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If you're thinking of a trip to Australia, now's the time to do it. This is a land where the dollar, the Euro and the Pound stretch like India rubber. The tourism industry is offering bargain basement deals to encourage overseas visitors. Visitor numbers are way down on previous years, because of recent upheavals in other parts of the globe. Here's some general information which might come in handy. So sit back, grab a beer, wet your whistle and let us whet your appetite for this wide brown land Downunder. Contrary to popular overseas opinion, Sydney is not the capital of Australia. That honour belongs to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. It lies midway between Sydney and Melbourne and was manufactured simply because those two cities were continually fighting over the title. Canberra has two claims to fame…circular roads, once you drive in it's almost impossible to drive out again, without ending up back where you started. And it's the home of our nation's politicians, the masters of the circular argument. Need we say more? Australia is the accessible home to eco-tourism, wilderness, rugged outback, scenic grandeur and islands galore. Accommodation covers the entire spectrum…from farm stays to five star…from tree houses to underground motels. Twenty years ago this country was infamous for its lacklustre ideas on food…often just meat and three veg, usually overcooked. These days the cuisine reads like a menu from the United Nations. We seem to have taken the best from the whole world and created our own unique mouth watering combinations.
Ancient geography and not-so-ancient historyAustralia is an island continent. Call it either and you can't be wrong. It's also one of the few countries in the world where every state has a coastline. This country also has 10,000 miles of beaches, over 700 islands and the mountains have no jagged peaks. They've all been rounded off over millions of years and just sort of lie there looking smooth and picturesque. Dinosaurs roamed freely and left their skeletons and footprints frozen in the timeless aspic of bedrock. We have 15 World Heritage listed areas. Over one third of them are offshore, including the famous Great Barrier Reef and Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. So far Victoria is the only state without a listing. This is a land of contrasts…lush green pastures and barren brown deserts…vistas of white snowfields and even whiter sandy beaches as far as the eye can surf...geologically the oldest land, but domestically a very young nation. Even our indigenous Aborigines only invaded this land about 40,000 years ago. Egypt had their ancient pyramids looted over thousands of years…we have modern day poachers with chisels and jackhammers stealing dinosaur footprints from the outback rock floors. We are indeed a weird mob! Captain James Cook, the pre-eminent sailor and navigator of his age, arrived in 1770 and discovered the east coast of Terra Australis - Great Southern Land. He probably should have stayed here, because a few years later he upset the locals in Hawaii who cooked Cook's goose. Apparently he arrived there looking like the great God Lono, but unfortunately it was the season for the Hawaiians to worship Ku, the God of War. They registered their disapproval at this unseasonal appearance by turning Cook into a human pincushion with their spears. It would seem that timing is everything, even for gods! Australia was nearly discovered by the Spanish, the French, the Portuguese and the Dutch…but they all tripped over it by accident, while looking for something else and sailed away without exploring inland. If things had turned out differently Aussies might now be playing with their maracas, eating snails or tilting at windmills while wearing clogs! The east coast was the first to be colonised in 1778, mainly because of the fertile soil in that area, courtesy of fairly high rainfall. There's a line of mountains running down the east coast which causes passing clouds to unburden their moist cargo regularly. When America was fighting its war of independence, we were still stealing our daily bread in England and waiting to be transported to the largest open prison in the history of the world. Australia was first settled as a penal colony, but word rapidly spread throughout England about the huge open tracts of fertile land over the sea. The jailers eventually outnumbered the convicts and few of either wanted to return to their mother country permanently. Crops, cattle and sheep all thrived and Australia went from jailhouse rock to storehouse stock in less than a century. Most overseas visitors don't realise that Australia is basically lots of open space, dotted with small clumps of humanity, mostly around the coastline. And it's big, but the transport network is excellent…great roads, with air, rail and bus routes throughout the country. To put things into perspective, Australia is roughly the area of North America or Europe. But that's where the similarity ends. We have only six states and three territories, with a total population less than 20 million. Queensland is twice the size of Texas and it's only our second biggest state! In descending order of size, the six states are Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. The three territories are Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Australian Antarctic Territory. The last comprises 42% of Antarctica, including several islands and is relatively unknown as a territory of Australia. It's regarded as the world's last frontier and difficult, but not impossible to explore.
