The number of tempting options that confront a traveler who first came to Australia, delights and discourages at the same time. And this is quite normal – after all, choosing between the modest charm of the Australian “capitals” and a visit to the desert depths of the mainland to the natives is not at all easy to choose.
CITIES
According to Top-mba-universities, Australia.Sydney , founded in 1788, is Australia ‘s oldest city and one of the most beautiful in the world. There is something to see here. What is the building of the Opera House itself worth, giving the urban landscape a slightly fantastic shade. A rich architectural heritage, combined with green neighborhoods and sandy beaches, among which the famous Bondi Beach is located, puts Sydney among the world’s leading tourist centers.
The eternal rival of Sydney – Melbourne bears the title of the most “European” of the Australian cities. Concurrently, it is also considered the intellectual capital of Australia – there are prestigious schools and universities, the best museums and theaters. In addition, on Phillip Island you can see a colony of real penguins.
Perth , the capital of Western Australia, a city with a population of one and a half million is famous primarily for its sandy beaches, where you can sunbathe almost all year round. Also, the attention of tourists is riveted by the oldest trees – “curry”, whose age is many hundreds of years. Of the cultural sites here, it is worth visiting the Western Australian Art Gallery . and the Maritime Museum.
Diving enthusiasts should definitely appreciate the underwater world of Rottnert Island, which resembles a small kangaroo in its shape.
NATIONAL PARKS
The Great Barrier Reef is considered to be a real wonder of the world – a ridge of islands and atolls stretching for two and a half thousand kilometers along the northeastern coast of the country. Corals of almost all forms and colors known to science, one and a half thousand species of fish and crustaceans live here, which makes these places a real paradise for diving enthusiasts.
On the most ecologically clean continent, five percent of the territory is reserved for national parks and reserves, eleven of which are classified by the UN as territories of exceptional importance for humanity.
Relic forests have been preserved in the Blue Mountains National Park, where the age of individual trees reaches two thousand years. As the Australians themselves say, the first television people who flew there by helicopter were blindfolded “so that they did not know the route and did not open it for tourists who could destroy this jewel.” Now these places are visited by more than three million tourists a year.
The “Blue Mountains” are named so because it is the color of the haze that forms over the magnificent eucalyptus forests, which many tourists specially come to see. Especially popular here, as in other similar parks, is “bushwalking” – the Australian name for cross-country hiking. Moreover, getting here was not at all difficult – this national park is located just 104 km east of Sydney.
The center of the national park is the small town of Katoomba, through which many hiking trails of varying difficulty pass. And the most picturesque views, the likes of which are not found anywhere else in the world, open up in the region of the rock, which bears the name “Three Sisters”.
For those who don’t really like walking around the park on their own two feet, there is a unique opportunity to ride the world’s steepest railway or use the cable car.
A large number of national parks are located in the far north of Australia – in the tropical zone, where the variety of unique plant and animal species is amazing. Here it makes sense to visit the famous national park Kakadu located 200 km from Darwin, in which, on an area of 20 thousand square kilometers, more than 60 species of mammals, 290 species of birds and 120 species of various reptiles live.
Landscape of Namburg National Park, located near Perth, is striking in its fantasticness. It is not for nothing that it was called the “Desert of Penitent Sinners” – fields of sandy strata around fossil plants make a huge impression even on seasoned travelers. The first explorers of these places mistook these stone steles for the ruins of an ancient city.
FRASER ISLAND
The island is 120 km long and covers an area of 165,280 hectares. Located off the east coast of Australia in Queensland, this island is the largest sand island in the world. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992. The main attractions that attract tourists here are freshwater lakes, sand dunes, lush rainforests growing on the sand, isolated streams and miles of white sand beaches. Most visitors spend several days here and explore the island in jeeps with overnight stays in small hotels. From the town of Hervey Bay, not far from Brisbane, a ferry goes here.
