Australia

AUSTRALIA – GEOGRAPHY, FLORA AND FAUNA

Geography

Australia is the smallest continent in the world but the world´s sixth largest country, Australia is a continent between the Indian and the Southem Pacific Ocean. Australia is situated in the southern hemisphere, it means that the Australians has summer when we have winter. The Northern part of the continent lies in the tropical climate zone, the rest of the continent in sub - tropical zone.

Australia is a dominion of the United Kingdom. The official head of state is Elizabeth II. Australia is a federation of six states: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Australian flag consists of a small Union Jack in the top left corner on a blue background. Seven pointed star represents the six states and one is for the territories.

Along the eastern coast are the Australian Alps. Here is the highest top of the continent – Mount Kosciusko. The largest river is the Murray.

Fauna

Australia is home to many animals for example sharks, crocodiles, cangaroos, platypus, the most venomus snakes and the most venomus jellyfishes. This is one of the reason why people travel to Australia.

There are more than 800 species of birds in Australia, and about half of them cannot be found anywhere else for example flightless emu.

Flora

Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, especially eukalyptus tree.