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Australia is somehow both familiar and exotic. Although inhabited
by Europeans and considered a modern industrial nation, its bizarre wildlife
and distance from other centers of European civilization such as Europe
and the United States makes it seem rather strange. Coupled
with the amusing
quirks of its laidback inhabitants, it's no wonder that Australia periodically
becomes fashionable in places like America - remember "Crocodile Dundee"?
This whole thing was captured very nicely in the episode of The Simpsons
where the Simpson family finds itself Down Under and ultimately has to
be rescued by the United States Navy laundry ship, the Walter Mondale (the
not very highly renowned American vice-president under Jimmy Carter).
To New
Zealanders like myself, Australia might not seem as exotic, but its proximity
and relative size make it a powerful magnet, resulting in an ongoing net
migration of New Zealanders to Australia. Although outsiders
usually assume that Australia and New
Zealand are almost identical, this is very far from true.
They're further apart than most Americans expect - around 1500 miles at
the nearest points, and geographically they're a world apart.
New Zealand is situated on the edge of two tectonic plates, resulting in
a landscape of mountains, volcanoes and other spectacular scenery, but
Australia is in the middle of a plate, which means that it is geologically
stable and any high mountains which once existed have had ample time to
be reduced to mere hills. That's why Ayer's Rock is one of
the few internationally famous landscapes in Australia, which is almost
exactly the same size as the continental United States. This
is not really a country to come to for spectacular scenery.
Similarly, there are virtually no similarities between the wildlife of
both countries - New Zealand was historically a land of birds with no land
mammals at all and virtually no dangerous or toxic animals, whereas Australia's
famous marsupials
live in the midst of a menagerie of the world's most venomous snakes, spiders
and sea creatures.
However, there are plenty of attractions for people willing to make the
15 hour haul from Los Angeles or the 23 hour haul from London.
As already mentioned, there is the laidback culture to enjoy for those
people who find that sort of thing entertaining. Cities such
as Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane are also worth exploring, with
the largest city, Sydney, offering a magnificent
harbour in addition to various cultural and historical sites of interest.
That weird wildlife is also well worth making an effort to see, and the
Great Barrier Reef stretching along the north-eastern coast provides both
sunbathing opportunites and a chance to see magnificent
corals and marine life. The rainforest in this area sounds
tantalizing, but most tourists who don't already have a special interest
in birds, insects and other such fauna will find that it reveals its treasures
very sparingly.
To avoid disappointment it's sensible to consider the long distances involved
in travelling around such a vast country, since this isn't a place you
can see in just a week or two. Cool temperate rainforest in
the far south on the lush and wet island of Tasmania is mirrored in the
far north by tropical rainforest in the Kakadu and far north Queensland.
Over a third of the country lies within the tropics, and the enormous Red
Centre of this country is desert, inhabited largely by the Aborigines who
happily chose to live in these areas thousands of years ago.
The prospect of visiting the oasis of Alice Springs and Ayers Rock might
seem appealing when you're sitting at home, but is it really worth flying
by jet for three or four hours to see one rock, even if it is very big?
And is it worth making a six hour flight from Sydney on the east coast
to Perth on the west coast? |
