a few mountains in the south-east which receive snow for a few months of the year, as well as some with tropical rainforest in the north. If you get to the very heart of Australia, the absolute red centre, you'll find the breathtaking beauty of Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) - sitting majestically upon five million square miles of flat earth.

Elevation Extremes

The continent's lowest point is Lake Eyre at -15m (-49 feet) below sea-level. The lake hasn't had water in it for eons - it's flat, salty and baked hard by the sun.

The highest point is Mount Kosciuszko at 2,229 m (a touch over 7,000 feet). The first European to set foot on it was Polish-born explorer Paul Edmund de Strzelecki who named it after Polish patriot Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Aborigines used to travel hundreds of kilometres to eat the Bogong Moths that migrate to the mountain every year. Bogongs are considered a delicacy and apparently taste like nuts when roasted over coals.

Natural Resources

Australia has an abundance of natural resources that miners have been digging up ever since they learnt how. There's bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, silver, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum and uranium. Mining is one of Australia's primary industries.

Natural Hazards

Cyclones threaten the north coast of Australia roughly every year. However not since 1974 when Cyclone Tracey flattened Darwin has there been loss of life. In the middle of the country there can be severe droughts. Floods can also bring great damage, especially to farm lands.

Environment Issues

The Greaet Barrier Reef in Queensland is under threat from shipping, global warming and damage via human activity.
Soil erosion is a problem, especially in the dryer regions where dust storms can blow the soil of farms away.

The Murray River has a huge salinity problem

The main hero picture of Great Barrier Reef credit belongs to flickr - By The.Rohit