Rent a Car Australia - Geography Australia
The vast island continent of Australia lies between the Pacific and Indian oceans, just south of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Being the world's sixth largest country, Australia measures some 4,000 kilometres east to west and 3,200 kilometres north to south.
Much of the interior is flat, barren, and sparsely populated, with most of the populace living on the east and south-eastern coasts. The Great dividing mountain range runs north-south down the east coast, separating the coastal plain from drier inland areas. The Great Barrier Reef, a tropical paradise, extends 2,000 kilometres off-shore from the Torres Strait to Gladstone.
Australia is rich in flora and fauna, with its characteristic plants being the ubiquitous gum tree or eucalypt, of which there are some 700 species. Other common plants are wattle, banksia, waratahs, bottlebrushes, paperbarks, and tea trees. Australia also boasts some of the most dangerous animals in the world. Australia's venomous snakes include the brown tiger, death adder, and copperhead snakes, and there are both salt and fresh water crocodiles to watch out for. One should also be careful of spiders namely the Redback and the Funnel Web.
Some of the stranger animal varieties include the kangaroo, koala, emu, platypus, echidna, possum, wombat, and dingo. There are also many interesting birds, such as parrots, cockatoos and kookaburras; and countless indigenous reptile and insect species. With more than 500 national parks, rainforests, deserts, mountain ranges and coastal dunes, the Australian continent is a visual feast for the eyes.
