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Welcome to the Land of Kangaroos and Venomous Snakes

Although Australia is the smallest continent on our planet, it is by far one of the most fascinating ones. Most of its area is completely uninhabited, as majority of its population dwells within 60 miles from the coast.
Did you know that Australian women were second in the world to be granted electoral rights? Browse our gallery and find out a few more interesting facts about Australia.

#1 More kangaroos than people

There are twice as many kangaroos living in Australia than people. It is estimated that there are about 50 million of the marsupials while the number of people is about 24 million.
Kangaroos are considered pests as they devastate a lot of crops and fencing. Consequently, the government encourages increased kangaroo meat consumption.

#2 The longest fence and the longest highway

Dingo Fence is considered to be the longest fence in the world. It’s 3,500 miles long, which makes it twice as long as the Great Wall of China. It was erected to protect the sheep and cows grazing in the south-east of the country against dingo.
Fans of cars can’t say ‘no’ to a ride down the longest highway in the world. Highway 1 is a route along the Australian coast and it’s well over 8,500 miles long.

#3 More camels than you will find on the Sahara desert

The immigration from Europe in the mid-19th century brought along a number of camels, commonly used back then in railway and telegraphic lines construction. Once the works had been completed, the animals were set free where soon they began to breed. At the moment there are over 1 million wild camels there, which is more that the number of camels living in the Sahara desert.

#4 Native Australians make up only 3% of the population

Australia is a multicultural country. Almost 30% of its citizens were born on another continent. The Aborigines, native people of Australia, constitute only 3% of the total population. They colonized Australia about 50,000 years ago and now they live nearby large cities.

#5 The largest monolith

Uluru is a sacred mountain of the Aborigines and at the same time the largest monolith rock formation in the world (a geological structure being a homogenous rock). Its circumference is over 5 miles and the rock goes well over a mile down into the ground. At the foot of the mountain there are caves with ancient paintings.

#6 Sydney is not the capital

Sydney enjoys the reputation of the most popular and the largest Australian city. It dates back to the first colony set up by Europeans in 1788. The second city in terms of size is Melbourne. As the two cities competed so fiercely for the domination, another city had to be built as the capital, primarily with view to avoid escalation of the Sydney – Melbourne conflict. This is how Canberra, located in the south-east part of the country, was established.

#7 Australian wine

Few of us know that in Australia there are about 60 wine regions. The most valued ones include Barossa Valle, Eden Valle and McLaren Valle. It was also in Australia that the carton wine idea was created. This kind of beverage is called goon and it was first sold in 1965.

#8 Australia means islands

8222 islands belong to Australia. The largest one is Tasmania, which boasts about having the cleanest air in the world, comparable in this respect to the air of the Antarctic. Australia also has Fraser Island, the largest sandy island (with nothing but sand very few rock formations).The only way of getting around there is all-terrain vehicles.

#9 Beware of Australian animals

There are many dangerous species of animals living in Australia. This is where the most venomous snake in the world lives, namely the inland taipan, as well as the Sydney funnel-web spider, the saltwater crocodile (males weigh about 2,200 pounds), the tiger snake or the sea wasp, an extremely dangerous jellyfish killing far more people than crocodiles and sharks altogether.

#10 The Australian Alps get more snow than the Swiss Alps

The snowfall in the Australian Alps, also called The Snowy Mountains, is much bigger than in the Swiss Alps! That is why, when the northern hemisphere enjoys summer temperatures, fans of skiing and other winter sports travel to Australia.

#11 Thousands of beaches

There are about 10,000 beaches in Australia! Sydney itself has got as many as 1,000 of them. If you wanted to see them all spending one day on each, that would take you almost 30 years!

BONUS

Wombats are marsupials native to Australia

They live a lonely life. Their excrements are cubic in shape and look like dice. They use them as warning signs for other wombats, marking in this way their territory.

Which fact did you find the most surprising? Let us know in your comments.

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