Geography
Country of records
Australia - or Down Under as the continent is also often named because of its position (the only continent that is on the southern hemisphere completely) - is the smallest continent in the world, but, after all the sixth-largest country of the earth.It is the most thinly settled continent. Three quarters of the 7.7 million square kilometers large continent are nearly uninhabited. In spite of that Down Under can show the largest urbanization degree (more than 80 %) of the world, because about half the Australians live in the five cities Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. East and southeast of the country are by far the most densely settled areas.
With an average precipiation of only 420 mm anually - from which 87 percent evaporate because of the high temperatures - Australia is the driest continent too. Measured by the total area of the continent there are more steppes and deserts than elsewhere. But in this case desert doesn't mean a total lack of vegetation, because you can find spinifex and low shrubs almost everywhere.
One of the baldest deserts on our trip
Australia still has to show another record: it is the most poisonous continent on the earth. Not only the animals by land and by sea can become dangerous to ignorant ones. There are some high-poisonous plants too.
Natural landscapes
Geographical landforms
Australia can be divided into three parts:The Western Plateau covers approximately 3/4 of the country.
It is a shield of ancient rock with an elevation generally between 230 and 460 m, parted in plateaus. The Nullarbor Plain, for example, is virtually an uplifted sea floor (300 m above sea level).
The second landscape are the Central Lowlands. Much of the centre of Australia is flat, but there are some individual mountains like famous Uluru. 700 km north from Adelaide is Lake Eyre. It is the lowest point of the continent (15 m below the sea level), but the largest lake too (9.500 km²). On the other side Lake Eyre is a salt lake and filled only three times last century.
The Eastern Highlands rise gently to a series of higher plateaus and the Great Divide (separating rivers flowing to Central Australia from rivers flowing to the Pacific). There is no so called 'Great Dividing Range'. Most of the Great Divide is flat country with many swamps and lakes. The higher plateaus in the area don't reach the coast. Instead they are abruptly cut off by the Great Escarpment, where you can find Australia's highest waterfalls.
In this part of the country there is the highest point on the Australian mainland, the Mount Kosciusko (2228 m). The highest point of Australian Territory is Mawson's Peak (2.745 m). It is located on Heard Island, about 6000 km Southwest of Perth and the Australian mainland.
A few comparisons to Austria
The surface of Australia is about 91 times larger than the one of Austria. However Australia has only 2,5 times inhabitants. From that great differences arise in the density of population. While in Australia there are only approx. 2,56 habitants/km², in Austria there are 97 habitants/km².
Population density
