Australia is a leading tourism destination in the world. Ten fascinating facts on Australia, Dubbed the “Land Down Under”, Australia is a country rich in history and traditions, and is filled with natural wonders, exotic flora and fauna, and facts that range from interesting to weird to downright crazy!
To help you learn more about Australia, here are ten fascinating facts on the Land Down Under!
1. Australia is home to almost 12,000 beaches! If you visit one beach every day, it will take you more than 32 years to see them all!
2. Of all seven continents on Earth, Australia is the only one that does not have an active volcano! The last volcano that erupted in Australia was over 5,000 years ago!
3. Canberra was selected as Australia’s capital because other candidates Sydney and Melbourne could not stop arguing over which city should be made the capital!
4. Australia was the second country in the history of the world to give voting rights to women back in 1902! Nine years earlier, neighbouring New Zealand became the first country to allow women to vote!
5. Australia has the largest Greek population in the world outside of Greece! The second-largest Greek population, after Athens, can be found in Melbourne, Victoria!
6. An Australian citizen once tried to sell New Zealand on eBay! The listing, posted in May 2006, had a starting price of AUD 0.01, and had risen to AUD 3,000 before eBay closed the auction!
7. Most Australian flora and fauna are exclusive only to Australia. In addition to kangaroos, you will find cuddly koalas, quokkas and wombats only in Australia, as well as some of the more venomous members of the animal kingdom!
8. The Australian Alps, located in southeastern Australia, are the highest mountain range in the country, and receive more snowfall than the Swiss Alps!
9. Australians are infamous for gambling, and spend more money in the world to gamble than any other country. Per capita, more than 80 per cent of Australians engage in various forms of gambling, with one-fifth of all poker machines in the world being in Australia!
10. Australia has 60 designated wine regions throughout the country, which produce approximately 1.35 trillion bottles of wine annually!