I love Australia.

I have seen very little of the country even though this is my third trip but I love the laid back nature of the people, the sunshine and the unique things that are found only here…and lets not forgot the wonderful coffee.  

Australia is:

• the sixth largest country
• the largest island
• the only island that is a continent and the only continent that is a country
• a population of 22.68 million people of which more than 85% live within 50 km of the coast
• home to the largest living thing on earth; the Great Barrier Reef
• it has more things that can kill you than anywhere else
• the driest, flattest, hottest and most climatically aggressive of all inhabited continents

In the few weeks I have been here I have seen the Northern Territory which averages 7 inches of rain per year and now on the Queensland coast which averages 54 inches a year (and as I learned this number varies significantly depending on the number of tropical storms in a year).  There is actually water laying in the ditches; likely a result of Tropical Cyclone Ita that hit the east coast of Australia about a week and a half ago.  The extremes are near impossible to wrap my head around.  The cattle are different here, much more bos indicus based herds.  The grass appears plentiful and the occurrence of crops (sugar cane, macadamia trees and peanuts, I’ve seen along the road) signals that conditions are easier here. Even the trees and plants are different.  I read once that the reason Australia has so many diverse species of plants is because over time the native plants adapted to thrive in exactly the conditions that they were growing in.  For example there are over 700 species of eucalyptus trees and many species also continue to adapt dependant on their specific growing location. 

Tomorrow I am off to tour around Bundaberg, hopefully learn a little about macadamia nut production and of course a trip here isn’t complete without learning about rum the famous Bundaberg Rum so I will have to make the sacrifice and take that in as well.  

A small part of the country indeed.  There are many more places and people I wish I could visit but it will have to wait until the next time as this part of my trip is quickly coming to an end. Just five days to go now and I expect they will fly by.