What's the weather like?You can virtually dial your own climate. Australia and its territories span latitudes from around the Equator right down to Antarctica - hot, cold, wet, dry, windy, snow or desert. Take your pick, we've got the lot. The main thing to remember is that our seasons are the reverse of the northern hemisphere - summer at Christmas and winter in June. Christmas in July has become quite popular as a celebration for those who miss the cold festive season. The southern half of Australia has four seasons and is temperate to cool, but the temperature rarely drops below freezing. The northern half is warm to tropical and really doesn't have a winter at all. Instead it has two seasons, the "Wet" and the "Dry". In comparison with areas of Europe and North America, on equivalent northern hemisphere latitudes, Australia overall has a much less extreme climate, due to the stabilising effect of a much greater proportion of ocean to land area. This holds true for southern hemisphere climate as a whole.
Culture and languageBeing a young nation our culture basically consists of three things - sport, beer and sport. If we're not drinking one we're playing the other…it's when we indulge in both at the same time that things get interesting. It's no surprise that we have world champions in most sporting endeavours. Aussies are sports mad - we play it, watch it and bet on it. In fact we'll bet on anything, even two flies crawling up a wall. We love to win so much that we invented our own game of football, called Aussie Rules. It's like a combination of ballet and all in wrestling, with a ball in there somewhere. And guess what? We're the world champions! The real culture in Australia comes from the Aborigines, who probably wandered across the land bridge about 40 millennia ago, before Australia broke off and floated away from the Asian land mass. And their culture is not just boomerangs and didgeridoos. They knock these out by the thousands, with an assembly line system which would make Henry Ford green with envy. Their paintings and other artwork are world renowned. Outback Australia is littered with ancient Aboriginal rock art and more is being discovered each year. The Aborigines are government funded to set up and run their own tours, sharing their ancient art and culture. Just be aware that they have no sense of urgency or time. On a full day tour you could spend nearly half of it shuffling your feet and waiting for things to get moving. Just remember that Aborigines were the quintessential hunter/gatherers. They neither farmed, kept livestock nor erected permanent dwellings. Time for them was broken down into two categories, day and night. The message is quite simple, don't stress and don't have a heart attack while waiting for an art attack! The language? We speak English - well sort of. Aside from Ayers Rock and kangaroos, the one thing we are noted for is Aussie slang. "Djavagudweegend", translates to "did you have a good weekend". "G'day mate" has been replaced by the American "Hi" in capital cities, but is still de riguer in the outback. And a "dunny" is still a toilet or bathroom. One of our personal favourites is "all done up like a pox doctor's clerk", which is used to describe somebody who has shed their usual casual or scruffy attire for formal wear on a special night out. In short, we will usually understand your attempts at English, but the reverse is not always true.
Creepy crawlies and other crittersAustralia has the largest range of strange animals in the world - apart from the people. If you thought the kangaroo was as weird as it gets, wait until you see a platypus. Imagine a small beaver with tortoise feet and a black duck bill instead of big buck teeth. And how many other egg laying marsupials can you name? We can only think of one other in the world - the echidna (trust me, you don't want to know!) - and that's in Australia too. Both belong to a side branch of the marsupial family called monotremes. Wildlife parks abound throughout the country and many of them provide close up and personal experiences with our more friendly native animals. The story of kangaroos hopping down the streets is an urban myth, but once you get out into the country it's actually true. Be aware that we also have one of the world's largest collections of lethal life forms - slithering, swimming, crawling, biting, stinging and tearing limb from limbing type nasties. Spiders, scorpions, snakes, jellyfish, sharks and crocodiles frequent certain areas at specific times of the year. Of the six most venomous snakes in the world, we have five and the sixth is in dispute! Our crocodiles can grow to nearly 30 feet long and make alligators seem like cuddly toys. Fortunately, the number of fatalities or even serious injuries a year from bug or beast attack is minuscule. If you leave them alone they'll usually reciprocate. So be alert but not alarmed and when in doubt, ask a local. Still, it's not all bad news. We don't have huge, bad tempered, grizzly bears. Our one so-called bear is the Koala, which is cute and cuddly, spending up to 20 hours a day sleeping in the fork of a tree. Actually the word bear is a misnomer, it's really a marsupial, which literally means "having a pouch". There was a famous incident some years ago, when the nightly television news showed the Australian Tourism Minister demonstrating how to cuddle a Koala. You guessed it, the Koala urinated all down the front of his nice suit, much to the amusement of the assembled overseas dignitaries…when it comes to politicians, the wildlife let actions speak louder than words! Australia is also in the whale migration path and in the latter half of the year large pods of these acrobatic leviathans frolic their way along our coastline. Hervey Bay on the central Queensland coast is thought by some to be the whale watching capital of the world. Every year from August to November, it records over 1500 whales passing through on their way back to Antarctica. They seem to deliberately put on a show when a tourist boat comes into view. It's a sight not to be missed as the largest animals on the planet heave themselves half out of the ocean in a gravity defying ballet. The real thrill seekers can go scuba diving with the sharks…either in specially built aquaria onshore or as bait in a reinforced cage amongst the giant White Pointers offshore.
