22 Amazing Facts Australia

22 Amazing Facts Australia

1. All maps are wrong- the size of Australia is approx the same size as the USA (width wise) on maps Australia is scaled down to look much smaller than the USA. People only realize how vast Australia is when they travel the Nullarbor (see facts below).
2. Australia has the world’ s whitest beach as  Guinness World Records has found that Australia has the worlds whitest beaches Whitest Beaches: Guinness World Records  The Guinness Book of Records reports Hyams Beach in Shoalhaven NSW Australia as having the whitest sand in the world. I have been all over Australia and personally think the sand is finer, whiter and squeakier in Esperence Western Australia.
3. You can make lemonade from ants in Australia: Indigenous Australians make there are own lemonade using lime ants or Green Ants. This is known as ‘bush tucker’. I write about it here in Bizarre Foods Australia: Bush Tucker!
4. Animals are not as dangerous as they are made out. You have more chance being in a plane crash or being killed by a Hippo than the ‘deadly’ Australian natives: saying that Sydney Funnel-web spider is considered the deadliest spider in the world. The stonefish is the most poisonous fish in the world and lives mainly above the tropic of Capricorn off the coast of Australia. The Box Jellyfish is considered the world’s most venomous marine creature and have killed more people in Australia than stonefish, sharks and crocodiles combined!
5. Paul Hogan’s or ‘Hogues” (as Australians know him) movie Crocodile Dundee is the highest grossing film franchise in history! Crazy but true. I was watching the 2 part series that aired on Australian TV last night and was surprised to learn that fact myself. I guess ‘Hogues’ single handidly started the Australia craze in the USA in the 80’s.
6. We are over-run by feral cats– there are more feral cats than people which leads me in to my next amazing fact about Australia;
7. Australia has the highest extinction rate of animals in the world. Feral cats kill millions of native animals every night.
8. Australia has the highest population of feral camels in the world, about 1 million feral camels roam Australia.
9. Australia is home to some of the rarest animals in the world;
10. Marsupials like koalas, the quokka and kangaroos can be found nowhere else in the world!

    

11. The world’s largest reef system, the Great Barrier Reef, is found off the north-eastern coast of Australia.
12. Australia has one of the only reefs that you can walk straight out and snorkle and see wildlife- Ningaloo, Exmouth in WA;
13. You can swim with the largest shark species in the wild in Australia; the whale sharks in Exmouth Western Australia
14. Australia has over 750 different reptile species, more than any other country in the world. Although many are harmless, the poisonous ones are the Brown Snake, Tiger Snake and Taipan.
15. The name ‘Australia’ comes from the Latin word ‘australis’, meaning southern.
16.  Australia is the world’s 6th largest country by area, however the population is just over 22 million people. This is due to most of the ‘area’ being uninhabitable known as the ‘outback’.
17. Humans have lived in Australia for around 45000 years. The indigenous people of Australia are Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Aboriginal Australians are the oldest humans in the world.
18. The world’s longest golf course, measuring more than 850 miles long is located in Australia.
19. Australia has the world’s largest fence, the ‘dingo fence’ is the longest fence in the world (5,530km). It is about twice as long as the Great Wall of China.
20. Fraser Island in Queensland is the world’s largest sand island.
21. Australia has the longest straight section of road at 146 kilometres is also on the Nullarbor Plains.
22. Australia has the world’s longest straight stretch of railway track, a 478-kilometre (297 mi) stretch of the Trans-Australian Railway over the Nullarbor Plain. Check out the Great Southern Rail and The Ghan here 

I hope you enjoyed the first post 22 Amazing Facts About Australia in See Australia a new section on Eat Stay Live. See Australia will have a new update daily.

Have you visited Australia? Do you know any other Amazing Facts About Australia? Comment below.

For my top recommendations of things to do in Australia: See 10 Reasons to Visit Australia Now