Australia is popularly known as the Island Continent because it is the only continent that is also a country. Australia claims to have the highest literacy rate in the world. Another interesting fact about Australia is that it has more newspaper readers than any other country in the world.
Australia is the only continent in the world without an active volcano. Australia has three times more sheep than people. The largest Greek population in the world beside Athens in Greece can be found in Melbourne Victoria. An Australian man once tried to sell New Zealand on eBay.
Colloquial names for Australia include "Oz" and "the Land Down Under" (usually shortened to just "Down Under"). Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country", "the Sunburnt Country", and "the Wide Brown Land".
Australia has plentiful supplies of natural resources, including the second largest accessible reserves of iron ore in the world, the fifth largest reserves of coal and significant gas resources.
Australia's history heavily influences its lifestyle today, and Australia's first and oldest stories belong to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Their diverse languages, philosophies and histories form the oldest surviving culture on Earth, one that stretches back millennia.
The Austrian flag is one of the oldest national flags in the world. The sewing machine was invented by Austrian Josef Madersperger. Approximately one quarter of the population of Austria lives in Vienna. Vienna has the oldest zoo in the world which was founded in 1752.
There are also a number of terms for Australia, such as: Aussie, Oz, Lucky Country, and land of the long weekend.
Overview. The laughing kookaburra is Australia's national symbol. The kookaburra is a brown-colored bird, about the size of a crow. The male is easily distinguished from the female by the blue hues on his wing feathers and darker blue on his tail feathers.
The culture of Australia is primarily a Western culture, originally derived from Britain but also influenced by the unique geography of Australia and the cultural input of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other Australian people.
Here in Australia, however, McDonald's most prevalent nickname is “Macca's”.
Currency and banking in Australia
You'll use Australian dollars (AUD or AU$) while you're here. One dollar equals 100 cents. Australian dollars come in $100, $50, $20, $10, and $5 banknotes.
Varied landscapes
As well as the beautiful beaches, Australia is also home to snowy mountains, incredible national parks, rainforests and desert. The landscape truly differs from state to state, which is why this country is so fun to explore.
Australia, the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth, lying between the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia's capital is Canberra, located in the southeast between the larger and more important economic and cultural centres of Sydney and Melbourne.
Tourism in Australia
Australia's spectacular natural environment, multicultural communities, excellent food and wine, its weather and lifestyle and the friendliness and openness of its people make it one of the world's most attractive tourist destinations.
Australians are very friendly and approachable people and will be happy to answer any questions you have.
Australia is an important source of export cereals, meat, sugar, dairy produce, and fruit. Landholdings are characteristically large, specialized, owner-operated, capital-intensive, export-oriented, and intricately interlinked through the activities of producers' associations and government organizations.
While some Australian speakers would pronounce “no” as a diphthong, starting on “oh” as in dog and ending on “oo” as in put, others begin with an unstressed “a” (the sound at the end of the word “sofa”), then move to the “oh” and then “oo”.