Australia is the world's largest island, the smallest continent and one of the most varied countries on earth. It has tropical rainforests and coral reefs, an ancient centre of red sand and mystical rock formations, luxurious island resorts, mountains for skiing and lively, sophisticated cities with world-class hotels, restaurants and shopping.
 Australian cities sparkle in clear, unpolluted air and throb to the beat of multicultural society where about one in every four residents was born overseas. Although half of the nearly 18 million people who live there are of British origin, the other half have ancestors of many nationalities. The greatest proportion of non-British people come from European countries, especially Italy and Greece, with about one per cent originating from the Middle East.
The multicultural mix has resulted in a vibrant society enriched by many different religions, languages and cuisines. Although English is the main language, Arabic is spoken by 0.7% of the population and the cuisines of the Middle East are very popular. Greek and Lebanese restaurants can be found in all main cities and Turkish restaurants are growing in number.
For its size Australia has a small population with most people living around the coast, especially along the eastern coastline which has ports and resort towns as well as the country's two biggest cities - Sydney and Melbourne. Other cities serving major population areas include Adelaide in the south, Perth in the west and Darwin in the central north. All main cities have international airports and are serviced by major airlines out of Singapore, where connections from the Middle East can be made. The only direct flights are with Gulf Air which flies into Sydney and Bahrain four times a week, and Emirates Airline three times a week.
Australians are great travellers and the country has an extensive network of road, rail and air links. But it is a big country so the best way to get from one place to another if you have only limited time is to fly and air charter companies provide luxury and personalised service. Aircruising Australia, Dreamtime Aircruising and Aerotour Australia all offer excellent options. For example, Dreamtime Aircruising is a memebr of the Select Hotels and Resorts International Group. It takes people to Select's exotic destinations such as Seven Spirit Bay remote, tropical resort on the Cobourg Peninsular and Planet Downs a traditional cattle station where you live in the homestead and can join the cattle round-up on horseback or by helicopter.
Australia is a land of contrasts. In the centre lies Uluru (Ayers Rock) a strange, red rock as big as a mountain rising from the flat red plains of the central desert. Although in a remote part of the country, swimming pools, restaurants, shops, art galleries and a range of luxury accomodation. In the north are the tropics where glorious sun drenched islands lie of the coast and vast wetlands and rainforests are home to thousands of birds. This is where you find the Great Barrier Reef, the largets coral reef in the world and some of the country's most lavish resorts.
Further south the climate is cooler but never cold. Melbourne's climate may drop to 14 degrees C (57F) in mid winter but it seldom sees snow. Only on mountain peaks does the snow fall and the mountain resorts fill with skiers from June to September.
Whatever you do in Australia, you must not miss one of its greatest sporting events. This is a country where sports heroes become household names and huge crowds attend sporting events. The atmosphere at a football or tennis match is electric and the Melbourne Cup attracts the best horses and best ladies fashion from around the world. Horse racing is so popular that every year more than 25,000 races are run throughout the country.
Australian Capital Territory - New South Wales - Northern Territory - Queensland - South Australia - Tasmania - Victoria - Western Australia
|
