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 Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2005 6:21 pm Post subject: AUSTRALIA TOURISM GUIDE |
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AUSTRALIA TOURISM GUIDE
Australian Capital Territory
Population: 300,000
Capital: Canberra
Size: 2400 sq km
Climate: Temperate
Australia's capital city was invented to end squabbling between the states over who had the prime city in the young Australian nation.
Designed by American, Walter Burley Griffin, who won the chance through a competition, Canberra was his chance to make his architectural mark.
The centre of politics in Australia, Canberra is dominated by the Federal Parliament and its sites of interest include the National Gallery of Australia, the Australian Institute of Sport, the Old Parliament House, the Royal Australian Mint, Screensound Australia, and the Australian War Memorial.
New South Wales
Population: 6 million
Capital: Sydney
Size: 801,600 sq km
Climate: Temperate
Sydney is a city with a population of four million and covers almost 1120 square kilometres (700 square miles). Despite its size, however, it is a remarkably easy city to move around in.
An excellent train, bus and ferry service covers all points of the greater metropolitan area. Most visitors to Sydney will have no real need to travel too far away from the central city area and the harbour.
The majority of tourist attractions are either within the central business district, close to the CBD, or at points around the harbour, such as the Opera House or climbing the Bridge.
If you've only got a week or a few days in Sydney, your time would be best spent by taking a walk around the wider CBD area, spending time on the harbour and visiting the Rocks.
The harbour is Sydney and on a warm day, with a clear blue sky, there is no better place on earth.
Northern Territory
Population: 168,000
Capital: Darwin
Size: 1,346,200 sq km
Climate: Temperate
Darwin, the Territory's capital, is an efficient, modern, tropical town - a year-round temperature in the low 30sC making for a laidback lifestyle. Travellers the world over flock here to explore the Top End, primarily Kakadu National Park's prolific wildlife and the Aboriginal art sites.
Katherine, just south of Darwin (300km is close in the sparcely populated NT), has famous Katherine Gorge within the Nitmiluk National Park, well worth a look.
Alice Springs in the central desert is by no means the dusty outback town many expect, Alice makes an excellent base to explore the natural wonders of the region, of which Uluru, popularly known as Ayers Rock, is the most famous.
This is one of the finest areas to begin to learn about the Aborigines of the western desert, among the last to come into contact with European settlers.
Queensland
Population: 3.1 million
Capital: Brisbane
Size: 1,727,200 sq km
Climate: Temperate
Beautiful one day, perfect the next goes the slogan advertising the tropical delights of Australia's northern state.
It conjures up images of beaches, resorts, sailing in the Whitsundays and an outdoors lifestyle. Popular locations are the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
Queensland's hinterland and tropical forests teem with interesting life, including major sites of dinosaur fossils, and are an eco tourist's dream.
Then there are the bright lights of the major cities and the state capital Brisbane outshines them all.
South Australia
Population: 1.5 million
Capital: Adelaide
Size: 984,000 sq km
Climate: Temperate
Adelaide is an easy place to explore with wide streets and squares and, despite a population of around one million, it still has the feel of an overgrown country town.
Ringed with parks and overlooked by the rolling hills of the Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide's Botanic Gardens is the largest conservatory in the southern hemisphere.
One of the chief delights of Adelaide is the interest its inhabitants take in food and wine with South Australian wines from the Barossa Valley in the Adelaide Hills monopolising every cellar.
A vintage tram runs from the city centre to the white, sandy beach of suburban Glenelg, and its old-style amusement park.
Bus and rail routes radiate from Adelaide and The Ghan to Alice Springs and the Indian Pacific to Perth are Australia's great train journeys.
The Eyre Peninsula has an untamed and scenic west coast, but the remainder of South Australia is hot, dry outback desert.
Tasmania
Population: 472,000
Capital: Hobart
Size: 67,800 sq km
Climate: Temperate
Hobart is Australia's most southerly city, and the coastline around it is jagged, bearing the full brunt of the winter winds roaring in from the Antarctic.
South of Hobart the Tasman Peninsula, is home to the infamous convict settlement at Port Arthur.
The inland southwest is a vast World Heritage Area with some of the world's best wilderness walking and rafting. Tasmania is one of the cleanest places on earth and a wilderness walk, where you can breathe the fresh air and drink freely from streams is a fantastic experience.
Tasmania's central plateau, with its thousands of lakes, is sparsely populated, though full of weekender fishing shacks. The east coast is mostly sheltered, with watersports and plenty of deserted beaches, safe for swimming, set against a backdrop of bush-clad hills.
Mount Field National Park is Tasmania's oldest and most popular national park where a river estuary widens to form a fine harbour before flowing into the waters of Storm Bay and out to the Tasman Sea.
On the mainland opposite Bruny Island is the fertile and cultivated Huon Valley, but as you head further south the coastline becomes increasingly wild.
North of Hobart, the east coast of Tasmania is the tamest and most temperate part of the island, providing a popular cycling route past numerous sandy and deserted beaches and some lovely national parks including Mount William National Park.
Tasmania
Population: 472,000
Capital: Hobart
Size: 67,800 sq km
Climate: Temperate
Hobart is Australia's most southerly city, and the coastline around it is jagged, bearing the full brunt of the winter winds roaring in from the Antarctic.
South of Hobart the Tasman Peninsula, is home to the infamous convict settlement at Port Arthur.
The inland southwest is a vast World Heritage Area with some of the world's best wilderness walking and rafting. Tasmania is one of the cleanest places on earth and a wilderness walk, where you can breathe the fresh air and drink freely from streams is a fantastic experience.
Tasmania's central plateau, with its thousands of lakes, is sparsely populated, though full of weekender fishing shacks. The east coast is mostly sheltered, with watersports and plenty of deserted beaches, safe for swimming, set against a backdrop of bush-clad hills.
Mount Field National Park is Tasmania's oldest and most popular national park where a river estuary widens to form a fine harbour before flowing into the waters of Storm Bay and out to the Tasman Sea.
On the mainland opposite Bruny Island is the fertile and cultivated Huon Valley, but as you head further south the coastline becomes increasingly wild.
North of Hobart, the east coast of Tasmania is the tamest and most temperate part of the island, providing a popular cycling route past numerous sandy and deserted beaches and some lovely national parks including Mount William National Park.
Western Australia
Population: 1.7 million
Capital: Perth
Size: 2,525,600 sq km
Climate: Temperate
Perth is a leisure-oriented city with a temperate and tropical climate, while oceanside Fremantle resonates a largely European charm.
South of Perth, the Margaret River region's uniquely mellow landscape is especially attractive, supporting orchards, wineries and numerous small holiday hideaways in giant eucalypt forests.
Both Albany and Esperance are attractive resort towns on the Southern Ocean's rugged coastline. They make ideal bases for exploration of their adjacent national parks, with the Stirling Ranges just visible from Albany.
The desert of the Nullarbor Plain extends to South Australia, while inland Kalgoorlie is the sole survivor of the once-thriving Eastern Goldfields.
The north of the state is where you'll discover the raw appeal of its wilderness. Shark Bay and the attractive home of the dolphins at Monkey Mia is worthwhile.
The Pilbara region fills the state's northwest with the often-overlooked gorges of the Hamersley Ranges. The Ningaloo Reef near Exmouth offers a underwater spectacle and Broome, once the world's pearling capital, is indeed a jewel in the rugged Northwest on the edge of the Kimberley's wilderness. |
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