Getting hereAustralia is close to Southern Asia but a very long way from anywhere else. Over 12 hours flying time from Europe or America. This tyranny of distance probably explains why Australia does not feature heavily on the world's news stage. If you can't name Australia's Prime Minister, don't feel bad, very few people outside of Australia can. And even some Aussie expatriates can only guess at that one! Australia probably rates somewhere between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan in the international newsworthy stakes. The upside to going unnoticed is that we seem to be shielded from most of the upheavals plaguing the rest of the so-called civilised world. Because of Australia's location you have two choices to get here…ship or plane. Cruise ships regularly call in to most Australian capital city ports. Most international airlines do the round trip from America and Europe on a regular basis, including Qantas, our national airline. Qantas had its 15 minutes of fame some years ago, in the film Rain Man, when Dustin Hoffman's character insisted on flying Qantas, because it was the only international airline never to have had a major crash. Incidentally, that claim still holds true today - so which airline are you flying?
Miscellaneous bits 'n piecesCurrency
conversions One
Australian dollar = US$0.73 Time
zones And to really complicate things we have summer Daylight Saving…but only in some parts of Australia and on dates which don't always match up! In New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory it's November to February…in South Australia and Victoria it's November to March… in Tasmania it's October to March and in the Northern Territory and Western Australia they don't have it at all. Confused? So are we…in some months Australia can have six different time zones, just to keep us all on our toes! Don't worry about it. You're on holiday…leave your watch at home and relax. Overseas visitors will find that Australia is between 8 and 20 hours ahead of Europe and the United States. For example, Australia is 17 and a half hours ahead of Los Angeles and Vancouver, 14 and a half ahead of New York, nine and a half ahead of London, eight and a half ahead of Frankfurt. Aussies have always suspected that the rest of the world lags behind us and we can prove it! Customs
and quarantine Australia has some of the strictest quarantine laws in the world and they are set in concrete for very good reasons. As an island continent Australia has been largely protected from exotic pests and diseases which have ravaged other parts of the world. We have had no incidences of Rabies, Foot and Mouth (apart from our politicians), Screw Worm or Newcastle Disease…and we'd quite like to keep it that way. So, if you're tempted to bring any animals or plants or restricted products from either, here's one word of advice - DON'T! The Beagle Brigade will get you. Highly trained Beagle sniffer dogs patrol all Australian sea and airport baggage areas and it's almost impossible to fool them. Quarantine restrictions are also in force within various Australian states and some fruit and vegetables must not be transported from state to state. Departure
taxes Voltage
and telecommunications Australians have always been quick to embrace new technology. We boast the world's fastest uptake of mobile (cell) phones, email/internet and electronic banking. All major and most minor population centres have mobile phone coverage. Most towns have at least one Internet Café or some form of public email access. Visa and Mastercard are acceptable almost everywhere…Diners Club and American Express to a lesser extent. If you're bringing travellers cheques, expect to pay a premium to cash them…the rate varies from bank to bank but it's never cheap. Medical Useful
links www.ea.gov.au/heritage/awh/worldheritage So
what are you waiting for? Grab your passport and some
sunscreen, hop over to Downunder and say "G'day".
The adventure awaits.
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