ONE many lands I will never see, curious as I have heard most of the population lives on the coasts, sort of like N. America/USA....so I have heard the interior is a desert....which I don't think is true....
Eighty-five percent of Australians live on the coast in an area that takes in the three largest cities, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as well as the fifth largest one called Adelaide. Also within that zone is the slightly inland capital city of Canberra. The only real large city (4th largest) lying outside of it is Perth. It is the most fertile area of the continent. The middle of Australia is the "outback" and is arid or desert region.
Apart from Antarctica, Australia is the driest continent in the world. About 35% of the continent receives so little rain, it is
effectively desert. In total, 70% of the mainland receives less than 500mm of rain annually, which classes it as arid, or semi-arid. Australia's deserts are distributed throughout the western plateau and interior lowlands. The total desert area equates to 18% of the total mainland area of Australia.
I presume you all have railroads and farms and interior rivers and cities, and all sorts of deveolpment inland....
The Australian rail network consists of a total of 33,819 km of track, of which 2,540 km is electrified. One of the world's longest train routes is the India Pacific and it runs Sydney - Adelaide - Perth, it takes 3 nights in either direction and the distance is 4352 kilometres. The Ghan runs Adelaide - Alice Springs - Darwin, takes 2 nights in either direction with a distance of 2979 kilometres.
Agriculture in Australia is a major industry and about 402,000 people are employed in agriculture and agriculture related services. Agriculture accounts for approximately 3% of Australia's GDP. Until the late 1950s agriculture accounted for up to 80% of Australia's export earnings, but that percentage has fallen with diversification of the economy. Australia produces a wide variety of crops and livestock, and 80% of all agricultural production is exported.
South Australia's Anna Creek Station is the world's largest working cattle station. Its area is roughly 24 000 km² (6 000 000 acres) which is bigger than Israel. It is 8 000 km² larger than Alexandria Station (its nearest rival) in the Northern Territory and four times the size of the biggest ranch in the US, which is only 6 000 km².
Australia is not well endowed with natural lakes containing plentiful supplies of water. Both rainfall and runoff can be highly variable across the continent and so many rivers have had dams containing large reservoirs constructed on them, to meet water and power supply needs.
as compared to what you know of the USA and the world, how do you honestly compare your national situation???
Officially, Australia has recorded 17 consecutive years of economic growth since 1992 – averaging 3.3 per cent a year. It has been one of the most stable and productive periods of Australia's modern history, and places Australia in the top echelon of developed countries in terms of sustained rates of growth. Australia is forecast to grow again at 2.75 per cent in 2008-09 which is above the average growth rate members of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of 2.2 per cent. Australia ranks first in the Asia-Pacific region for labour, agricultural and industrial productivity per person employed, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook. The 2006 OECD Economic Survey noted that living standards in Australia surpass those of all Group of Eight countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) except the United States.
We're being hit by the "credit crunch" too but at this stage I don't think it's as bad as in the US or UK. From my personal experience, the cost of living in Australia is far lower than the UK and similar to the US.
Interested in the development aspect of things...as me being a tech sort of person....also the climate...
Australia has increasingly become a knowledge-based economy. Numerous factors have contributed to this development: the pace of technological and social change; advances in transport making travel, and the exchange of ideas, easier; and broader access to higher standards of education. Information and communications technology (ICT) is a key driver of economic growth, and continuing expansion of ICT infrastructure is essential to keep pace with world standards. Australia's ICT market is worth an estimated $89 billion with 25 000 companies employing 236 000 IT specialists.
Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere and its seasons are the opposite of the Northern Hemisphere, i.e. summer in Europe and North America is winter in Australia. Broadly Australia has just two climatic zones, 40% of the continent is in the tropical zone, with the remaining regions south of the Tropic of Capricorn being in the temperate zone. The tropical zone has two seasons: hot wet season from November to April, and warm dry from May to October. The temperate zones have four seasons: spring (September to November), summer (December to February), autumn (March to May) and winter (June to August). Due to its size, the weather across the continent can range from below zero temperatures in the Snowy Mountains to intolerable heat in the north-west. Snow falls on the higher mountains during the winter months, enabling skiing in southern New South Wales and Victorian ski resorts, as well as the smaller resorts in Tasmania.
and can't help note the map of the USA nation is the exact replica of your continent, inverted....
Well, similar...
Will/can you describe it in your terms, going around the joint???
Australia's affordable by Western European and American standards, but certainly not a budget destination compared to somewhere like Southeast Asia. Your biggest costs will be accommodation and transport. Bank on around $100 to $150 (AUD) per day if you're hiring a car, staying in hotels and eating out etc.
The big cites are pretty much like any big city elsewhere in the world, except more people will sound like me! Sydney's probably the busiest city, with Melbourne a close second - both good places to go if you want to do the tourist thing and have loads of varying night life. Brisbane's sort of like a big country town and isn't as hustle and bustle as Sydney or Melbourne. Darwin is probably like no other place on earth and is kind of like a big frontier town - good fun though. Adelaide is nice and is called the City Of Churches - because it has loads of (wait for it) churches! Nice place to see, probably not as laid back as Brisbane but not as full on as Sydney or Melbourne. The capital city Canberra was designed and is therefore, super neat and real easy to find your way around in - if you have a map, it's impossible to get lost while driving around. Nice place to visit - probably busier than Brisbane and Adelaide. Never been to Tasmania but have been told it's really nice - a friend of mine was from Tasmania and he used to call mainland Australia, the North Island. Perth is closed - well, it was the last time I tried to go there. It's a weird place and I wasn't really taken with it. Loads of emigrated Poms there as originally, it was the closest destination from the UK. Bit of a dud but you might like it, people do I guess...
I know it's a LOT to ask for a guy....but what prompts me a lot about this is a guy I went to High School/friends with...moved there upon gradding, and never seen since....
Yes, that
was a lot. Are the answers ok? A lot of the info I pinched from the net, just in case you were thinking I was a demigod on all things Australian!
One last thing:
The crest on the Australian coat of arms is supported by two native Australian animals: the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) and the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae). It is thought the kangaroo and emu were chosen to symbolise a nation moving forward, reflecting a common belief that neither animal can move backwards easily.
We are the only nation that eat our coat of arms :lol:
:twitch::thumbs:
